Speech & Language – Home Visit 2/6

Since our 1st speech & language home visit I have been doing the activities we had been shown on our 1st visit everyday with Freddie. The activities are actually quite nice to do & it doesn’t feel like it’s therapy. It’s just some nice games me & Freddie can play together.

Over the past 2 weeks since our 1st visit I have noticed changes in Freddie when playing the games.
Freddie has quite poor concentration and it’s very hard to keep him focused on something for long periods of time. When we first started playing the game he didn’t pay too much attention to me until he was shown a toy but now he makes much more eye contact when I sing & sign to him and he is staying focused for much longer. I’ve also managed to get him to pick his own toy out of the bag! I have to fold the top of the bag over so he can see the toys in it & with a bit of help hes managing to get the toys out!
The ‘what is in the bag’ game has also helped me massively in finding ways to understand Freddie. I can now begin to understand that this grunt means hes bored, that grunt means hes excited and so on. It’s quite eye opening.

When our therapist came out for the 2nd visit she sat back & watched me & Freddie play the game & took some notes. She too noticed the improvement in Freddies eye contact. She has given us extra ideas that I can use when playing the game. Repeating the same word over & over to Freddie while hes playing with a toy – big ball, round ball, roll ball, bounce ball, to try & help him associate the word with the object.

Over the next few weeks we are continuing to work on the games with the idea that the repetition of them will enable Freddie to gain understanding of what’s happening, what’s coming next, what the words i’m saying mean & what the signs i’m doing mean.