say my name
We’ve started taking Dude to weekly speech therapy sessions, and today was his second session. At 2 1/2 years old he can say two words that a stranger would recognize. There are a couple of other words that he’ll try but I think I’m the only one that can understand what he’s trying to say. For the rest he signs and when signs fail he points and grunts. He can probably sign over 200 signs but that only works when the person he is signing to knows ASL, which isn’t that many people. It is especially hard to see him out trying to interact with other kids his age and they don’t understand him.
The speech therapist seems to understand him and his situation a bit better. He is one of the youngest patients she’s worked with so she’s having to adapt her method. I was reluctant when we first met her months ago because she was recommending that I stop teaching him signs. I didn’t see why I would take his only form of communication away from him. I still don’t want to take it away. It is just easier to sign because he will readily use signs to tell me what he wants but if I attempt to get him to speak then we go around and around with him pointing to various things and he gets upset when I don’t know what he wants.
As part of my homework with him I’m to try to get him to use his voice more often and to do that we are going to basic sounds, like mmm, dd, bb, ah, oh, eh, etc. If I start he will copy me as long as his sister doesn’t jump in. If I ask him what a dog sounds like and his sister answers he just doesn’t see the point in answering too. I totally get that but I just want to hear Dude try. This is one of the challenges of having twins. It is really highlighted when one if advanced and the other one is delayed. At least they aren’t identical because it would be even more tempting to make comparisons.
Because I knew that we were going to start up speech therapy again I started ramping up practicing with him. The husband and I have also made it a priority to give the kids one on one time with us at least once a week. It sounds so pitiful to see that in writing that they only get individualized attention once a week but I guess all parents with more than one kids struggle with that.
Mama and Dada are the two words that Dude says that I think any stranger would recognize. For the longest time he would only say them when I prompted him to use his voice. The husband would be upstairs and Dude would stand at the bottom gate signing Dad and “calling” him in a wordless way. I’d remind him that his daddy couldn’t see him signing and that if he used his voice then daddy would respond. Only then would he call Dada.
The other day I came home and Dude saw me sneak in the door. He ran over with a look of delight on his face as he cried Mama. I can hardly describe the joy I felt hearing my son call for me unprompted.
We sat today with the speech therapist and it quickly became obvious that for whatever reason Dude wasn’t interested in playing any of her games. She commented on how last week he was quite talkative and it felt like magic and this week, well, not so much.
I’m as on-board with his speech therapy as I’m going to get. I am concerned about the level of his speech delay. I believe that I am doing the best thing by taking him for therapy. I just know that he will speak when he is good and ready. There are a number of kids that for whatever reason decide that speech just isn’t for them and then one day they just start talking. It will take time. For now he doles out words at a miserly rate. Now that I’ve heard him say my name I know that it will happen; on his terms and that is fine with me.
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