Joe Update

Last week Joe had his re-evaluation for Early Childhood Intervention services. We knew he would continue to qualify because he is still behind in speech. He rarely attempts any words without prompting, other than "ma-ma", "da-da", "ap-pa" (for apple and pumpkin), and "mmm" for "more". When asked to repeat a word he usually says "da" for everything. I admit it is starting to worry me a lot more than it used to. He's been living with us for almost a year and I expected a lot more progress by now. I feel bad for Joe because I know he must have so many things he wants to share with us but cannot communicate those ideas. The good news is that his therapists said cognitively he is at or above where he should be for his age. During the evaluation I was amazed at how quickly he completed most of the tasks, several of which were skills we've never worked on directly. He also seems to learn new tasks fairly quickly.

Joe is a great helper around the house. He is always eager to put his empty cups in the sink, throw trash in the trash can, put away his clothes, and clean up his toys. He has started giving spontaneous hugs to Daniel and Kiki and will comfort them when they cry. Joe loves books and the other day we caught him "reading" out loud, even though it was just a bunch of babble. He's a great little guy and I thank God for giving him to us!