There's definitely nothing wrong with him physically

...or cognitively for that matter. But my little Jaden is a little delayed with his speech. Rather than continuing to wait-and-see if he would start speaking more on his own I decided to have him evaluated. What could it hurt? If he didn't need services all I was out was 2 hours of our day. Though I'll say that he thoroughly enjoyed every minute of individual attention he was showered with during the evaluation! Individual attention is a prized commodity around here. And if he did need the services than he'd get the help he needs sooner and he might start talking sooner. It turned out that he did qualify for services. He will be seen by the Speech-Language Pathologist twice a month in our home for 45 minutes. She came for the first time this week. Jaden had so much fun! I'm sure he had no idea he was receiving therapy. He thinks he's got a very cool playdate - just for him!

Because the sessions take place in our home I can easily observe what the therapist is doing with Jaden. Anna does too! This way we can continue to practice with him during our normal activities. Chris and I have recommendations to follow as well. We've already started to notice some small improvements. He is trying to say more words but he is still very difficult to understand and he usually only says the beginning sounds (mostly ones with "b" or "m"). I've noticed him say the end part of some words a few times (e.g., with "k").

I was a little slow to realize it but yesterday he got his foot caught in a toy and was hollering "stuck". Still kinda in "jaden-ese" but much better than I've heard before. He is trying to say "yes" and "please" (with a prompt) and he tried to say "muffin" this morning at breakfast. When I called about the evaluation he was pretty much only saying "mama", "dada", "baby", "gaga" (dog), baba (bottle/drink), "uh" (up), and "me" (if prompted). He could sign "more", "please", and "thank you".