First day on Speech Therapy

March 26th, 2008 is Kahya's first session of speech therapy with Pak Rahmat. It was more to play therapy since it is still very difficult to make Kay sit for the entire 60 minutes. Pak Rahmat brought flash cards and plastic animal toys to get Kay's attention. The goal is to broaden his vocabulary and practice making correct sound.

As of Kay's first week in total Bahasa Indonesia, we are amazed at how quickly he picked up some of the children's songs. He likes the tune of Burung Kakatua, he could sing the first sentence....."burung kakak tua"...and also "topi saya bundar" .... just because the tunes are the same. He is also able to sing "cicak cicak di dinding".

English or Bahasa Indonesia?

So.... Kahya needs speech therapy. We went for evaluation with Dr. Ira at Klinik Pela 9 last wednesday, and she confirmed that Kahya needs more stimulation to push him to talk more. She, and the psychologist Ibu Anne, suggested that Kahya does speech therapy for 2 times a week.

Now, I am debating whether to do it in English or Bahasa Indonesia. We have a really good Bahasa Indonesia therapist, but since Kakak Nugra is now speaking mostly in English, I wonder if it is wiser to do it in English.

I googled and found this good site about early speech and language development:

http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/

The author is a mother of two children who is also a speech pathologist. The sites contain exercises and tips that you can do at home.

Nugra's Yearly School Performance

On Saturday, March 15th, we were invited to Nugra's end-of-school-year performance called "Indonesiaku". We came to school around 8 to give plenty of time for Nugra to get dressed and ready. The costume was a pair of black shirt and pants with songket balapak. He was also wearing songket-patterned head-wrist band.

The performance started at around 9. The kids entered singing "Berkibarlah Benderaku" while waving their miniature national flag. Kakak was very good, he smiled and very proudly sang throughout the opening number without any hesitation. The second song was "Beungong Jumpa" with all the children dancing Tari Saman. Following that, all the children sang "Yamko Rambe Yamko" with choreographed pom-pom dance. The next song are about becak, kancil and kuda lumping. I am giving 2 thumbs-up since the school prepared lots of props for this performance. The second to last performance was "Pepaya Mangga Pisang Jambu" song. Kakak Nugra acted as Tukang Buah Apel. This was an interactive number, the parents were given opportunity to act as buyer. The school give us monopoly money as props to be used to buy the fruits. Lastly, the children leave the stage by singing "Sayonara".

I am very very very proud of Kakak Nugra. He is very comfortable, very relax, very confidence in all of the show. He remembered all of his songs and dances. He was able to calm his nerves and regulate himself. All of the therapy has paid off. I am again, a very very happy mother.