The Interveners
Some parents schedule play dates for their children. I schedule early intervention dates for my children.
We have two groups come into our home to work with the children. I take Abbie to a speech therapist, and she goes to preschool where she’s funneled into a weekly speech group. Then there’s library time, which may or may not benefit anyone. Abbie’s speech is a little behind, but it only rises to the level of “indistinct diction,” not to the “panicked parent” level that is used to hover. The boys also seem a little behind on their speech, but not alarmingly so.
Otherwise, everyone seems to be developing nicely, socializing like they’re supposed to do, running like they’re supposed to do, and climbing on furniture like they’re not supposed to do. I could probably cancel some of the intervention since they’re not behind, but the kids seem to enjoy the attention, they provide us with an activity during the day, and it’s all free to me, so why bother? Plus with the learning benefits they provide, my children should have a huge advantage in earning gold stars when they start kindergarten.
One of those groups came this afternoon to work with the boys. They’re mostly concerned with speech, but since the boys were NICU babies, they’re watchful for all the terrifying maladies that can strike their incubator brethren.
Two people come in this group, one for each boy. They split into separate rooms, one boy with each educator, and they switch halfway through. Mommy and I also split and follow one educator so we can offer insights into their life, such as how much they’re talking and where all those bite marks on their backs came from. Abbie goes to the educator with the best toys.
At the end, they gave us a progress report, and marveled at how interactive and interested the boys were in playing with them. That seemed logical since this one-to-one child-to-adult ratio was completely new to them. Usually they’re competing with at least two other children for an adult’s attention, so when they get one adult all to themselves, they milk it for all it’s worth.
On their way out, the educators scheduled the next visit. I found a gap between the other interveners, and wrote it on the calendar. Maybe the boys will progress to the “barely discernable” level of speech by then.
We have two groups come into our home to work with the children. I take Abbie to a speech therapist, and she goes to preschool where she’s funneled into a weekly speech group. Then there’s library time, which may or may not benefit anyone. Abbie’s speech is a little behind, but it only rises to the level of “indistinct diction,” not to the “panicked parent” level that is used to hover. The boys also seem a little behind on their speech, but not alarmingly so.
Otherwise, everyone seems to be developing nicely, socializing like they’re supposed to do, running like they’re supposed to do, and climbing on furniture like they’re not supposed to do. I could probably cancel some of the intervention since they’re not behind, but the kids seem to enjoy the attention, they provide us with an activity during the day, and it’s all free to me, so why bother? Plus with the learning benefits they provide, my children should have a huge advantage in earning gold stars when they start kindergarten.
One of those groups came this afternoon to work with the boys. They’re mostly concerned with speech, but since the boys were NICU babies, they’re watchful for all the terrifying maladies that can strike their incubator brethren.
Two people come in this group, one for each boy. They split into separate rooms, one boy with each educator, and they switch halfway through. Mommy and I also split and follow one educator so we can offer insights into their life, such as how much they’re talking and where all those bite marks on their backs came from. Abbie goes to the educator with the best toys.
At the end, they gave us a progress report, and marveled at how interactive and interested the boys were in playing with them. That seemed logical since this one-to-one child-to-adult ratio was completely new to them. Usually they’re competing with at least two other children for an adult’s attention, so when they get one adult all to themselves, they milk it for all it’s worth.
On their way out, the educators scheduled the next visit. I found a gap between the other interveners, and wrote it on the calendar. Maybe the boys will progress to the “barely discernable” level of speech by then.
posted by Matt at
11:00 PM
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