Twinmomma's Online Journal

Learning to talk -fast

On Monday we had the boys evaluated by a speech therapist to see how much of a speech delay they had.

Dale did very well. His receptive language, words and phrases he understands, is at an 18-21 month level. Closer to 18 months. I was so proud of him when I gave him two flash cards of a cup and a pair of shoes and asked him "Which one do you wear?" He correctly gave me the shoes. The Speech Therapist says that this shows a much higher level of thinking because it means that he is starting to learn that objects have functions and he's learning to group them accordingly. As for his expressive language, what he speaks; he's at a 15 month level. That makes him about 3 months behind for his adjusted age.

Chip on the other hand didn't do quite as well. His receptive language is at 15 months and his expressive language is some where between 12 and 15 months. This doesn't surprise me at all. Chip babbles and squeals all the time but it rarely sounds like conversation. And the few words he does say are Cat, All done, and ah-oh.

For the next 3 weeks Hubby and I are supposed to use simple sentences to describe the boys' play to them as they do it.

Dale picked up a ball.

Chip pushed the car

Chip put the block in.

Dale is running.

After 2 days I have to say it's pretty annoying to talk like this! The therapist doesn't want us to use questions with the boys. I know I usually say things like "Are you playing with the car?" and "Where's the cow?" when I am interacting with them so this is hard to do.

Dale was looking at me last night like I had grown a second head. He was babbling away at me and I swear he wanted to know where Hubby was at. (He went to go vote after dinner). Instead of having a conversation with him I'm saying "Dale is carrying a block." "Dale is stacking a block."

I read somewhere that when kids do learn to speak they can pick up 5-10 words a day. Last night I did hear Dale say Block. Step and up. Block and Step were new words. Last week he learned Book and Ball and the week before was Duck. The day of the Speech Eval, both the therapist and I thought we heard him say Stuck. As in the gate was stuck and he couldn't open it.

This weekend I'm going to try to spend some one on one time with Chip. I'm worried about him. He doesn't seem to be himself lately. I can't quit put my finger on what's wrong either.