Slow Talkers and Sign Language
Its funny how we have that first child and expect the second to be a clone of that first one, isn’t it? My first daughter, Sara, was speaking – conversing at a basic level – at 13 months. She had a vocabulary of words that I lost count of by 18 months, and by 2, was very well spoken. At 4, she is never at a loss for words, and her vocabulary and use of it astounds my husband and I every day.
Then there’s Erin. My “sweet baby” – she has been my happy child – always a pleasure, a real clown… but why isn’t she talking the way that Sara did? When she hit one year, I said, “Its ok – she babbles, she’s trying, and soon, she’ll be talking.” By 18 months, she had barely spoken an intelligible word – and if she has, it’s never been repeated. She babbled constantly, and I could see her making a real effort to verbalize, but she just wasn’t there yet.
At 13 months, I got frustrated with her meltdowns and the shrieking and pointing. So I decided that since she’s not ready to verbally communicate, I need to offer her an alternative. I taught myself a few basic signs, “more”, “eat”, “please”… and with her, we started with more, since that was the thing she seemed to be having trouble with – at the table if she wanted more to eat, she’d just scream and throw her dish. It took only 2 days of signing (as well as verbally saying) “more” to her as we gave her more food. Since then, she signs “more” instead of screaming.
Now, she signs “eat more please” at the table, or she stands at the refrigerator signing “drink please” (while verbalizing “puh puh puh” for please). We’ve recently been working on animal names as well and to my surprise, a few weeks ago, while in the yard, she ran to me and pointed to her ear and signed “bird” to me. What a breakthrough!
I guess this was kind of an awakening to me, and a chance for me to be able to weigh the differences in learning styles between my girls. Sara, my older one, has more linguistic intelligence and is a visual learner. She never had a problem memorizing her ABC’s or learning her numbers, colors, etc. (however, she’s a bit of a clutz!) Erin is, hands down, my tactile/kinesthetic learner. She is much more apt in her gross motor skills and is a hands on learner – which is why signing has served her much better.
I have found that things that I used to teach Sara, like flash cards, may not work with Erin, and that it will be a learning experience in itself figuring out what works best for her learning style.
Today, and nearly 20 months, Erin is participating in Early Intervention speech therapy. They are supportive of her signing, and feel that she is very intelligent, and will soon begin speaking. Something tells me that once that happens, I will wonder why I ever wanted it to begin with! : )
*Carol*
Then there’s Erin. My “sweet baby” – she has been my happy child – always a pleasure, a real clown… but why isn’t she talking the way that Sara did? When she hit one year, I said, “Its ok – she babbles, she’s trying, and soon, she’ll be talking.” By 18 months, she had barely spoken an intelligible word – and if she has, it’s never been repeated. She babbled constantly, and I could see her making a real effort to verbalize, but she just wasn’t there yet.
At 13 months, I got frustrated with her meltdowns and the shrieking and pointing. So I decided that since she’s not ready to verbally communicate, I need to offer her an alternative. I taught myself a few basic signs, “more”, “eat”, “please”… and with her, we started with more, since that was the thing she seemed to be having trouble with – at the table if she wanted more to eat, she’d just scream and throw her dish. It took only 2 days of signing (as well as verbally saying) “more” to her as we gave her more food. Since then, she signs “more” instead of screaming.
Now, she signs “eat more please” at the table, or she stands at the refrigerator signing “drink please” (while verbalizing “puh puh puh” for please). We’ve recently been working on animal names as well and to my surprise, a few weeks ago, while in the yard, she ran to me and pointed to her ear and signed “bird” to me. What a breakthrough!
I guess this was kind of an awakening to me, and a chance for me to be able to weigh the differences in learning styles between my girls. Sara, my older one, has more linguistic intelligence and is a visual learner. She never had a problem memorizing her ABC’s or learning her numbers, colors, etc. (however, she’s a bit of a clutz!) Erin is, hands down, my tactile/kinesthetic learner. She is much more apt in her gross motor skills and is a hands on learner – which is why signing has served her much better.
I have found that things that I used to teach Sara, like flash cards, may not work with Erin, and that it will be a learning experience in itself figuring out what works best for her learning style.
Today, and nearly 20 months, Erin is participating in Early Intervention speech therapy. They are supportive of her signing, and feel that she is very intelligent, and will soon begin speaking. Something tells me that once that happens, I will wonder why I ever wanted it to begin with! : )
*Carol*
12/24/2005
3 comments
