Tanner is not a big talker. In fact, he's the strong silent type, unless he's using one of the 10 words in his vocabulary, then he's actually quite chatty. We had an evaluation yesterday with DDI Vantage, who work with children who are delayed in speech, development, etc. 4 very nice ladies came to our house to see how our 2 year old measures up. Through a series of games, pictures, eye screening, toys, lots of questions, etc. They have determined that he's ahead in all areas, besides speech. He "qualifies" for their program, so now we will have a Speech Therapist come to our home twice a month to work with him. I'm looking forward to learning what we can do to help. I've received lots of wonderful advice about making him say "it" before he gets "it", or if he grunts or points and I know what he wants, not to just give it to him but to vocalize what he wants, ie. "you want the blue cup", etc. We even bought him this little plastic phone that helps him hear what he is saying so he can correctly pronounce things. I don't know if I'm not being patient enough, but so far he hasn't broken out into speaking sentences...not even linking two words together; it will be nice to have some "professional" help. In the meantime, any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
3 comments:
Don't you wish, at times, kids were all the same!?! We went trhough a little of that with Kate. She had all these "little helpers" she didn't use words as often as she should have. My sister gave me some advice for a game. It was a lot like the advice you got from the ladies. If you know what they want, make them say it. It can be frustrating because they haven't mastered those skills. Stick with it and be consistent! He'll get it!
PS I plan on calling you today about dinner. I'll explain the little game.
Taylor has the same problem. We bearly meet the requirement of 6 words at 18 months. If he knows the sign he will sign words even if he knows how to say them. Please let me know how this goes because I am not so sure he will go from 6 words to sentences in the next few months.
That's awesome that he'll have his own personal training sessions - he's going to love the attention! It sounds like you're doing a wonderful job by trying to get him to ask for things using his words. That's exactly what I always do at this age. Also, when Izzy is crying and getting frustrated about something and I feel a tantrum coming on, I try to articulate what she's upset about ("I think you're hungry/sleepy/want to play with me") and it actually calms her down! Even if she's not using the words herself right then, she identifies with what I am saying if I get it right, and then the next time she is more likely to just tell me what is wrong using those words I said instead of resorting to tears. Keep us posted on his progress! I hope he likes his trainer!
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