Speech Evaluation

When we saw our pediatric neurodevelopmental specialist last month, she recommended that we get a speech evaluation. We really didn't have any concerns about her speech, but she does often bite her tongue (like when she sneezes, when she falls, when she's eating, etc.) and she tends to choke when drinking fairly often. Dr. Butcher wanted to make sure her dyspraxia wasn't manifesting itself orally, so we scheduled the evaluation.

Our appointment was yesterday, and just as we suspected, she has no speech deficiencies. In fact, the therapist was astounded at how well she performed. She just kept testing her until she tested out, and Abby topped out at the five-year-old level! She has no receptive nor expressive problems whatsoever, and is way ahead of most children her age (let alone children with her history).

The therapist said she appears to swallow correctly, but she did see that she isn't protecting her airway, mostly with water. She recommended we ice her milk and water and give her "alerting" liquids such as cranberry juice to help her practice protecting her airway. Apparently, Abby's sensory issues may be involved. She doesn't "sense" the water because it's so tasteless and thin.

I have started putting ice cubes in everything she drinks and giving her more juice, and she really seems to be doing much better. The therapist said if it doesn't improve in a couple months to bring her back for a more thorough eval, but I don't think it will be necessary. She's improving already.