When D1 saw the speech therapist on Monday, I brought something up which has concerned me lately. D1 has really taken an interest in reading. He’s a very good reader, and he is beginning to enjoy it too. What I have noticed though, is that since his reading skills have finally come together and he is reading fluently, his speech ARTICULATION is down. He slurs or lisps, or full on uses an /f/ sound in place of /th/. This is NOT an issue with his normal speech! I was thinking that it may just be a normal setback, but of course I wanted her to know about it.

It turns out I was correct. Kids often lose some articulation as they become fluent readers. She said, “It takes so much brain power to process the words and read them out loud that something has to give. It’s not unusual for it to be their artic. It will come back, as his reading becomes even easier for him.” Yes! I know it sounds minor, but considering I was told when he was 3 that he might never LEARN phonics, or how to read, this is something I wanted her to know about. This dyspraxia is a weird thing, and combined with D1′s other issues, we just never know how things can go. I’m just glad this isn’t out of the realm of what she considers ‘normal’.