There’s No Label Here

“Sophia is now a preschooler with a disability.“

#gulp

I can’t begin to express the emotions that went through my mind after hearing those words.

I looked at Andrew and I knew he felt the same way.

Upset, concerned, angry, and yet, relieved.

Let’s backtrack just a bit…

This past summer, my sister-in-law was visiting from California and noticed Sophia couldn’t pronounce certain sounds. At first, I felt so embarrassed because I didn’t pick up on it. I mean, she is my child; I’m suppose to pick-up on these things.

We decided to call our school district and begin the process to have her evaluated for speech. You can read more about that here.

Fast forward a month later during Sophia’s psychological, history and speech evaluations, it was determined she has delays in her articulation and phonology skills. There are 40 sounds in which she can’t articulate correctly, one being the hard “K/C” sound ,

So “colors” is “tolors” #mypoorgirl

Since she had a full psychological evaluation conducted, her IQ was measured as well as other areas which may show us any other areas of delay – fine/gross motor skills, verbal comprehension, working memory, and behavior. All of these areas came out in the average(ish) range.

I can tell you, as a special education teacher, seeing “AT RISK” for “ATTENTION PROBLEMS”… I nearly busted into tears. #deepbreath

However, after talking to my coworkers, and considering Sophia is just four years old, having to be redirected to a task (during psych. eval) in a classroom full of fun toys, and a huge playground outside-what do you expect of a curious four year old?

This past week was her PCSE (preschool committee of special education ) meeting. Andrew and I both attended to discuss her results (we had copies sent to us). We asked questions, we listened, we made notes, and we laughed with the other committee members.

With the recommendation of the speech evaluator, it was suggested Sophia receive speech services, twice a week, for 30 minutes.

Of course, we were told there is currently a shortage of speech pathologists in our county. #almostlostit

However, I am fortunate to know an amazing speech pathologists in my school who agreed to provide services to Sophia! #yayaya

Within the next two weeks, Sophia will start receiving her services and Andrew and I can’t wait to hear how we can start helping her at home.

Although she has to face this little hiccup – this “disability”, we don’t see it as a “label”. We see this as an opportunity for Sophia to get the proper assistance she needs, so she can articulate properly and be understood without question.