The looks

My son does not have a physical disability. I have not had the experience that some Moms have had with looks that people will give a child that has a disability. Since he has a Speech & Language disability, it is very hard for people to tell unless they ask him questions. His biggest problem right now is answering "How are you?". He will answer with his name or his age. This weekend we went to see the Monster Trucks and an elderly lady asked him how he was doing. He answered with his name and she gave this look of confusion. She then looked at me and I told her that he has a Speech & Language disability. She then gave the look that I have seen so many people give children with physical disabilities. It is so frustrating to see that look. We moved on to our seats, but I was still frustrated over it.

Then I started to question myself and what we have been teaching Logan. I have been working with him a lot on answering the questions "Who are you?", "What is your name", and "How old are you?". We haven't completely started on "How are you?", but I can definitely see how he can get them confused. We are working more on answer how we are doing, but it seems to be harder for him to grasp than the other questions. One of his daycare teachers mentioned that she thought he might have a Cognitive Learning disability. The speech therapists and teachers at his current school said that they do see some signs of that, but not enough to call it that. However, they have started to notice that he is showing aggressive body language when he can not find the right words to say.

So now they are suggesting Occupational Therapy. I have found out from his doctor that this could help him and possibly even prevent ADD or ADHD which might happen if we do not teach him early how to deal with different stressful scenarios. I told them to teach me how to deal with the looks I am getting now when Logan can not speak to another person the way a normal 4 yr old can. She told me you get used to it after a while, because the look you will remember a year from now or 2 years from now is the look on his face when he answers a question properly. I agree, because I can see his face right now when he was telling us about the Monster Trucks the day after the show. He was so super excited and had so much fun! Now we will continue our work on "How on you?".