I consider this weekend a huge breakthrough in my oldest daughter's communication skills. She will be two years and three months old soon, and as of this weekend, other people can understand and communicate with her. Namely, my older sister and niece. Before, when she did manage to try and speak around them, they needed a translator. I heard a lot of "I don't speak two year old". I think most of the time I don't either, I'm just a good guesser, spending so much time with her daily.
I feel that in the past two weeks specifically, her vocabulary as exploded. She's not only using two and three and four word sentences all of the sudden, but she can also repeat (or try to repeat) just about anything you can say. Sure, there are lots of letter sounds she doesn't do, but it's huge progress, and relieves some big worries. I guess deep down I always figured she would be fine. I just kept telling everyone that she's saving her words up for a special occasion.
She can't say her sister's name, but she can say part of it, so she calls her Ia, pronouces (eee-uh). She's also named the baby doll her cousin got her Ia. She sings the songs we sing to her sister, to the doll also.
I couldn't be happier that those two love each other so much.
In an astronomy-related note, there is an event I am thinking of taking the baby along to, since she still refuses her bottle. I promise this is a children's, family friendly, event, and not a particle physics lecture, like last time.
That is all.
With my son's communication, I'm feeling very much as though the importance of early intervention has warped our view of late talkers. Yes, I really do believe that early intervention is incredibly important for issues like Autism and other diagnoses, but because we've painted any and all delays as something that needs early intervention, we've just made a whole lot of parents needlessly worried. My son is talking up a non-English storm, has always communicated clearly (just not with English), and has started using recognizable words and phrases. He just wasn't ready earlier. And I wish SOMEONE in authority (our pediatrician, First Steps, our speech therapist) had told me that he's probably fine but that therapy wasn't a bad idea. Instead, everyone treats it as if the sky is falling. Nope. He's just on his own time frame.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I really wish a few less people screamed Autism in my face because my child chose to talk later.
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