My job

Elder Perry gave an amazing talk in which he said,  "Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. While other institutions, such as church and school, can assist parents to “train up a child in the way he [or she] should go” (Proverbs 22:6), ultimately this responsibility rests with parents. According to the great plan of happiness, it is parents who are entrusted with the care and development of our Heavenly Father’s children."


Emma's speech is lacking.  She was struggling to hear last fall, and her tonsil/adenoid surgery and putting tubes in her ears helped so much.  She has truly improved a great deal.

But it has become clear that there are many letters and sounds that she is still struggling with.  With pre-school registrations coming up, I have been feeling an urgency to decided if Emma needs speech therapy or a speech therapy based pre-school.  Struggling with the sounds affects all aspects of learning, especially reading, and I'm a firm believer that reading is the most important tool you can give a child to learn in all subjects.

It is so hard to decide where to begin with that search.  After talking about it, Jared and I decided to  contact a school that the school district provides to help with things like that and made an appointment for an evaluation.  

They did a full evaluation:  cognitive, motor, communication, adaptive and personal-social.  She excelled in all of them, surpassing their requirements.  I had the chance to talk with the speech therapist, who knew it was likely her speech that I had brought her in for.  She went over the sounds she SHOULD be making and said, "She does great with them after you have her repeat them a couple of times."

There are many other sounds that I was concerned that she wasn't doing, and she said that they don't actually expect kids to be saying them until 5, some until 6-7.  She said, "I can tell she doesn't have the muscle tone or ability to say them, and likely won't gain those on her own."  However, they won't work with her until she is ACTUALLY behind.  

I left so frustrated, feeling like "good enough" should NOT be good enough!  As I drove home, I felt very distinctly, "It is your job, you can't expect them to do it for you."  It is the conversation Jared and I have had over and over.  No school, no program can get the results on their own- as a parent, you HAVE to be pro-active and involved if you want your child to succeed.

So, we will find another way to help her through her speech struggles, because as parents, We "are entrusted with the care and development of our Heavenly Father's children."