Language on Wednesday

[swarley]

Disclaimer- I'm not really around for most of the day- I have to administer some standardized tests- trust me it's not fun.  But I'll pop in and and respond cause I like doing it!

Put your speech and language stories and questions here.  Did your LO say something funny or surprise you with something that you didn't realize they knew?  Is your LO in EI- how's it going?  Progress? Are you feeling frustrated? Do you need help achieving a goal and need ideas?

[Deleted]

What are we looking for with respect to being "on target" for current age with total words and phrases? L's same-age buds (amch8 and sharebear05 tots seem to be a little ahead), so I'm wondering what's "normal" so I'm not being neglectful if she is actually "behind."

Funny story - yesterday on the porch I farted and L looked at me funny. I asked "what did momma do" and she responded "poop." I said "no, momma farted" and she laughed and said "mama fart." I've have heard that phrase several times since.

[kristhegirl]

Elena has chosen to call my very Republican mom, "Bama." I laugh every time.

[yelah250]

Apr 5, 2017 8:05:31 GMT -5 @officedronette said:

What are we looking for with respect to being "on target" for current age with total words and phrases? L's same-age buds (amch8 and sharebear05 tots seem to be a little ahead), so I'm wondering what's "normal" so I'm not being neglectful if she is actually "behind."

Funny story - yesterday on the porch I farted and L looked at me funny. I asked "what did momma do" and she responded "poop." I said "no, momma farted" and she laughed and said "mama fart." I've have heard that phrase several times since.

There is a wide variety of normal. How many words does Lilly say? Does she understand what you are saying? Does she try to repeat?

[Deleted]

Apr 5, 2017 8:57:09 GMT -5 yelah250 said:

Apr 5, 2017 8:05:31 GMT -5 @officedronette said:

What are we looking for with respect to being "on target" for current age with total words and phrases? L's same-age buds (amch8 and sharebear05 tots seem to be a little ahead), so I'm wondering what's "normal" so I'm not being neglectful if she is actually "behind."

Funny story - yesterday on the porch I farted and L looked at me funny. I asked "what did momma do" and she responded "poop." I said "no, momma farted" and she laughed and said "mama fart." I've have heard that phrase several times since.

There is a wide variety of normal. How many words does Lilly say? Does she understand what you are saying? Does she try to repeat?

She understands seemingly everything and has always been on the "ahead" curve in that respect.  

She says a lot of words - we stopped counting at 75ish.  She uses a variety of word types.

She does repeat more and more, usually when something seems "new" and it's like she's trying it out.

She does use two-word phrases, but seemingly not that often.  Momma sit.  Dadda up.  Lily walk.  Mine [whatever it is].  Bun-bun hop.

Example from a couple weeks ago of a convo:
L in the middle of nursing:  Dada?
Me:  He's downstairs.
L:  Magna [Magnet]?  Dada Magna? 
Me:  No, Dada isn't playing with your magnets.
L:  Mine magna.  MINE!!

I think she seems normal to me, I just hoped for reassurance that she's not slipping behind and I'm missing it/not getting her the push she needs.  

[Deleted]

lawandorder, thank you! That's what I was looking for and having trouble finding!

[Deleted]

2 1/2 weeks til our speech eval. Finally.

Will's new word is Yeah! (For everything, though sometimes he says it while shaking his head "no"). :::sigh:::

He seems to have dropped most other words (still has Da and cheese). He has had a total of 7 words ever, though the most at one time was 4 or 5.

He understands pretty much everything and occasionally mimics us. Babbles and jargons a lot at home but not in public.

[lovemyirishtwins]

@officedronette in the past our pediatrician wanted our kids to show that they were understanding of language. She would ask us if our kids could point to things if we asked. For example, where are your eyes or what book would you like to read?

Our pediatrician also told us that they wanted our kids to have words but they didn't need to be perfect. We obviously want to work towards the goal of a stranger understanding our kids but at this point if I or caregivers understand them that is a good step in the right direction.

V loved trolls. She always wants to watch it or dance to the songs. When she says trolls it sounds like she is trying to whistle whilst saying holes. I love it but aside from DH and I no one else would know what she was saying.

[rachydc]

I feel like the EI check in should be separate from a language thread as the jealousy monster in me already can't make it through this thread I know it's stupid, but it's just a sensitive subject right now.

[ashiscute]

Apr 5, 2017 10:17:28 GMT -5 rachydc said:

I feel like the EI check in should be separate from a language thread as the jealousy monster in me already can't make it through this thread I know it's stupid, but it's just a sensitive subject right now.

+1

Plus not all of our EI kids are here for speech.

[yelah250]

Apr 5, 2017 10:16:22 GMT -5 @traceyos said:

My pediatrician said that at 2 they want a stranger to be able to understand 50% of the words.

Hmmm. I'd expect that more at 2.5 personally. Not saying your ped is incorrect but with the amount of words they say growing every day they are apt to have a lot of mispronounciations.

[yelah250]

When Rosalee doesn't know a word, she says "blah blah blah" in its place. It's so funny and I have no clue where she got it from.

[EmMilAlly]

Okay, I have been wondering this for weeks now... what are we supposed to do when we understand zero percent of what our toddler is saying? Occasionally Henry will walk up to me and say a long string of gibberish that sounds kind of like words and then he'll stare at me waiting for me to respond. Sometimes I nod along, but should I not be pretending to understand him when I have zero clue wtf he said because they aren't real words?

(FTR. He does say things I do understand and I'm always very enthusiastic in responding to that.)

[CoachTsWife]

DS was on the slower side of language but has improved in the past couple months. But he does not or cannot(?) say "yes". If we ask him a question and his answer is yes he usually breaks out into a HUGE grin. Way back when he used to nod his head but he doesn't do that anymore. He is an expert at "no", though. He sometimes answers "no" to questions we know his answer is yes.

