Speech Camp Finale
7/03/2008
For the last month Wil has been attending Speech Camp for three hours every weekday morning. It functions a lot like pre-school with an emphasize on speech and language development. The University of South Carolina runs the camp and staffs it with students earning a Master's in Speech/Language Pathology. Apart from $25 for materials there's no charge for the camp. So the USC students get their intern hours and the kids get some extended speech therapy over the summer.And Wil? He loved it! Our guy is most definitely social and he loves to interact with others. His new in home Speech Therapist cannot get over how attentive and cooperative he is during her hour with him. We hear that from all of his therapists. That is Wil. When anyone sits down on the floor he will situate himself directly in front of them and wait for the play to begin.
And music? He loves that, too. He stomps his feet, swings his head, gestures wildly with his hands, and has a big ole grin on his face. So speech camp was right up his ally.
Input from teachers who seemed to adore him, lots of play, and lots of music. Today we got to see some of what they have been working on. They had an end of camp program. To be honest I expected it to be chaos. What, with 20 kids that are speech delayed, learning delayed, some cognitively and developmentally delayed like Wil. How could it not be? And for sure I thought Wil would have to be held by a teacher in order to keep him from his quick bear walk escape. Boy, I was wrong. Wil sat on his designated spot on stage, stomped his feet and signed along to some of the songs. And he grinned and clapped and grinned and clapped. 
In the picture below you may notice him tapping beneath his chin. This is his sign for "Nonnie," whom he had just spotted in the crowd.
And here he is signing "pop, pop, pop" (both hands palm out moving in a circular motion) as they sing a popcorn song. This was clearly his favorite of all the songs. 
He was so delighted with himself! And he was by far the most enthusiastic clapper!
After their performance the teachers began handing out completion certificates to each of the kids. But Wil, finding this part a bit too boring, decided he was done. So he got up and walked away. 
He made a beeline for his Papa. 
And then continued his applause. We were applauding too, grinning big for our boy, as this simple program reminded us of the important moments in life.
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