Speech what?

I received a phone call yesterday from the resource counselor at J's school. She said the "hi, how are you" bit, and jumped right into her reason for calling. J's teacher has noted him as one of the students who would benefit from speechha therapy. I was thinking that it might be something to look into, because although he has the vocabulary of someone twice his age and can express his emotions and opinions elaborately, he still has a problem saying the "L" and "R" sounds. He can't say them at all.

I've talked to several people about this, friends, family, and professionals, and they have all told me not to worry, he's fine. But his school thinks differently. I'm okay with that. I gave the necessary permission to have him evaluated and get the ball rolling for speech therapy. I thought it was all taken care of, but the counselor didn't.

She went on to tell me that it's good we're doing something now, because if he continues struggling with his enunciation, it could affect his reading. He is an advanced reader, and I pointed this out to her. She then said, yes, he's great at reading, but that's because he can memorize every word he sees the first time. Huh? That either makes him a lot smarter than I gave him credit for, or a lot worse at reading than I thought he was. If I believed it. I don't.

I also don't believe that if he continues with a speech problem, he might forget how to read, how to write, and some letter recognition. Excuse me? Really? Well, when he's older of course.

Although I don't buy it, I wonder how a conversation about his language development went from an agreeable (possible) treatment plan to a forecast of (possible) educational regression. It might have been necessary to bring up whatever research she had on the topic had I refused to have him evaluated, but I was agreeing with her recommendations.

This focus on the negative made me jump to all sorts of irrational mom conclusions, like what haven't I done to help him more, and why is it my child struggling? Then I got a grip and realized that J's perfect in his own imperfect way. I wouldn't change a thing about him, and if I have any real concerns about what I'm not doing right I need to focus on how I can change, not him. But for now, I'm happy that I am encouraging support for him. However misguided the reasons for the recommendation may be, I can see that it will help him in the future.