Amanda's Delayed Speech

     We were in Vietnam when my youngest daughter Amanda was around 2 years and 3 months old  where I noticed that she wasn't talking much. At this age, she should have at least spoken more than 200 vocabulary words or so. And so a year went by until the time we got back here in the Philippines last year, her speech  did not progress and so we were left with a 3-year old who speaks her own language--her made up language, gibberish in short! Most of the time she was parroting, meaning she imitates the words that you tell her. She also cannot answer questions answerable by yes or no. She cannot narrate events too.

      Amanda's speech was not developing like other kids her age. At first I was worried. She is incomparable to her two older sisters. Between the ages of 2-3, Arissa and Samantha were already storytelling and communicating with others really well. As for Amanda, wanting or rather requesting for something was expressed through her whining, crying, and throwing tantrums at someone. 

     So around September of last year, through the internet, i found a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician. I called the clinic and was given a five-month wait for my scheduled appointment. I was shocked because I didn't know that I had to wait that long before Amanda and I could see a doctor. Well, according to the secretary, there are only around 50 Nuerodevpedia doctors in the Philippines...oh so that's why....

     To continue, we got an appointment the following year which is February 2014. On our day of appointment, The doctor conducted a test that would evaluate her motor skills, language skills, and personal-social skills. After doing so, Amanda was advised to avail of speech therapy. I will be talking about that soon.