If you are reading this and you are a parent of a child with Down syndrome you are probably very familiar with speech therapy. We started dragging taking April to additional speech therapy when she was 14 months old. I say additional because the early intervention services she received at home included some speech therapy. I signed her up for a very controversial, at the time, therapy. This radical therapy was sign language! Add to that more speech at school and weekly private pay sessions until she reached high school. We practiced saying the names of her siblings, everyday objects, her name, her street address, 3 word sentences, 4 word sentences and on and on and on…………………..
Fast forward to today. My advice is to concentrate on real life situations. We want people to understand our children in the real world and what is more real than Starbucks??????The next time you have your darling child at therapy working on buh, buh, buh….bottle just know that all too soon she/he will have to learn to say:
TALL, SKINNY, JAVA CHIP FRAPPUCINNO PLEASE
I’m just saying, important real life stuff! Be sure to pass this on to your therapist because it’s never too early to practice saying Frappuccino.
So true!! 🙂 It’s one thing to learn cup, spoon, but eventually they have to communicate with the cashier at the grocery store, the bus driver, the bank teller. Great post!
By: Cindy Anderson on July 24, 2013
at 1:17 pm
Don’t take me too seriously Cindy:) Enjoy the journey with your precious child.
By: Susan on July 24, 2013
at 1:25 pm
I will certainly keep this in mind for the future!! This is the real important stuff!
By: Crystal Staley on July 24, 2013
at 1:21 pm
I must confess maybe April and I have been spending a little too much time at Starbucks but I found out that the Fr….Fr…..Fraappuccino, skinny version, only has 160 calories:)
By: Susan on July 24, 2013
at 1:27 pm
I’m an early childhood speech therapist and I love this post! Thank you. I think I’ll treat myself to a Frappaccino…but limit my clients to a cocoa (it’s easier to say….)
By: Jayne on September 11, 2013
at 2:20 pm