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Nearly two years ago, Hamlet's pediatrician advised us to look into speech therapy for him. At 17 months, he'd said just one word--"doggie"--and by the time of his 2-year appointment, had stopped saying it.

I had mixed feelings about this. As we soon found out in an initial consult, the language used at the preschool level is very similar to the special-ed language used at the K-12 level. Both Rain Dog and I have had experience with special ed.: him as a resource room teacher at the high school level, me as an observer to the countless battles my mother waged to get my learning-disabled brother a "free and appropriate public education." So, while neither of us had an overwhelmingly negative view of speech therapy, we both knew that the special-ed intervention it could lead to was not perfect.

However, we also both have a bad habit of getting ahead of ourselves. As the first speech language pathologist we met with explained, speech therapy never hurts; to delay could mean protracted intervention in school, whereas toddler therapy is presented as play.

So it was. Hamlet took to his speech therapist immediately, and soon emerged as a "model" for other children. His articulation was clear; he had no physical impediments to speech; he seemed just to need a little extra "push."

By his third birthday, his language had exploded. He no longer needed services. Although I suspect that meant he didn't really need them to begin with, the therapist we first consulted with was right: it sure didn't hurt. Speech therapy gave him his first play dates; it gave him confidence; it may even have begun the invaluable lesson that making mistakes is perfectly okay--and necessary. To that end, I now support speech therapy wholeheartedly to any parent who wonders whether their child needs it.