Taking a sigh of relief!!

For the last few months my husband and I were a bit concerned that our almost 2 year old daughter had a speech delay. Having worked with children, I have learned that the worst thing you can do to yourself  and them is to compare them to other children. My son is very verbal and has always been that way, so I tried  not to compare her to what he was able to vocalize at her age. We were still concerned, however. At her last “Well Check”, her doctor suggested that we see a Speech Therapist. To make a long story short, we had her evaluated and she scored a very high score on every part of her test. She is just a quiet child and talks when she wants to. I have overheard her playing “Knock, Knock jokes” with her brother and even counting in Spanish, so I had an idea that she could talk more than she was letting on…LOL

I am still going to do activities with her that will increase her vocabulary. Reading, educational toys, puzzles, and just talking to her 4 year old brother will most likely help her along. Being a Stay at Home Mom, the first thing that I did was to blame myself. Is there something I did or didn’t do that that caused a delay? As parents we want our kids to succeed in every area of their lives and when we see a stumbling block in front of them., it makes us anxious to solve the problem or move it out of their way.  Well, the doctors and psychologist  assured me that we are doing everything right. She is more likely to have an extended vocabulary and have very good verbal skills, because she is surrounded by adults, a 4 year old brother, and  4 year old cousins. They gave me and my husband a great big thumbs up. Anyway, I can now relax and take a sigh of relief. I am just going to allow  her to be herself and to develop at her own pace. Kids are individuals in every sense of the word, so let them be.