I received my checklist (which will from now on be referred to as the piece of paper that is in no way making me feel guilty as a parent or "stupid checklist" aka s.c. for short) a couple of days before Hunter started crawling. I did appreciate that it came so early because that gives me the opportunity to start working on the things on the list that he's struggling with - oh y'all know I will.
The s.c. is broken up into communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal/social skills. The first time I looked at it, it was a stretch to say that Hunter met 1 (ONE!) in every skill category. I put it down for like a week and now we're up to 2-3 - see therapy really is beneficial especially when you do it on your kid every.single.day! There is still one category that he is not doing so hot on. Y'all will never guess which one. Communication! Do y'all even know what my profession is?! Apparently I'm not that great of a speech therapist. All this time I've totally been neglecting my poor kid's communication skills because I was so psycho obsessed with his gross motor development. Which I have to say he has totally taken off on. He's crawling like a champ and walking around the living room table at record speeds (well, for him). And the ease at which that kid can maneuver between sitting and crawling is amazing to me having seen what he could do two weeks ago. Here's some proof:
Anyway, back to the communication skills. The s.c. expects my kid to use at least one word other than mama or dada. Are you kidding me? Don't panic y'all. I am a professional, and I know that it is not a problem if your kid isn't saying 3 intentional words by one year. According to the s.c. my kid is also supposed to be following simple one step commands without a cue. WHAT? Any speech pathologist can tell you that according to the Preschool Language Scale - 4, your kid doesn't need to follow simple one step commands with a cue until between 1-0 and 1-6. So, I'm not freaking out...yet.
I was beginning to feel a teensy weensy bit of guilt when I realized that a lot of my friends were signing with their kids and I hadn't even begun to think of doing this yet. It's really sad considering that was my foreign language in college and I use it at work semi-regularly. But, no guilt here! Right? Right! I'm sticking to it. I will not let the s.c. negatively impact the new found joy I am experiencing because of my kid's amazing mobility!
8 comments:
I LOVE the video of Hunter crawling!!! The doctors and their "s.c." don't know anything. Don't you remember when Zackary wouldn't talk and you had to make that list of all the words he knew? Now I can't get him to stop talking :)!
for some reason i hate trying to teach charlie signs! i know he wants more, so i just give it to him...just like i tell my kids' parents not to do (although they're like 2 or 3 and don't talk...). i'm with you on the checklists...and the next one on our doc's website is for 14 mos...so i have to keep myself from looking at it and freaking out...he still has 2 months before he has to do those things. *sigh* the stress of motherhood!
That's awesome that Hunter has done so well with crawling. It's amazing how quickly they master the skill and then move on the next thing.
Don't look at the "s.c" from your doctor. I have a new list for you that seems much more reasonable and on target with each age range. I'll bring it to Hunter's B-Day party.
Don't worry.... Parker was funny with the signs. By the time he picked up the signs he was already saying the word. Plus, he is busy focusing on his new skill- crawling. Once he feels that skill is olds news, he'll be amazing you with his next skill. You are an awesome mom....I think being a therapist is a bad thing for us. Makes us neurotic. (more than we already are) :)
I love the video! I am coming over soon! I feel guilty cause I don't see him enough. Go out of town again so I can keep him for the weekend! : ) Katie, I don't remember Zack not talking.
Girl, I feel your pain. I tell myself daily that lots of people sit their kids in a corner and never play with them and their kids turn out just fine. I have had to put my checklists away so I don't freak out! I am, however, keeping up with the tummy time now and they don't mind it a bit...for about 5 minutes...then it is most clearly OVER!
For Some Reason Doctors And Others Like To Put Children In A Nice Little Box
In 2 Months They Will Do This In 13 Months They Will Do That. What They Fail To
Consider Is That Were All Human Beings And We're Deferent With Strengths And Weaknesses And we Can't Tell Time Yet.
Hunter's Doing Great. Would You Email Me The Video?
THANKS
A PROUD Grandfather
I know how you feel with all of those checklists or where the average baby should be. Look at Judah's size-they did one million tests on him for them to just tell me what I already knew-he has a super high metabolism like his dad and will get his growth spurt later on. Oh but they still had to scare me with talks of all the things that his small size could be attributed to. And in the area of language-since we are raising a bilingual child (we speak Spanish to him but he hears English in the world all around him) he is behind in this area too. He definitely understands things but not too much of what he says to us is understandable. And I had the sign language intentions too but he communicates pretty effectively with me without the signs. I figure Spanish and English are enough languages for now!
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