Joel and Speech Therapy

Joel has a limited vocabulary that is quickly expanding.  Joel has never been a big talker, but with the help of his speech therapist he not only is trying to talk and imitate what people are saying but he is starting to string 3-4 word sentences together on his own.  He is using his words to ask for things instead of just dragging you around and pointing until you figure it out.  One of our biggest breakthroughs happened on Sunday when he started saying “I” instead of “Joel.”  That same day he also asked me to "sit down Mommy" at the table and to "hold me standing up (he gets that from Vincent).  All of these things sound really simple and most almost 3 year olds don’t struggle with these things but it is progress that I have been hoping for and praying about for many months.  Because without these improvements we were having days filled with tantrums, frustration and things getting thrown at me because I couldn't figure out what Joel wanted.

Joel "reading" in his sleep hat.

Joel’s newest obsession is John Deere tractors.  He LOVES them!  He wants to watch John Deere movies with Vincent, he sorts out and plays with all the John Deere Tractors and he sings “I love John Deere.  John Deere America’s plow.  John Deere.  I love John Deere.”  It kills Brad!  For those of you that don’t know, farmers are very attached to the color of farm equipment they use.  The farming community is mainly split between green and red or in our case yellow.  Giving someone a hard time about the color equipment they use could lead to a nasty exchange of words.  When my nephew and little cousin were younger (3 or 4 years old) they literally almost got into a fight about what color tractors were better.  The fight ended with one of them saying “Don’t say those words, those words aren’t nice.”  Adults had to step in and distract them because they were standing nose to nose and it wasn’t going to be pretty.  So when Joel won’t say much but he will sing a John Deere song Brad just shakes his head.  I think he has mixed feelings about Joel’s new ability to share with us his preference for John Deere.

Joel and his Lightning McQueen shoes.  He loves them.  I don't.

Lately I get the most joy out of hearing him talk to Vincent and Cecilia.  The other day in the car he said "No spit Vincent!" and he also says "No, bad Cecilia!"  I enjoy it because he is using his words and not hitting his siblings as often which makes my job 100x easier.  While Joel is talking more if you aren't around him a lot you may not understand everything he says.  He tends to drop parts of words off when he is learning to say them, for instance this week Francesco Bernoulli is "Chesco Noulli".  Or his new favorite Veggietales movie Incredible Vegetables is "edible ta-bles."  I know those aren't easy words or common words but in our daily life they are said many, many times a day.  Not as many times a day as "Mickey Mouse" but it is very close!

Joel at speech therapy