My son, who is seven and will not turn eight until July 30, is in second grade. He has had severe speech impediments since he first started talking, but no one informed me of speech therapy until he was starting Kindy. We were very afraid it would affect his learning, especially things such as spelling and reading, because he made up his own sounds for letters, and used them when talking.

Well, he does much better now, with 2 and a half years of speech therapy at school, and everyone is able to understand him now, though he still has several issues and will need speech for a while longer. However, he is very bright, and a quick learner, and was chosen for PACE this year, which is the gifted program. I know he is excellent at math skills, and he is a good reader, but today I found out how good!

We received the Diagnostic Report for reading, and found he is reading at the level of a fifth grader in the sixth month of the school year! He also achieved a national Percentile Rank of 99 stating that he scored equal or higher than 99% of students nationwide!

I'm very excited for him. He deserves this! And he loves to read, so that is definitely a positive thing!

Thanks for letting me share!

By Amecmom on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - 08:09 pm:

WOW! Way to go!
Ame

By Annie2 on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - 09:38 pm:

WooHOO! That is a great brag! Congratulations to your son!

By Heaventree on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - 09:40 pm:

Adena that's fantastic! You must be very proud. Way to go ASHTON!

By Mrsheidi on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - 10:06 pm:

Holy smokes!!! Adena, that is the best news I've heard in a while...I'm getting teary and it's not even my son! LOL
WTG Ashton!

By Wandilu on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - 10:12 pm:

Way to go,little man !!! That is amazing.My son,who is now 32,also had a severe speech impediment.But it also turned out that he was/is extremely inteligent.I know exactly how you feel right now!I see a fun family night at Chuck E Cheese in the works !!!!

By Sandysmom on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - 11:21 pm:

VERY cool! That is great! What a confidence boost! BTW, my DD was evaluated by a speech therapist years ago and it was concluded that she was trying to talk as fast as her thoughts were forming. I hope I said that right. Basically her mouth could not keep up with her brain. She is also very smart so I was wondering if that could be part of the issue. She has grown out of it.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, January 4, 2007 - 12:17 am:

Wow!

By Jewlz on Thursday, January 4, 2007 - 08:30 am:

give him a big hug for us!!!^5 to ya

By Kernkate on Thursday, January 4, 2007 - 08:44 am:

^5 That is great!!

By Nicki on Thursday, January 4, 2007 - 02:18 pm:

Adena, how wonderful! He has really worked hard, hasn't he? Please tell him we think he is pretty great. I think he has a really good mom, too.:-)

By Cocoabutter on Thursday, January 4, 2007 - 02:28 pm:

That is fabulous! Congratulations!

By Luvn29 on Thursday, January 4, 2007 - 04:12 pm:

Awww, I just got home and saw all this. You guys are fantastic! Thanks so much, all of you!!!

Sandy, Ashton has that problem, too. When he gets really excited about something he speeds along so quickly you don't have any idea what he is talking about! LOL! We have to tell him to sloooow it down!

You guys are just so sweet! Thank you for being proud (and yes, teary, too, Heidi!) for my little man!