My 2 year old has GRADUATED!!!!

Yeah...I am soooooo excited for my 2 year old little man. He graduated today. Yes I said graduated, from speech therapy lessons that is.

Back in late winter I started taking him to Parents As Teachers, this is a program that our school district offers for kids birth to 3, teaching parents little things that will help their child grow and reach the developmental milestones. Well they did an evaluation on Sam and I had expressed concern about his speech, he was only speaking 1 word phrases sometimes 2. Most of the time he would just point in order to let me know what he wanted. Parents as Teachers put my contact with Johnson County Infant and Toddler, this is a FREE, can you believe it FREE service provided by the county. They came to my house and evaluated him, I did not even have to leave the comforts of my own home . Based on their evaluation he qualified for speech services, two weeks later Sam had the best Speech therapist come to our house and visit with him weekly.

Now I have to tell you my son is (was ) so extremely shy. When his therapist first came to visit he would not get off my lap, there was absolutely no eye contact with her, and he would not even think about playing with the toys she brought with her, let alone speak. As the weeks went by he came out of his shell and began to play with her, he even was excited for her arrival every Monday morning. Eventually Sam started to say 2 word phrases then 3 word phrases and so on. He cam out of his shell so much, no matter who came to our house Sam was no longer the shy little boy he once was.

Well today his wonderful therapist suggested that he could be dismissed from therapy and I agreed with her. Here is the funny thing about this whole situation......Sam hardly even spoke to his therapist.....maybe 10 words in the 5 months she met with him. She would play and speak with him, I would then follow her directions through out the week and report back to her all the accomplishments he was making.

So she not only helped him overcome his shyness...she helped him find his voice. For this I am eternally grateful, I know she was doing her job but she did her job so wonderfully.