Squishy vs. Squeaky

Little Max is involved with a speech therapist because he has some pronunciation issues. We wanted to get ahead of the problem before something that was "cute" turned into a detriment to learning and communicating effectively to the outside world (King's Speech, anyone?). He qualified for services mostly because most adults who interact with Max will only catch about 50% of what he is saying. Although, until a friend recently noted to me that her daughter never seems to have a hard time understanding Max, I hadn't realized that it is adults not children who have a problem understanding Max. Maybe because kids are better listeners and much more patient than adults. At any rate, he is getting the help he needs.

Because of our big trip back to Utah he would be missing quite a bit of time with his speech therapist. We decided that homework would be a great idea during his trip. I booked our nanny for the other three children and made plans to spend a few minutes grabbing the homework and then spending the rest of the time at a fro-yo place with Max where we would collect Hello Kitty spoons (limited edition, I might add).

Well, we never made it to the fro-yo place and sadly our spoon collection does not feature any Japanese cats or her friends. Wanna know why? Because Max and I have the same speech problem. Talk about guilt. I am a guilt-magnet by nature. I feel bad about feeling bad. I am constantly on a journey of making sure I do not apologize for who I am and what I am but really that's not the point of this story. So moving right along...

As the poor little speech therapist was trying to explain to me the sounds that Max mispronounces he quickly realized where Max may have picked up the speech pattern which he coined "unique". Me, the poor kid got it from his Mom. If I had ever felt more humiliated in my life, then I don't remember. Apparently the whole world pronounces the "sh" sound differently than Max and me. And most kids with speech problems have the "t" sound problem while Max has the "sh" sound problem. So instead of a quick explanation of  the homework, we ended up having to figure out a way for the speech therapist to record himself so that Max got the right sounds to practice instead of getting it from me. Because it became very clear very quickly, I was unable to do it.

I am by no means an "education" snob. But I am a college graduate from an accredited well respected university. I felt like a raging idiot. I felt like I was 6 again, learning how to speak English. Somehow, I felt smaller than my little boy today. Here I was trying to get him help and yet, I couldn't master a simple sound in the English language. Nobody wants to hear "well, you can both practice it together" when you are suppose to be the one leading and raising.

Then I quickly remembered who raised me. People who have always asked for my assistance with the English language from the time I learned to speak English in grade school I was expected to translate not only my school work but business letters, bills, and anything else and anywhere. I remember helping my parents fill out forms to become naturalized and quizzing them on their "American Citizen quiz" when I was 10.  I have always been my mother's health care advocate.  I have always been my Dad's spell checker and resume writer or government translator.

It humbled me realizing my parents were never too prideful to accept or ask for help for themselves, even from their children. Maybe, that was the lesson in today's embarrassment. I will practice Squishy vs. Squeaky "sh" sounds all day long if it's for my precious son. Even if I am practicing along side him instead of leading him. He and I will conquer this....I just know it.