Bear is downstairs with R, 'reading' her a book. It's a picture book with one word on the page, and he's repeating 'bottle' over and over and over. My perfect, smart-as-the-dickens, beautiful daughter is having some trouble learning to speak.
The Early Childhood Intervention person that helped so much with C came yesterday and assessed her - she thinks at this point it's a matter of us automatically doing everything she needs when she points, and her brother picking up the slack. "Rosebud wants...." So Miss R hasn't needed to try to talk. I also have a sneaking suspicion she's stubborn - a trait we call independent around here - and just doesn't want to.
She started talking a little late, but it was clear as a bell - her Mamas and Dadas were well-formed and obvious - and we waited for her next word. C was hot to have her say his name and insisted she would whisper it to him at night while they waited for their bath. Bear and I smiled and exclaimed and made quiet bets about what it would be.
And it never came.
The 'phone conversation with Denise (ECD) was a bit surreal. "It's not that she isn't talking" I tried to explain, knowing full well that at eighteen months I could be percieved as jumping the gun, "it's that she doesn't seem to be trying at all."
"Does she say no?" "She's never said no."
It was when we relayed the information that we hadn't heard her say 'Dada' in about a month that the tone of the conversation became worried. Dropping words or 'regressing' wasn't good.
The actual appointment was slow to start. R froze like a cornered animal and refused to make a sound or move in front of Denise. It took her almost twenty minutes to relax enough to where she'd take a yellow ball from D's hand, and another ten before she'd make any sounds at all. Denise worked with her over and over trying to get her to make the 'buh' sound (bag, ball, blue, boy, bottle, bunny) and switched to a toy that pulls apart. R watched her with a hint of suspicion crossing over her face. Denise pulled the toy apart (it made a zzzzing! noise) and sing-songed "'uh-oh!" to R, whose eyes and mouth opened wide
and
out
of her mouth
tumbled
(like a pearl)
'Uh-oh!"
Bear and I froze. I teared up. Denise just smiled and repeated it again. Rosey said 'Uh-oh' again one more time and then it was back to the pointing and 'unh!'
So now we have a plan. I am to research Pivotal Response Training (actually developed for autistic children, it breaks down into where if she wants something and makes a noise, we 'peat and repeat' the correct word, trying to get her to say it [while judging her frustration levels] before she gets what she wanted) and start some basic sign with her. We also have a Speech referral.
Yesterday - yesterday she said uh-oh.
11 comments:
You made me tear all up!!!!
How sweet!
You know, you are very good at this writing thing. You made me FEEL how you felt. YOu ever thought of doing something profesional? I mean besides the church bulletins.
Honey, I so know your ecstasy in her Uh-Oh!
I have an R. A Slow-to-speak R. He is almost 5. Talked a bit (maybe 4 words) and then gave up talking at 15 mons or thereabouts. He has an older brother, so I reckoned he was just lazy. We did signing with his brother, and R signed for awhile, then gave that up too. It was like he couldn't give a rat's ass about people. Didn't make eye contact, showed them his back alot.
Anyway, 3 years of speech therapy later, he is now talking quite a bit, can write alot, read a bit, and is off the charts math smart. But talking? not so much. He qualified for another year of special needs preschool.
You are so so so so smart to jump on this now.
And I can feel your elation at her sweet words "uh-oh"! She is present; she CARES! That's everything.
have you checked her hearing? my nephew was slow to talk and it turned out he wasn't hearing well. they put tubes in, and he went from 3 words to 20 in two weeks.
(It wasn't that he wasn't hearing at all-- that would ave been really obvious, I assume. He just was not hearing clearly enough to make sense of the words and make his own.)
Good point, cat. My R had constant ear infections. They did test his hearing and it was in the acceptable range. I ended up having to have one ear tubed. But his hearing HAD to have been affected for those 9 months that he had almost constant ear infections.
Lovely post. I found that my son's speech slowed down dramatically when he was focusing on other activities. When he was 2, he started learning to swim and the speech growth died off completely. He finished the eight week program and his speech started to grow again fairly quickly. So sometimes they're growing in other areas. I agree with Vickee, as well, that you're doing the right thing by getting on top of it now. Good luck.
There's something so sweet about those first words -- "uh-oh" is especially cute. I hope you get to celebrate many more soon.
It's scary when they stop talking. Other than that, though, everything is good, right? Walking, fine and gross motor skills all good?
I do think it's much easier for second (and third and fourth and...) kids to be a bit lazier when it comes to words. There's always someone older around to interpret for them.
Take nothing for granted, be eagle-eyed, get second opinions start early and NEVER, EVER, EVER REST.
-J.
isn't it funny how four letters can mean so much? what a sweet day.
best of luck to you. I look forward to hearing what her next word is.
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