by Heide » Fri Aug 10, 2007 11:11 am
Hi Allison,
Great minds must think alike, I was just about to put a post up about speech also. Our little one, 19 months, was making noises but no identifying words with the noises (i.e. she can say mama or dada but doesn't really to call us). After her palate surgery in Feb (13 mo), I could tell she was frustrated but she simply did not "want" to communicate with words. We had two speech therapy appointments and she was making a range of sounds but was not even trying to use them to communicate, just pointing. At about 16 months we took a "sing and sign" language class and it really seemed to help. She quickly learned a few signs to help her with what she wanted (i.e. milk, no, out). While I can't prove it, I think learning the signs has helped her move forward; just this week she started actually using a few words. The word she is really able to use appropriately is "mine" (her daycare teacher said she first used it in response to a classmate trying to take her giraffe:)
It sounds like your speech therapist is really proactive - how wonderful. This month our little one just started in our county's birth to 3 program and at this point she is on a once every two week schedule. We have also had about 3 visits through our health care but the coverage is limited. The only advice I might suggest, is to try to incorporate some sign language (if you have not already) - our speech therapist supports it and also suggests that we mimic her noises in play and let her be loud (no worries as the older one loves to play this type of game with her :) If you "google" ASL signs there is a resource to look up signs on the web and we made some "flash cards" for us to learn them as a family.
In closing, I appreciate your post as it helps to remind me that these are issues faced by other parents too. Have a wonderful weekend and if you have any speech tips, please let me know. H