Well, there’s nothing wrong with my kid! Not that I thought there was anything wrong exactly. But I did think he needed a little help with speech. We met with a speech therapist and a child psychologist last week. They said Ryder is incredibly bright for his age and has no developmental or speech delays. What seems to be a delay in speech is due to “choice speech.” Most kids learn single words to get what they want like milk, food, juice, etc. Ryder has learned to say “I want this” or “I want that” and to point to the specific item. So he just says one of those phrases instead of the word. They said with just a little work, his words will come in. We just have to try to get him to say the word rather than say the word for him. If he says “I want that” and points to goldfish, the goal is for him to say goldfish. So we are to ask “what is that” or “what’s the word for that.”

The speech pathologist said, although they aren’t saying he needs speech therapy, working with a speech therapist could help push him along to get additional words quicker. They even have a speech therapist that will come to our home and work together with Ryder and I if we decide we want to do it!

I’ll be honest, it’s a big relief to know Ryder has no developmental delays. Not that it’s a bad thing. I know speech delays are incredibly common. But it’s just one less thing to worry about. I hate the idea of him struggling with anything.