A NEW WORD!!! And he totally initiated it on his own (not just him repeating something). *happy dance*
We're still working on signing, since he doesn't request things, other than with crying and a lot of vague pointing. So far, the only new sign he's picked up on is "car". (When watching the Baby Signing Time video, he goes nuts doing the sign for "milk", but then I realized that he's confusing it with the universal sign for "bye-bye". He thinks all the babies on the video are waving at him, and he's just returning the gesture!)
It's hard, because I must admit there is a lack of consistency. After a long day, and I'm desperately trying to get dinner on the table with two little ones underfoot, and everyone's crying and whining... no, sometimes I won't bother with signing "eat" myself, much less making him sign it.
Or, he'll take me by the hand and pull me to the kitchen. Then, he'll point to the cabinet where we keep the cups, followed by pointing to the fridge. (All this is usually accompanied by a lot grunting, whining and crying). He's trying to communicate, and I feel bad for withholding a drink, when it's very obvious that's what he wants. But then again, he needs to talk eventually. And we know he can talk. It's just getting him to do it.
1 comment:
I know the frustration you feel, as two of my girls have had speech problems. It is really strange, because they were born on the same day, two years apart and none of the others have had speech problems.
Anyway, the first daughter would do the same as Isaiah...she signed a lot, grunted, pointed. It was so bad we thought she was deaf or at least had some hearing problems, so we took her to the doctor...she didn't!
She had some speech therapy at age 6 and I was told that the "in-home" therapy would never be enough and she'd have to go to a special class eventually. But the therapist didn't work out and my daughter began talking correctly ON HER OWN by the time she was 7.
My second daughter has the same problems as her sister...only not as severe. So we are not worried...we know that with time, she'll be fine too, on her own. It is more a bad habit than anything and we really believe it was from hearing her older sister speak incorrectly for so long. We work on phonics often and I use some of the ideas that the speech therapist used.
Also, every time my girl says something incorrectly (EVERY TIME) I call her on it and tell her the correct way and make her try with me. It's exhausting, but I think it's important.
I think some children are worse than others...so I can't tell you that Isaiah will get better all on his own...but it's a real possibility and I wanted to give you that hope.
I hope he gets better on his own and if not, I hope the therapy works. Just hang in there...sometimes it lasts for years before it gets better!!
Blessings~
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