Bach Fishing

Bach (Gabriel's speech therapy program) sponsored a fishing time for the kiddos at the Sea Center in Lake Jackson.  We decided to bring Gabriel as everything was provided.  They even had people catching fish for the kiddos so parents could keep an eye on the little ones easily.  :)  Gabriel was very intrigued by the fish "up close."  And it was a great experience because it's one of the words he knows how to say.  He even recognizes the building because he was saying "fish" as we pulled into the parking lot.

Just to update you on Gabriel's speech therapy.  He meets with a certified specialist in our home one time a week.  She and I play with him and she tries to get him to copy her actions and words.  As he has still not completely entered the imitation phase (copy cat phase) yet.  You know how a kid will parrot you?  (We deemed our nephew Barrett the Parrot in Disney World.)  Well, Gabriel doesn't attempt that.  The therapist says all kids go through that stage, but Gabriel has never been one to full out copy you on command.  He will copy though.

He has about 10-15 words (what they count as words).  For a word to count it has to be used on a regular basis, be understandable by people other than the parents, and be used appropriately.  For example your kid can't go around calling everything Da-da, and that count as a word for Daddy.  This is frustrating for me as I have heard Gabriel say many more words and phrases, but he only said them 1-3 times and then stopped.  ECI does not count these as words.  :(  If you do his vocabulary is somewhere around 70 words/phrases I would venture to guess.

Gabriel has a lot of phrases that only I understand so they won't count them as words.  When he started he was at the 14 month point for expressive language.  Back in mid-December.  He is now at about 18 months old on the chart.  So we have made 4 months of progress in the last 2ish months.  I'm so very proud of him.

I don't necessarily know that the therapist is helping.  She basically comes and does what I do every day since he was born.  With that said...I do think he gets something out of having it come from someone other than mommy.  And it is nice to have a professional to ask questions of when they arise in my head.