First Steps

Every Wednesday at 8am Ella has an appointment at our home with her speech therapist, Kathy. I was a little hesitant about First Steps at first. I didn't understand how working with someone for only one hour a week was going to help Ella. Not only has Ella learned a lot from Kathy, but I have learned a lot too! Kathy is down to earth, and great at what she does.  She was nice enough to let me take a few pictures of her and Ella this morning to share on my blog. 

Ella loves playing with this doll house. Kathy has all kinds of fun stuff to play with in the house. Ella especially loves all the little babies she has. Ella likes to put the babies in the beds, cover them with blanket, and say "night night, shhhh." She puts her finger over her mouth and says "shhhh" a lot these days! 

This is Ella giving "daddy" some "juice". 

Ella helping clean up. She is such a good helper! 

Ella loves Mr. Potato head. Today while she was playing with it she said shoes and purse. I was surprised she said purse. I had never heard her say that. 

Ella having fun with Kathy! 

Ella signing "more." We have learned a lot of sign language from Kathy. It's amazing how fast Ella learned to sign, and how quickly she started saying the word once she learned the sign. 

Ella and Kathy looking at books. Ella saw a picture of a horse and said "big." That was another new word she threw in today. 

Kathy can not believe the progress Ella has made in such a short time. Ella is catching up quickly. She can say around 50 words, and she is starting to say two word phrases. Kathy said today that if I ever feel like Ella is doing so well that Ella doesn't need First Steps anymore to let her know. She said when she feels like Ella is caught up she will let me know, and we can stop. I think Ella just needed a jump start with her talking. I am so proud of the progress she has made. We are going to continue working with Kathy for a little while longer. She has been such a big help to us!