"He is doing great! No longer shy in class."

RHSC - Day Care Speech and Language Program
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Yahveh entered Clifford Head Start in September, 2018 as a young 3-year-old. When he failed his GROW screening in English, he was referred for a bilingual speech-language screening in November, as Spanish is also spoken at home. The initial screening revealed a delay in his verbal skills of approximately one and a half years, with a much lesser delay in comprehension. He was screened in both languages, but his preferred language appeared to be English. Although he may have qualified for services if referred at that time, a number of factors led the SLP to take an alternative route. First of all, he was able to understand and appropriately answer questions, although with few words. For example, when asked what he does when he is sleepy, he responded “I bed.” His attention span was excellent and he benefited from brief coaching to learn new skills during the screening. In consultation with his teachers and parents, the SLP recommended targeting his delays in his classroom and at home, as his mother was a classroom assistant in another room, and was highly motivated to model and reinforce appropriate language skills at home. A re-screening was scheduled for three months out to determine his progress.
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When seen again in February, the SLP determined that Yahveh had improved by the equivalent of nearly a year in his verbal skills, and was nearly age-appropriate in his comprehension. Examples of his expanded sentences included, “I want this for Mommy; I want put my sticker my pocket.”

Examples of his expanded sentences included, “I want this for Mommy; I want put my sticker my pocket.” His vocabulary greatly expanded as well. Initially he had named all animals “dinosaurs,” but when re-tested he had learned at least four or five zoo animals, for example. When first tested he was unable to assemble a simple puzzle, but performed well in this area upon re-screening. His mother reported that he can easily assemble all the puzzles in his classroom now.

Yahveh's mother related to the SLP that he had had many ear infections as an infant and young toddler, and that bilateral tubes p-e were inserted in his ear drums in 2017. Although Spanish is the parents' first language, Yahveh's older siblings attend school and speak with him mostly in English, which is a factor in his preference for English. He uses a few words in Spanish on his own, and will repeat sentences in Spanish. He understands the language well, according to his mother. He was initially very shy in his classroom, and cried a lot every day. Now he is making connections with staff and the other children, answering questions and telling them what he wants.

His mother said he will answer her questions about what he is doing and his day at Head Start. Overall, she is very happy, because he is “doing great!”

The SLP will continue to re-screen Yahveh to confirm that he has reached age-appropriate expectations in all of his language skills.