As I said in some posts, Abigail started to follow up with the speech therapist because I thought she had a speech delay.
According to the CDC here in the USA, a baby at 15 months (1 year and 3 months) would need to be speaking one or two words besides “mama” or “dada”. At one year old, he should already be calling his parents with some of his own words.
Abigail, just over a year old, still had no intentional words. There was a time when she spoke the breast, but stopped. And there was also a phase of wow (for the stuffed dog), but it also came to an end.
Therefore, I spoke to the coordinator of the early intervention program (the one who works with her physiotherapy, remember this post?) and she said that she could include speech therapy for Abigail. I was very happy, especially because of the frenectomy issue.
Post-frenectomy rehabilitation
After I posted here and on social media about Abigail’s frenectomy, I received some recommendations for profiles of Brazilian professionals who talk about the topic and I started following them.
With that, I realized that there was a failure here after Abigail performed the procedure. Contrary to what these professionals were indicating (and it makes perfect sense), she did not undergo any type of oral rehabilitation after the frenectomy (with the intention of helping with the functioning of her tongue) . I see some “symptoms” that bother me, such as excessive drooling, some occasional choking, slightly limited tongue movement (almost never sticks out), among others.
So, I read about all these issues and brought it to the speech therapist at the consultation. Guys, if Portuguese isn’t easy when we’re dealing with a professional who isn’t an expert on the subject, imagine English. I saw that she understood my concerns, but when the topic is tongue braking, either the person understands and is updated or it seems like crazy talk, lol.
Fortunately, she really listened to me and has tried to observe Abigail in the sessions and offer the best for her. I know there are a lot of things she should do, but she doesn’t have the knowledge. So, I do what I can as a mother, I “nudge” the professional a little and I try to do the best with what I have at my disposal.
Update: we already finished the sessions when Abigail was 1 year and 8 months old. The speech therapist did not help with the language issue as I would have liked. Abigail to this day – 2 years and 1 month – has a tendency to keep her mouth open and her tongue in the wrong position (on the “floor” of her mouth). With a trip planned to Brazil, we will have another frenectomy there and I hope to contact a good speech therapist who understands these issues to help us!
What are the sessions like?
Sessions with this phone are basically about playing and stimulating speech.
From the first session, we started working on “bó” to say “ball” and “papá” with a sign (sign language). And the following week, she was already saying those two words.
We have tried to expand the vocabulary, but the phono has already noticed some limitations in some phonemes. He also observed some of the symptoms that worried me regarding the tongue and has tried to help me with stimulation that I should do to Abigail daily. In addition to some sounds that I need to stimulate as well, especially from m.
Seriously, guys, it looks like a meme. I say, “Abigail, speak mom, mom-mom, mom” and she responds daddy. Hahahahahahaha
I notice that she is trying, but she lets out the sound she can manage to replace the one she can’t.
Baby vocabulary 1 year and 3 months
After a month with the phono, we already have a mini vocabulary of intentional words/sounds that Abigail is speaking. I’m going to write here more for personal record (the advantage of having a blog) what she was saying as soon as she turned 1 year and 3 months old:
- Pope – food
- Papa/Daddy – daddy
- A-ua – water
- Dedê – baby
- Woow – dog
- Bo – ball
- It does – the classic really does
- Okay – to me, it seems like she uses this syllable to give us something, like we do on a daily basis.
- Ai – Hi. Yes, she taught herself to speak hi (hi, in English). We only use Portuguese at home, but everywhere we go people look at her and say “Hi”. So now she nods and says “ouch”.
No, we don’t have a mom yet. I’m glad I’m good at dealing with these things, lol
Aupdate: After approximately 1 year and 6 months, Abigail has evolved a lot. Today, at 2 years and 1 month, she is already making sentences with 4 or more words. She can communicate things she experienced, what happened when someone wasn’t present, she remembers facts and fully understands what we say! It’s great, especially, in this “can/can’t” educational process 🙂
Regarding speech, I have zero worries now! I just really want to visit a specialized speech therapist in Brazil to help us with the post-frenectomy language issue.
