< Eric’s Development >
2-year old Eric attends an Early Year’s Center regularly. His mother is concerned that he is not talking as well as he should. Eric is 27 months old and can say about 25 words that his parents can understand, but they are not clear. He points and gestures to get what he wants and has some temper tantrums when he is not understood. He follows instructions given by his parents or adults at the center. He is very interactive with his parents and engages with other children, playing mostly alongside his peers, but showing some cooperative play. He particularly likes to play with sand and he gets excited when the sand table is opened up for play.
His father thinks that Eric is a late talker like he was. He thinks Eric will talk when he is ready.But Eric’s mother has noticed that his 11-month old sister is already babbling, mimicking words and saying a few words and exclamations. This is something Eric did not do at the same age. While talking with Eric’s Parents you find out that Eric’s father became unemployed just before Eric was born. Eric’s mother went back to work early. She found the financial worry quite stressful. She also got pregnant again very soon and was even stressed, worried, and tired .Thankfully, Eric’s father found new employment before the new baby was born and Eric’s mother is enjoying her full maternity leave.
Questions:
1. What can Eric do?
2. What are Eric’s strengths?
3. Compare Eric’s development with the development of a 24-month old.
4. How can you use his strengths to promote his language development?
5. What more would you like to know about Eric?
6. Is Eric’s sister’s language development on track?
7. What factors could contribute to Eric’s language and overall development?
8. What would you like to discuss with the family?
9. What do you think the next steps should be?
10. What programs can you recommend to Eric’s parents? Recommend good programs and services in your community that may be helpful to this family. Explain why the programs are good for the family
