I sit taller. “Of course.”
“I noticed Quinn’s dad left this form blank. Do you know if he plans on signing it?”
I briefly scan the document she hands me, plucking out words likeHIPPA,school communication, andprogress monitoring. All of which tell me Everett would be granting this practice the ability to pass Quinn’s confidential target goals and growth over to her teacher.
Would he want this?
“I’m not sure,” I reply.
“That’s okay. It’s optional. Maybe you could take it with you though and double-check?”
“Of course.”
“Awesome. Well… your turn, Quinn. Ready?”
“Re-eee,” Quinn repeats.
“I see you’ve found my friends here.” Sue holds up a female doll with gray hair. “This is the grandma.”
“To-To,” Quinn says back.
Sue looks at me.
“Coco is her grandma’s name.”
“Oh! How cute!”
I smile at her.Don’t say that to Caroline. I wonder if Everett’s told her about any of this. After pushing for speech therapy at the birthday party, I’m sure it would win him somebrownie points if she knew he had gotten Quinn the help that she needs.
Sue holds up the female doll with black hair next. “This is the mommy.”
“Mommy,” Quinn repeats with ease.
Sue jots down a couple of notes, then holds up the matching male doll. “And this is the daddy.”
“Da-eee.”
“Yes, daddy,” Sue says again, only this time she emphasizes thedsound in the middle of the word. “You like your daddy, huh?”
Quinn nods.
They practice labeling each figurine before Sue collects the dolls off the table and stows them in a wicker basket near her feet. Without the distraction of the toys, Quinn waits. Sue reaches for a binder on a metal shelf bolted to the wall next to her. The laminated pages fan as she flips to a picture of a girl on a rollercoaster.
“She’s going down. Can you say ‘down’?”
Quinn nails the word on the first try.
“Good!” She scans for another page. “She’s on a ride. Can you say ‘ride’?”
A shuffle of feet and a flash of shadows draw Quinn’s attention to the door. Sue makes popping sounds with her mouth. It redirects Quinn’s eyes to her lips. “Try it,” she encourages when it makes Quinn smile.
Quinn mimics the noise.
“That’s a fun sound to make, huh?”
“Yeah!” Quinn carries on with the lip-smacking.
“What about this one?” Sue points to her mouth as she shows Quinn how to form the sound for the letterd, touching her tongue to her front pallet while bringing her teeth together.
