Just a little quickie here:
Ella's been sick for the past week or so with bronchitis. However, she's finishing up a course of antibiotics, and it is clearing out now.
Ella also seems to be working on a speech approximation for "bye bye", although at this point it is little more than "buh buh". On the plus side, she's continuing with the use of ma ma, da da, and og (frog). She also frequently uses a spoken "I" mixed into her signs, and very rarely she says "Hi". All of this is really good news, as it means her spoken vocabulary is growing. In the past we've seen patterns where a new sound replaces an old one.
Ella has also taken to a lot of play activities that are good for balance and strength. Lots of jumping, bouncing, crab walking, etc. She's even starting to work on a broad jump, not just a vertical hop (I think this is her teachers in action, but I have not directly asked them).
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tech-speak device and speech news.
Again, I'm a bit behind in updating the blog, but the holidays always make life a bit busy. So, with that asside, here's a quick update of what's been going on.
First, Ella's school has sent home a Tech/Speak device. This is essentially a board of buttons with pictures on them, and when Ella pushes the buttons, it speaks words. The hope is that it will make her realize that spoken-word can help her communicate with more people, thus encourage her to work on transitioning from signing to speaking.
As for speech, Ella's had a few new words/word aproximations emerge over the holiday. In addition to "da da" and "og" (frog), she's now using "ma ma" (which she had a long time ago, but disappeared for a year), and "ah ah ooh" (uh-oh). What seems most positive to me is she very quickly started using these words appropriately, because she already has the concepts of how to use language down from her signing. This makes me very hopeful that once we can break through the physical co-ordination of her mouth, she'll fall rapidly into speaking.
In any event, we all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you all did too.
First, Ella's school has sent home a Tech/Speak device. This is essentially a board of buttons with pictures on them, and when Ella pushes the buttons, it speaks words. The hope is that it will make her realize that spoken-word can help her communicate with more people, thus encourage her to work on transitioning from signing to speaking.
As for speech, Ella's had a few new words/word aproximations emerge over the holiday. In addition to "da da" and "og" (frog), she's now using "ma ma" (which she had a long time ago, but disappeared for a year), and "ah ah ooh" (uh-oh). What seems most positive to me is she very quickly started using these words appropriately, because she already has the concepts of how to use language down from her signing. This makes me very hopeful that once we can break through the physical co-ordination of her mouth, she'll fall rapidly into speaking.
In any event, we all had a great Thanksgiving, and I hope you all did too.
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