SuperEvan's Adventures in Speech Therapy

It's not new news to anyone that Evan's talking is behind most other kids his age. While he did say words for awhile when we lived in Dublin (primarily "this" and "that"), he basically stopped talking out loud shortly after we moved home. Instead, he began "talking" with his mouth closed. Try it yourself-- it's like humming, but with a conversational tone.

Why Evan stopped talking out loud and started talking with his mouth closed is a mystery to everyone. However, there are a few possible explanations: 1) upon returning home, and witnessing firsthand the callous backwardness of American culture, he was shocked into silence; 2) Evan is a super-intelligent, super-evolved baby, who has reached a state of nirvana where the only conversations required are those with beings we lowly humans can't hear or see; 3) Evan is stubborn, resists change, and relies on baby theatrical/classical methods of communication, such as grunting and smiling, because that's what's comfortable and easy for him.

I know my kid. He's a scary mix of my nature and Andrew's: driven, yet lazy; goal-oriented, sometimes maybe if he feels like it; an adventurer-- in his own surroundings, like in the kitchen or bathroom, for example.

Anywho, it was determined after a small arsenal of hearing tests that Evan could hear (I already knew this), so the conclusion was that his speech issues stemmed from other issues. After another small arsenal of tests, he was finally enrolled in speech therapy, which he attends twice per week for thirty minutes each time.

Evan's therapist is young, lovely, and patient. There is a light openness in her face which made it easy for him to get comfortable with her. For several visits in a row, they played the same games--blowing bubbles, reading books about farm animals, etc.-- and, Evan began to imitate the sounds his therapist made. More importantly, he sort of began to understand that certain sounds MEAN certain things. For example, he will now ask for things by first consonants, like "Cracker, please," is "kuh-puh." When he wants to watch television, he says "shhh" for "show." He does say a few words-- "hot," "mama" (usually when he's angry with me), and "up."

At home, Evan will talk for long periods of time, in a secret language only he can understand. The other day, he was reading "How to Abuse, Insult, and Insinuate in Classical Latin." His jibber-jabber was punctuated with occasional chuckles. Hmmm-- maybe that's what classical Latin sounds like? But, he has yet to talk out loud during therapy.

He's branching out. Yesterday at speech, he rifled through the cupboards and pulled out a new toy to play with. While he and the therapist were making Play-Doh ice cream cones, he opened his mouth to say something in classical Latin, but then he caught himself, and said only a first consonant sound. It was sort of like he thought it through: "This lady only expects me to use partial sounds, so that's all I'm going to do."

Mama is so proud of her little underachieving, manipulative, creative problem-solver. He'll run a big business someday, for sure.