Speech Evaluation

Tuesday found Will demonstrating his eating skills in front of his speech therapist, Lisa. He was very impressive wolfing down a hoagie sandwich, apple, chips and a pop. Lisa’s evaluation of his eating skills was two thumbs up.

Her next evaluation consisted of a wide-ranging battery of tests on everything from tracing geometrical shapes without crossing the line, to reading sentences, writing words, trying to open your eyes while someone’s holding your lids down, coughing, and sticking out your tongue. She took copious notes on her findings and then left him with a number or homework assignments including things like putting together a jig-saw puzzle, biting the tip of his tongue while swallowing with the back part seven times, putting a button in his mouth attached to a string of dental floss and tugging on it while reading the newspaper, saying words that start with the letter “g” while holding a knife under his nose to see if he was leaving film on the knife, reading 10 short sentences focusing on speaking slowly, loudly and over articulating, and finally having a five minute conversation with someone using those same strategies. By the time Lisa left, Will felt like he had gone through boot-camp. Bilbo Baggins in his book “There and Back Again,” had nothing on Will.