Update on Ben

Hello again, everyone. Just wanted to let you know about Ben's appointments this past week. Thankfully, the speech therapist was able to get us in on Thursday for the 3rd appointment, so we ended up having 3 appointments in 3 days. We were very impressed with the therapist, and he spent a lot of time evaluating Ben's speech - his comprehension as well as production. He found that he is doing great, even is ahead of the game, in his comprehension. His production ability though is significantly delayed. He is 2 yrs and 10 months old, but he speaks as though he is just under 2 yrs. There are 2 possible causes for this - an oral motor problem (oral apraxia) or a simple articulation delay. In an oral motor problem, basically his mouth (tongue etc) doesn't listen to what his brain says to do. So when he tries to produce speech, the signal gets messed up between his brain and his mouth somewhere and it doesn't come out right. This would potentially be a lifetime problem that we would need to help him overcome. The other possible cause is basically just a delay that will resolve itself in time.

Right now, the therapist is leaning towards it being just an articulation problem, but he cannot yet rule out the oral motor problem since Ben is so young (if it is not a severe case, it is much easier to diagnose once they are a little older and their utterances are longer). He is working on developing a home speech therapy program specifically for Ben. I will work with him everyday, and then the therapist wants to see him every 3 months to monitor his progress and adjust the home program as necessary.

Basically right now he is not sure why Ben is delayed in his speech, but a home therapy program will be a help to him regardless of the cause of the problem. We are praying that the program is able to resolve the problem in time and that it is not an oral motor problem which will require more extensive therapy as he grows. Please pray with us in this, and thanks to all of you who have expressed concern and support with this situation.

In "other news", Mikayla and I will leave on Tuesday the 12th to go help my sister while she has her surgery. I am bringing Mikayla with so that I have a companion as I travel (it is safer when the men see me as a mom rather than a young woman) and because she will be a big help with the two little ones. Please pray for safety as we travel and that we would be a blessing while we are there. Please pray too that the surgery on the 14th goes well. We fly home on the 21st, just a couple days before Christmas.