Saturday, December 22, 2012

Say What?


I cannot believe all of the language we are hearing these days.  For about the past week everyone you have talked to has noticed a pretty drastic increase in your communication.  Anything from your ability to put 2-3 words together independently, your imitation of words and sounds, and your ability to follow directions.  

You are coming up with new labels and requests independently such as "doughnut," "star," "spiderman," "off" and "down."  You are making your dislikes known to others, for example, running around your room naked and telling your therapist "no clothes, " "clothes all done," "no more clothes." And you are engaging others in your preferred activities by asking questions like, "do you wanna Lego orrr you wanna cereal?"  When you use language like that  we will do whatever you want!  

Without prompting you are imitating words you hear around you in order to be a part of conversations and allow your voice to be heard.  You are then using these words spontaneously just moments later and generalizing their meanings.  You are starting to realize more that words are made up of different sounds and it is the combination of these sounds that you need to focus on.  With less effort you have been able to make these sounds and your speech is more intelligible to all those around you.  

On top of this, you also do still use your communication device on occasion which has also expanded.  You used it the other day to say "welcome all, come Ms. Jody" - you were trying to welcome the babysitter and wanted her to take you to your speech therapist Jody.  Then when asked to tell what animal says "moo" you used your device to say "make me" and then laughed and walked away.  Lets just say not everyone is able to use their AAC device to give or show attitude but you have definitely found a way :)

This is a very exciting time and I am so very proud of you everyday.  I know how hard you have worked and continue to work and how much it means to you.  You clap and cheer for yourself when you are able to make new words or sounds.  You smile and giggle with happiness as others honor your requests and hear your voice.  You take great pride in all of your success which continues to be your driving force.  My mom always taught me to trust my gut and my gut is telling me that we are going to continue to see some amazing growth over the next year.

Keep on Truckin
Love
Mom

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