Progress Report

Kymee has made so much progress in her speech this last semester. A week before she began speech she had her ear tubes replaced. I believe that the combination of hearing clearly, speech therapy, and age appropriate behavior has made all the difference. For those of you who are fascinated by technicalities of evaluations and therapy, like I am, this post is for you. This is a summery of Kymee's latest evaluation.










Before
Language:
1. Lack of verbal reasoning
2. Little to no knowledge of animals or household objects
3. Little use of social behaviors such as greetings or sharing
4. Identifies colors but unable to verbalize names
5. Unable to produce names of immediate family
6. Struggles with bilabial sounds, fricatives and glottal stops
(Googling this helped me understand Kymee could not make sounds which used both lips, or make sounds in which the airflow must be stopped to produce the sound)

Behavior:
1. Adapted to being with therapist away from Mom
2. 3 minute attention span
3. If more than one toy available for play - she struggles to choose and becomes upset
4. Is upset when asked to share (isn't this normal for a 2 1/2 year old?)
5. Throws toys when finished
6. Throws things at therapist instead of verbalizing her needs
7. Noises outside room distract her
8. Strikes the therapist wen doesn't want to participate in planned activity (I can vouch for this one personally)

Therapy Goals 
1. Repeat verbal commands 80% of time
Initial: 20%
Final: 100%
2. Verbally request items to play when prompted 80% of time
Initial: 40%
Final:90%
3. Verbally request items to play without prompting 80% of time in 2 sessions
Initial:40%
Final:90%
4. Repeat animal names 80% of time
Initial: 20%
Final:85%
5. Use 2 word phrases in structured play by modeling
Initial:25%
Final:90%
6. Repeat family names
Initial: 25%
Final: 85%
7. Repeat common household item names
Initial: 20%
Final:80%
8. verbally identify household objects
Initial:25%
Final: 75%

After
1. Says "all done" when finished with toys instead of throwing them
2. Verbalizes names of colors, animals and family member most of the time without prompting
3. Could play for 10 minutes without frustration
4. Could greet and share more age appropriately
5. Kymee no longer hits her therapist (now if we could figure out how to make her stop hitting Elijah)

Recommendations

1. Increse 2 word phrases

2. Increase age-appropriate vocabulary

3. Improve verbal identification of family members

4. Monitor Kymee's articulation production for further assessment and remediation 

(I'm ready to move on to this part - but it may be a while)