2/16/2010

Progress in Elijah's Speech Delay

Elijah has a speech delay for those of you who were not in the know. He'll be three in less than a month and he says about 20-30 words. So far, I've been able to accomplish with him:

~potty training (that was a research process - maybe some day I'll explain my method - it was genius - I should have it published) and he takes himself to the toilet and calls me
~entire alphabet in sign language (ASL)
~he can say all of the letter sounds and identify them when asked e.g. What makes the fff sound? He points to 'F'
~he signs about 20 other words including milk, gorilla, and airplane
~he traces all the letters and numbers 1-10 with his finger
~he knows the order of the alphabet and can type it on the computer
~he knows that 'big' letters are different from 'little' letters
~he understands a lot of words, probably between 300-500, and can point them out
~he can say each sound of a letter in a word, like p-puh, i-iii, g-guh (just can't put them together)
~he can follow commands without gestures e.g. go put that on the table, go get my water bottle


But what is better than all of that?
The love he shows his sister in wanting to share with her what he has learned...love is all that counts anyway.

2 comments:

  1. It sounds like he's above average for pretty much everything, which is amazing. So I don't think him not verbalizing so much is much of a problem at this point, as long as his social development is on track (which also seems to be ahead of the curve based on all the other forms of interaction). I would be surprised if there's not a huge change all of a sudden by this fall. Of course that's my unsolicited, non-certified and non-professional opinion. It's only a matter of time before he realizes that he can ask his own questions about anything at anytime.

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  2. It hasn't been a problem since he started signing - now when he wants something specific, he can sign for it, even if it's something like "I want to see a picture of an elephant"...it has moved him from crying like a baby to whining like a toddler when I tell him, "No, you cannot have another cookie!"

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