3 years old. Not talking much yet but oh so demanding!
This year has been quite a tough year for me personally.
One of the main challenges would be finding out that our little Mia has some developmental issues, spoken communication being one of them. Put it this way, Alan can speak more words than Mia.
Being told by well-meaning teachers at her school brought me to tears. In my heart, I knew that she had some challenges. But being told by a third-party, well that was painful. I am grateful for being informed however. Because from there we took more serious steps to research, speak to specialists and provide her with the necessary tools to help her overcome her challenges. The more people we talked to, the better we feel.
Yes, I know there are kids out there who only learnt to speak at 7 years old. Even Einstein didn't speak until he was 4 years old. And I know eventually Mia will learn to speak actual words. However, we still want to provide her with the help to enable her to communicate with others so that she does not miss out on things that she should be enjoying by now... like telling others what she needs/wants without throwing a fit.
One of the help that she's getting is Speech Therapy. She goes for speech therapy once a week, 1 hour each time. Earlier this week, her therapist spoke to me of PECS: Picture Exchange Communication System.
Frankly, after just viewing some slides and reading up on it on the Internet, I am eager to learn more on PECS and start her on this as soon as possible. More on PECS after I sit down with her therapist and other parents.
