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Today was Sam's big speech therapy appointment. I have to say that it went very well; Sam was as chamring as could be while we were there. Such a good boy! He was seen by five specialists: Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech Language Pathology, a teacher who evaluated his cognitive skills and Psychology. They all said the same thing...that Sam is above age for every category. Apparently he's too smart and too fast for his own good!

The physcial therapist was amazed at how fast Sam can run and the fact that he can keep his balance at that speed. I didn't tell her that I am sometimes amazed at how fast he can move too, and not always in a good way. She was also impressed that he can hop with both feet off the ground, go up and down stairs walking and catch a ball. She remarked that he's clearly been focusing on motor development foremost and we agreed.

The speech language pathologist said that Sam can express about 10 words which is good for his age. She counted the words he can sign as well as the words he can say because expressive speech is apparently not just verbal. I learned something new with that! She told us that he falls within the normal range for speech although she allowed that the range was fairly wide. She thinks that he will continue to progress but if we have concerns in six months to call back and they will reevaluate him. She strongly recommended that we have him over to an ENT; apparently the "kkkkkkkk" noise he makes is commonly a result of swollen adenoids. He may need them removed which is something I'd rather have him do now when he's young enough that he won't remember it. The teacher who tested his cognitive functions also chimed in to say that he clearly has no receptive speech problems; he's hearing us just fine and he understands what we say when we address him. She mentioned that his problem-solving abilites are above age too which was especially nice to hear. Of course I always thought that we have the smartest, fastest child on the planet...and now we have proof!

The psychologist said that his tantrums seem normal for a kid at his development. He's hitting the Terrible Twos early and he has a strong will. I had to hang my head a little bit here because I really thought there was some pathological reason he was so screamy but apparently it's normal. Chalk it up to being a first time mom; I've got no other experience to compare it to. She recommended that we keep being consistent with him, no matter what the battle. If we say a thing is so, we must stick with it or else he will run roughshod over us and use screaming as a tool to get what he wants. She said that he'll get it eventually and we'd just have to weather the screaming in the mean time. In other words, she told us very nicely and sympathetically to suck it up.

The occupational therapist was the only one to come up with a problem. She mentioned that Sam seems at risk as far as his vestibular development. That may be why he hates being leaned back for diaper changes or why he doesn't like the car. I was not really clear on a lot of what she said because Sam was ready to melt at that point and I also didn't understand why Sam would have a vestibular problem that affected him sometimes but not others (i.e., why does he have great balance when running but can't be leaned back? Or, even better, why can he do a summersault at the gym but hates being leaned back?) She kindly remarked that we'd get an official report with reccomendations in about a week so I'm hoping that makes everything clearer. If not, I guess I'll be calling back to speak with her on the phone.

The team couldn't make any promises about whether Sam would recieve services today but we should get their decision in a week. I think it's likely that they'll recommend no services and that we check back in six months if we see any problems. That makes me pretty happy, though. I'm glad to know that Sam's issues are minor at best and that he's flourishing.