Josiah's Speech Update

   Since Amber seems to have been the star of several recent posts, I feel the need to give an update on our 4-year old, Josiah.  He is attending preschool 3 days a week, and we plan on sending him 4 days next semester.  Since September (aside from his preschool regimen) he's been seeing a wonderful speech therapist weekly (diagnosed w/a speech delay at 2yrs). 
   Even though we've noticed an improvement in his words since fall, he seemed to have another major "explosion" about 2 months ago when his therapist suggested holding his weekly sessions at the swimming pool (insurance covers it).  Josiah loves to swim and has been a "water baby" from the get-go.  He's very daring and loves just jumping in the pool.  He is not able to swim unassisted yet, but he tries.  I'm not sure what the link is between the activity and his verbal activity, but it seems to be working.
    He loves talking to family members on the phone (even though they may not always understand him because he gets so excited) and he actively engages in conversations with Amber.  Once of his recently favorite activities has been pretending that his family members are characters from a movie or tv show.  My husband and I only indulge him occasionally in this type of play since it encourages his language (but after the second time becomes annoying), whereas Amber is a better sport about it.
    Josiah's verbal activity is not up to par with his age group, but it's getting there.  The telephone interaction he has with family members has definitely contributed (as well as cementing relationships and memories) along with his encounters of children his own age.

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