My 18th Month Doesn't Talk Yet - Update

It has been about 2 weeks since since Chapati's assessment at Articulice Speech Centre with Yean Ching. I am really happy to update that he is now making a lot more variety of noises. Best-est part is he can say Mama and Papa!!!! (Soooo happy!) His articulation is very clear, so it wasn't a mistake! Since then he has said it quite a few times already.

Following Yean Ching's recommendation, we have tried to do the following over the last two weeks.

1. Make him eat more chunky, chewy food where possible
2. Face massage - at least once a day when brushing his teeth before sleeping
3. Hubby bought him a proper mini harmonica last week (RM 7.40) - a toy that he has to put to his mouth and blow to encourage him not to be afraid to explore

On the food part, we still have some way to go to encourage him to chew. A lot of times, I notice that he swallows or waits for it to kind of dissolve. I can't really tell because he seems so polite keeping his mouth closed, but I do notice some jaw movement. So I have decided to show him...I put food in my mouth and make deliberate chewing actions before swallowing. I also encouraged Mum-in-law (MIL) to let him eat whatever food they have cooked for themselves instead of cooking special porridge for him. Will check on MIL later this week and see how.

With face massage, it is touch and go most days. He doth protests a lot...so I try to tell him what I am doing and be as gentle as possible. At least now he sticks his tongue out when I tell him that I need to clean his tongue and he tries to keep quiet when I wipe his gums and pull out his cheeks a little. Sometimes, I do admit that it is difficult to be gentle when you have a struggling toddler to hold down. I think I will have to ask Yean Ching for some advice when doing this massage and brushing teeth thingy.

The harmonica however was a success! He liked it straight away and when we showed him how to play it, he put it to his lips and blew into it. It took him a few tries to get the sound out but now he likes playing with it and would make "music" with it. 

Here is a video of him making music! I am a proud Mama!

Happy Monday everyone!