Middle and Both

Last Sunday at church Lincoln's Awana teacher mentioned how much his speech has improved since September. And it is true. When Lincoln started private therapy last June he could say less than 10 words, now he uses lots of words and will attempt to repeat almost anything.

And he can write his name.

It is such a funny thing to have a child at the articulation level of probably an 18 month old, but to have the mental capabilities of a 3 1/2 year old.

People ask me why I haven't taught him sign language and I say that it is because he has no need or use for "baby" sign language- simple signs taught to alleviate frustration. If we were going to do sign language, we would need to do the whole ASL- and that would be very time intensive. Right now we have chosen just to concentrate on his speech.

In the last couple months he has made a couple of verbal "jokes" or using his words to be funny or silly. Baby sign language doesn't allow for that.

His speech therapist asked him last week if he wanted the yellow car or the green car. In the past he would stiltedly say "yellow green" meaning he wanted both. On Monday he said "both". When she asked him where he wanted to put a certain car instead of pointing or saying "here" he said, "middle". We talked about it a little. It is just funny to hear a child like him using more high level descriptors. Obviously the vocabulary is there, it is just the pathways from the brain to the mouth that need practice, and he is not able to use all the words that he does know, because his brain to mouth connection won't make them. He is forced to repeat as best he can, and to rely only on the words he can articulate.

Today Deacon and Roman wanted to go the the icerink. I had already told them that we were not going to be able to go today because it was too cold for me to take Berean down there. Lincoln didn't want to go either. Deacon (who has taken to spelling words for emphasis) made up a poem. "don't say no, just say let's G-O". Lincoln gets a twinkle in his eye and says "N-O". Deacon said, "G-O" and Lincoln repeated "N-O". Even though the whole conversation was rather obnoxious, it was fun to watch Lincoln figure out the spelling and use the nuances of language.

I was in the shower the other day and he actually told me, through the closed door, that he wanted a drink. I rely very heavily on visual clues to figure out what he is asking/telling me, and I think it was probably the first time that I was easily able to figure out what he said without seeing him.

Roman has been doing a lot of interpretation for him as well.

And it is cute. Deacon got a Star Wars Guess Who game for his birthday. The boys have been playing it, and Lincoln loves it. He knows how to play and asks "does he have a purple light saber?" Or "is he a clone?" with the best of them. And it is building his confidence.

We are just waiting to see what will happen with him next!