It is zero exaggeration to say that we are a talkative family. Leo and I often talk over each other, fighting for the floor. Gabe was an early talker and even talked in his sleep. With a family like ours we find that the process of teaching Lucas to talk means that we have to slow down and listen carefully. We can no longer talk all at once, not if we want to listen and respond to Lucas.
Lucas is learning to put two words together. This language skill is killing his clarity but is amazing to listen to when he does get it right! So often I wish I could have a tape recorder that would switch on automatically at the sound of his voice. His vocabulary seems to finally be growing as he tries to repeat everything his big brother says. I am lucky that I can understand about 50% of what he says. Since I am always around him I act as translater when someone else is hanging out and looks baffled about what he just said. This new verbal growth spurt is a wonderful phase!
I am learning how to find little teachable moments throughout the day. Sometimes it is a simple clarification I look for like when Lucas says "Nana" and uses his sign, I will look at him and while using PROMT with ask him to say "Ba Nana". Sometimes he gets it the first try and others might take him two to three tries. He is always happiest when he knows he said it right! Little Lucas tries so hard! Other teachable moments are when he is asking for something and I ask him to repeat with an additional word he knows. A good example of this is when I he wants something to drink. Lucas may say juice (oose) using the sign. I will ask him "What kind of juice?" and he will respond with apple juice (a ol oose). I will respond "Oh you want apple juice, okay let's get you some apple juice." Lucas will nod his head and repeat apple juice. I love the joy he gets when he see's me pour the apple juice for him, it is a mixture of joy from getting what he wants and being understood.
Gabriel had a long weekend for Presidents Day, 4 days! I kept Lucas home also. Gabe has a friend over today, they are currently playing video games and talking up a storm. Lucas is near by sucking up every word and every move these two make. I am learning that sometimes the best teachable moments are when he just tries to copy his big brother. This does depend on how cooperative Gabe feels at the moment to have his baby brother follow him through the house!
Besides our two word combo skills I am also trying to teach Lucas colors, not just saying them but identifing them. It helps me pay more attention to the world when I am looking at colors and asking Lucas to tell me what it is. This is also expanding his world. A few days ago we took an easy walk around the block. We looked at the snow, tree's, clouds and sky. We saw an ambulance and talked about the cars that drove by. One truck even honked his horn to make Lucas smile. It was a great time and helped with his language skills. Sometimes I would ask him a question and others I would ask him to just repeat what I said. I have noticed that Lucas doesn't always understand me when questions are posed in a certain format. This is a question for his SLP today. One good example is when I ask "Who loves Mommy?" and he will put his hand on his chest and say "ME!" Then I ask "Who does Lucas love?" and he says "ME!" If I ask him about school "Who do you play with at school?" He replies choo choo trains (oo oo ain) If I ask him "Who is your friend at school?" he replies "oo oo ain". I know he knows the names of the kids in his playgroup because when we see them on the way into school he will try to tell me their name. I think it is the question part that he struggles with even though he tries to give an answer. He is getting better at where questions so hopefully with a little more work we can get him to understand the "who" questions.
On the EI side of life we had our meeting last week. It was our annual review and though the Battell showed that we are closing the gap on his delay we are continueing services based on his Speech needs. We really only have about a month left of services. EI is provided under IDEA part C, after he turns 3 years old he will receive surfaces under IDEA part B. If you look towards right you will see a list of links, the IDEA information is there. This is a great government program that too many know too little of. In a nut shell it provides free and appropriate education for children with any type of disability (medical or learning). You do have to jump through some hoops that may test your parenting resolve, because hey, who wants to claim their child needs special education just so the teachers will give them extra help? If you are lucky like I am then you will have someone great and kind help you get through the system.
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