B. seems to be doing well with the ABA (it's only three hours a week so far, so it's amazing if it does anything) He is starting to try to put rings on the ring stacker (if you put the ring in his hand, and pretty much give him no choice). He babbles like crazy at the ABA therapist...I think she gets him excited with all her effusive praise.
G. has decided to learn the English language starting with three syllable words. Of the thirty or so words that he can use, a big percentage of them have three syllables. Recently it's "animal", "dinosaur" and every once in a while he'll bring back "octopus". He also does a version of "Toot, toot, chugga, chugga, big red car" that sounds like it's in another language. I'm so fascinated by how he's approaching learning to talk. I think if we could sing everything we said, he might already be talking.
I don't know if I've mentioned it here, but B. has essentially stopped talking completely. I've shared my fears when G. regressed, and he's always come back within a few weeks. With B., he said so little to begin with, and the silence has lasted so much longer, I'm not sure what to think. One thing I've noticed about the ABA therapist: she's very optimistic about B., and I think he senses it. So I try to keep my hopes and my expectations high. One thing is for certain, B. is the mellowest and generally happiest member of this family by far. Lately he tends to look right into my eyes and say "Woooooo" very earnestly. It's very sweet.
At bedtime, J. has fallen in love with Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. I'm enjoying re-discovering it alongside him. My favorite line is "The night Max wore his wolf suit, and made mischief of one kind and another..." Max would feel right at home in our house
4 comments:
Oh yes. I know exactly [I think] what you mean - can say Stegosaurus [and correct my pronunciation] but can't say Green!
Cheers
JP could tell me what a xylophone was but couldn't ask for juice! We kept pulling out the picture dictionary trying to put more words in but he just never initated using them except to label that particular picture!
Language is a fascinating thing. Hang in there with B. He is learning lots of new stuff with the ABA gal right now and perhaps that has pulled his focus from babbling to receptive learning and such. Give it time! They always say there is a plateau before a big gain.
However, I truly understand how quiet that silence can be! Hang in there!
It is hard to watch one take off with language while the other does not. I am convinced, though, that despite that silence, they are also learning and just have not discovered what to do with all their new info yet. My J. has also been essentially quiet in that regard, but has recently started saying words spontaneously and I really credit his ABA sessions.
I agre with MWAM and Kal that B is most likely taking in some serious learning and is not as focused on the language bit right now. Nik's EI speech therapist used to tell me all the time that whenever the kids she was working with were making great gains in some area of PT or OT they would stall in the area of communication or feeding.
We were so worried for a long time that Nik simply didn't understand things but it was, I think, a plateau. He's recently begun to follow lots of simple instructions and is even beginning to initiate things with us. He "sings" all the time and we do use singing of instructions and such for some transitions (meals, brushing teeth, dressing, etc.). It seems to help him a lot.
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