Who writes this stuff?

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I try to keep my priorities in order: Jesus, my Andy, our children, everything else. I homeschool our boys, love to read almost all written words and have been challenged by the military life for 18 years. Right now my faulty human body is demanding a lot of attention. One day at a time, learning as much as possible every day and remembering to look for JOY when other things threaten to overwhelm.

My Blog Title Verse

"For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:6 NKJV
The Message translation puts it this way "God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding."


Sunday, October 21, 2007

Language

We slept in today, which was very nice. However, no matter how late you sleep, you never want to be awakened with the words "Mom, wake up. Zion has poop on his fingers". I'm just saying, 8:30 is a beautiful time of day, and I adore my children for letting me sleep until then, but really... poop? I will tell you that there is very little that will wake you up so completely and utterly as the above mentioned sentence. Luckily, it wasn't as bad as my first fears... nothing pretty, but nothing too tragic either. Looking back on it now, from the safety of 11pm, it is really quite humorous.
After my last post my friend Michelle asked about Zion's language progression. I decided to make a list of his words. I had started one about 3 weeks ago (actually, when I was home for the pumpkin patch) and I added to it over the last few days. I was happy to note that there were three new "words" since then. I think that is good. The thing is, many of his words aren't real words. The mean something to him, and I know what they mean, because he uses them on a regular basis, but they sound nothing like they are "supposed" to. For instance - juice and shoes sound exactly alike. I can only tell which one he wants by his motions. Also, boo boo, choo choo (train) and doo doo are very hard to tell apart. Also, where in the world does doo doo come from? No one in this house says doo doo. We say potty, or possibly poo poo, but never doo doo. Why does he say that? Does he think he is saying poo poo? Can he not hear the difference? Little things like that are starting to worry me. His newest word is please. He has been signing it (or at least, his version of it) for several months now, but he "says" it now too. But it sounds nothing like please. It sounds like Thhhh thhhh.
My favorite of his new words is EWWWW. He says that when he needs his nose wiped, because that is what I say every time I wipe his nose. It is not even really a word, but because that is what I say, that is what he associates with wiping his nose and now it has meaning.
So, he has 22 words, is you count all of them, even the ones that aren't really words. Actually, 23, because Thank and You are two seperate words. Even if they sound like "tank too". So, does anyone out there think I need to be concerned? He is 22 months old now.
One more thing... he still does not have a name for his brother. If I point to myself and say "who am I" he will say Momma. If I point to Andy and ask, he will say either Dada or Momma, depending on his mood, and if I point to Canaan he will say Momma every time. Canaan hates it!!!
I feel better now that I have vented. Feel free to comment, but also feel free to completely ignore the worries of a Mommy.

2 comments:

Michelle M. Nebel said...

I had written a HUGE long response to ya, but when I came back it was gone. GRRR! I hate when that happens.

Long story short: our visit to the SLP gave us a lot of reassurance. Even though J was "behind", it was nice to hear that (A) I wasn't crazy, there really was a language issue and (B) it was incredibly minor and the experts didn't feel it warranted special services.

The benchmark they gave us was that Jonas should have between 3 and 20 words by 18-20 months. My concern with what you're saying about Zion is that he is older than Jonas, and still near that 18-20 month benchmark. You know what I mean? It could be that his "language explosion" will happen any day, or it COULD be that there's a problem.

If I were you, I'd get your pediatrician to refer you to an audiologist for a complete screening (to make sure the physical structures are all fine) and then to a speech/language pathologist for an evaluation. It should all be paid for if you do it on base, and in my opinion it's better to do an (easy, simple, noninvasive and non-scary) test and hear that everything is fine... than to not do any testing and discover later there was an issue, you know what I mean?

I know it can be worrisome - we're actually having some of the same concerns here, still. Jonas is up to 50 words and signs, but MANY of his spoken words are totally unintelligible to non-parental people ;-) and even Chris has trouble telling the difference between some of his words (ball, bath, baby, cereal bar, and bye-bye are almost the same). I can only tell by his intonation and cause I'm the Mama. ;-D You know how that goes. Anyway, we're going to do testing again after the new year, near his 2nd birthday, unless there's a clear difference in the next couple of months.

Hope some of that helps!

Unknown said...

I haven't been here in a while...what a lot of catching up! I have to tell you that I regret not taking Katie to her physical therapy evaluation/sessions. Although she has caught up now mostly, I feel like I slacked by not doing something that could have helped her. It is just so hard as a parent to think that something might be wrong...and especially if you have great insurance that will pay for all of it, I say definitely go for it, the best case scenario you get news like your friend, the worse case scenario you take him for help. You know he is smart and able, curious, etc...at least you have some assurance that if it is something it is just minor and not major special needs. Not that having a special needs child would be bad, just thinking of what would be considered the "worse." I feel unqualified to give advice since it is advice that I didn't take myself when I knew there was an issue. Your're the mommy, go with your gut!