Kyle's story

You may understand where I am coming from when you read how our late talking journey actually started almost 3 years ago.

Kyle is 5.6 and is in kindergarten this year. Our journey actually started with him when he was 2.5. We went through EI with no issues and had a wonderful lady (Ms. T) come once a week to work with him on his speech delay. She is the same one that worked with Ryan. When Kyle turned 3, he was diagnosed with a severe speech delay through the school system. They tried to push a PPCD class 5 days a week but we weren't ready to do that much. Knowing what I know now, I am glad we didn't. He is our first child and we really didn't know anything about speech delays. My neighbor, a school teacher, is actually the one that suggested we call EI when Kyle was 2.5. At first, I was like "WTF" but came to realize that she did me a huge favor. It was so frustrating for my husband and me when Kyle wouldn't talk. I actually got scolded from the ST that came to my house the first time...............we had finished the evaluation to see if he qualified for services and Kyle was having a snack while we all sat and talked. Kyle signed "milk, please" in front of the refrigerator and she nearly fell over in her chair when I got it for him. She said "You are enabling him.........you MUST wait until he SAYS "milk" before you get him any." Ummm, NO, that is not gonna happen. That WAS Kyle's way of communicating with me. The ST left and I told Ms. T that I did not want this woman coming to work with me and Kyle. She totally understood and told me that she does not work like that. You can't force a child to speak and you can't withhold things from him when he does try to communicate. Actually, when the ST knocked on my door and I opened it............I felt in my gut that I was not going to like her. She acted like she didn't want to be at my home. I gave her the benefit of the doubt anyway but quickly learned to rely on my instincts.

At the age of 2.5, Kyle could play video games on playstation 2 like an adult. He knew all his letters, shapes, numbers, etc. and also knew every.single.state on the map. He wouldn't actually say them, but he would point them out when asked.

He started the communication class at the age of 3. Late potty trained, didn't poop on the potty until he was almost 4. However, ever since he did finally go, he never ever had an accident. Luckily, I never had to clean out dirty underwear.

He also started a regular preschool when he was 4.5. I spoke to his teacher the week before school started and mentioned that Kyle had a language delay but that he was very smart and that she would need to keep him from being bored. She said she understood speech delays because her son had one. I thought, great, I hit the jackpot with this preschool teacher. I was wrong. Kyle went to her class at 11:30 on Tuesday after his speech class. The SLP would walk him down along with another child that was in his class. I didn't know the other child's reason for being in the class, I just knew that he was more delayed than Kyle was. I never thought anything about it until our first parent/teacher conference in November (and that actually wasn't the whole story, more on that later). She would tell me that Kyle was quite and always needed to be redirected and that sometimes he would just stare out the window. Although she said he was a sweet boy, she pretty much listed all the negative things. She also told me that I should think about holding him back in kindergarten another year that he probably wouldn't be ready. I kindly told her that it was only November and it was almost a whole year before he would start kindergarten.

When all the crap with Ryan came up and I made the appt with the Camarata's, I thought............why not let them see Kyle too even though he is almost caught up. We are driving all that way anyway. I am glad that I did.

When I asked his preschool teacher for a letter stating Kyle's strengths and weaknesses so I could take with me, she said she would. I also asked the assistant teacher to write one as well since she is the one that worked with him the most. The assistant's letter was 3 pages and written very well and the main preschool teachers letter was 3 paragraphs. So, which one do you think I took? I became very close friends with the assistant teacher and she is actually the one that told me that Kyle could read. I already knew that but when the assistant teacher told the main teacher that Kyle could read, she said the following........."Oh, don't tell Kyle's mom, it will just get her hopes up." Get my hopes up? What the hell did that mean?

I found out that the main teacher assumed that Kyle had some sort of autism because he was coming from the communication class. I was floored. She doesn't know that I know what she has said about my son. She didn't expect much from him, so she treated him differently and that made me so sad. I didn't find this out until almost 3 weeks before school was out. When I brought her the Camarata report, she was stunned and said "oh, that makes more sense." Hell yes it did. I looked her in the eyes and said "next time you have someone like Kyle, remember this report and try and look at the child individually."

Fast forward to now, you would never know that Kyle ever had a SEVERE SPEECH DELAY. EVER. He is in mainstream kindergarten and is doing fabulously. I actually got his report card last week and he got all +'s and all "S" in conduct. He got stars on his calendar page every day for 6 weeks except for 3 days..........one day he threw food in the cafeteria. (I actually laughed at that because that showed that he was interacting. LOL) I know Kyle and he is a follower and not a leader so I assume that someone started and he followed. I may be wrong, but I don't think I am. The second time was for not listening. No big deal. The third time was pushing a boy on the playground. When I asked him what happened, he said that "Connor" cut in line and stepped back and Kyle just pushed him forward. Ok, again not a big deal. These 3 actually happened in the first 2 weeks of kindergarten.

He also had a kindergarten assessment and aced the whole thing. They wanted him to know 7 of 50 words the first 6 weeks and he knew all 50. He will be evaluated again when he turns 6 to see if he will continue with speech. I will be very surprised if they don't dismiss him from speech. He reads at a 2nd grade level and knows all of his classmates names, first and last. Has lots of friends and is a normal little kindergartener.

So, I have been down the late talking road with Kyle so I know what I can expect from Ryan.