The Littlest Storyteller

My son has faced a lot of struggle in his very young life. He started having health issues at the introduction of solid foods and after months of hospitals, doctors and the like, he was diagnosed with celiac disease and food allergies. Later he was also diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. He is touch sensitive to wheat and breaks out in hives from touching things like playdough. He is anaphylactic to nuts (peanuts). He had some dev. delay from his months of living with intestinal issues that prohibited nutrition to the brain. The dev. delay was only in speech. He has been slow to communicate and make the sounds for his words. He had speech therapy in our home for his two year old year. This past school year, he went to speech at the local elementary school. While he still struggles with some sounds and being understood by those who aren't always around him, he has improved greatly. There has never been any doubt that his imagination was in fine working order. He is in turns, Peter Pan, a pirate, a dog, a super hero, and any other character that takes his fancy. He plays elaborate scenarios with his sister, who, has always seemed to know exactly what he was saying, even when the rest of us didn't. Their imagination is fueled by the stacks of books we read weekly. My son will sit for long periods of time listening to stories. He took an interest in the creation of stories after his sister wrote a short story that was published in a local yearly children's publication, "Kids In Print". On the way home from that event he told us a story, "Once upon a time there was a boy named Whit. He had a Mommy and a Dad". That was it, his first attempt to create a story. We were delighted that he had made the connection. This past Friday was his last speech session of this school year. He amazed his speech teacher and his watching Father when he came out with this story:

"Once upon a time there was a boy named Whit and he had a Mommy and a Dad. There was a bear coming out of a deep hole. He saw us. We climbed a tree so he wouldn't get us. He was big. He was this tall, as tall as your arm. He was big. There was a little dragon. We ran to the car. The dragon followed us so he could drive. He got in the car and Whit held him. The bear was coming and he was jumping on the road and that's how he was getting us. Doodeet came in a blue car. He was magic. He came to rescue us. We never that big bear in that scary woods again. The bear climbed a tree so he could hide from Doodeet. Doodeet climbed the tree to get him. The End. "

I think we can safely put our concerns about his speech to rest!

We haven't made a call yet as to whether we will use speech services again next year. For his sake, we want to make sure he can be understood. He has so much to share with the world, even his own stories!