DS - eating something he is obviously enjoying
Me: "DS, does that taste good?"
DS: "No" with a huge grin on his face

Me: "DS, do you want to go outside?"
DS: "No" but runs to the door shouting "side!" which is his word for outside

He also tells us "no" a lot when we're correcting him or asking him not to do something in particular, and this isn't a situation where he says no but means yes, like above. He's straight telling us no, and he continues to do whatever we're asking him not to do.

How else can we work on his ability to answer yes?
And this is probably behavioral vs language, but how do we encourage him not to tell us no. Is this common at this age and just comes with time?

[rach]

AB is jargoning a LOT, but we don't understand much of it. The moment she starts speaking in "sentences," it's pure jibberish. She has a decent amount of single words that she says and understands the vast majority of what we say to her. She's just not combining it into (understandable) phrases yet.

Strangers rarely understand anything she says.

She seems to be within the realm of normal, but I'm slightly worried. My middle, who eventually got diagnosed as being on the spectrum, was always just delayed enough to escape intervention, but still cause frustration for her. I don't think that's what we're facing with AB, but also don't want to turn a blind eye if she does need more help.

[swarley]

I love how you're all talking about encouraging speech and language!
I made a separate EI check-in

[kristhegirl]

I mod-abused the title because I know it's a PITA and you're busy today.

[swarley]

Because I'm just catching up- @officedronette, everyone gave you such great information. It sounds like based on the 75 words and the fact that you are actually having a conversation, language is developing at a typical rate. There's such a wide range of typical development. At 18 mos you could expect a typically developing child to expressively use 20-50 words. But once a child becomes 2, they could have an expressive vocabulary of 200-300 words. This is of course over the whole year of a child being 2. By 3 years it triples to 1000 words.

But remember, it's not always about quantity as it is more about the quality of the words you use. So always try to expand by describing and using new words in a variety of contexts.

[swarley]

Apr 5, 2017 12:12:51 GMT -5 kristhegirl said:

I mod-abused the title because I know it's a PITA and you're busy today.

You can abuse me! PPHs to you!

[swarley]

Apr 5, 2017 10:39:37 GMT -5 yelah250 said:

Apr 5, 2017 10:16:22 GMT -5 @traceyos said:

My pediatrician said that at 2 they want a stranger to be able to understand 50% of the words.

Hmmm. I'd expect that more at 2.5 personally. Not saying your ped is incorrect but with the amount of words they say growing every day they are apt to have a lot of mispronounciations.

I completely agree

[swarley]

Apr 5, 2017 10:47:30 GMT -5 @justinslovo said:

Apr 5, 2017 10:45:32 GMT -5 EmMilAlly said:

Okay, I have been wondering this for weeks now... what are we supposed to do when we understand zero percent of what our toddler is saying? Occasionally Henry will walk up to me and say a long string of gibberish that sounds kind of like words and then he'll stare at me waiting for me to respond. Sometimes I nod along, but should I not be pretending to understand him when I have zero clue wtf he said because they aren't real words?

(FTR. He does say things I do understand and I'm always very enthusiastic in responding to that.)

Our SLP say we acknowledge they are trying to say something, but at this stage don't pretend to know what it is.

Wait- your SLP told you to not pretend that you know what she's saying? So you say to her "I don't know what you want?" or something along those lines?

Hmmmm- I don't do that.  Z jargons all the time with a few words here and a few words there.  If I really have no idea, I continue talking about what's in front of us and I control the exchange.

[swarley]

So Z is in EI for speech services. He jargons a ton and DH calls him minion.

But I taught him my favorite new word that he says- ice pop. Every time he wants a bite of ice pop I cue him. First I point to my eyes so he knows to say 'ice' and then I sign pop and he says 'pop.' In 5 minutes he's probably said it like 16 times but the 'ice' part is super quiet and then he explosively says 'pop.' It doesn't seem cute when I write it out but he's so happy and I love his little voice!

[swarley]

Apr 5, 2017 12:33:43 GMT -5 @justinslovo said:

Apr 5, 2017 12:21:05 GMT -5 swarley said:

Wait- your SLP told you to not pretend that you know what she's saying? So you say to her "I don't know what you want?" or something along those lines?

Hmmmm- I don't do that.  Z jargons all the time with a few words here and a few words there.  If I really have no idea, I continue talking about what's in front of us and I control the exchange.

She said to say something along the lines of "I hear you have a lot to say. Do you want to show me what you're talking about."

Somewhere along the lines of if she uses a random sound for an object like for example Finley calls monkeys HaHas I would say to her "I don't know what a haha is. I see monkeys on the page. Did you mean to say monkey?"

Ahhhhh! This is so stressful. Fwiw I do what you said in your second paragraph.

Wait a minute again! That bolded stuff is way too much talking for an adult to do at a child who needs simple simple simple information.  AND I know what a ha ha is.  She's obviously saying ah-ah the monkey sound.  So instead you should say- "Yeah! ah-ah! That is a monkey!" See how simple I kept the language?

[imavera]

Man, I don't know that Kara has close to 75 words. She understands everything, but she barely talks. I'm fairly confident it's because she just doesn't, but I don't like it. I've never attempted to actually count, though.

Adorably, her most used word is "right" when you ask her questions instead of yes.

[ashiscute]

Apr 5, 2017 12:33:43 GMT -5 @justinslovo said:

Apr 5, 2017 12:21:05 GMT -5 swarley said:

Wait- your SLP told you to not pretend that you know what she's saying? So you say to her "I don't know what you want?" or something along those lines?

Hmmmm- I don't do that.  Z jargons all the time with a few words here and a few words there.  If I really have no idea, I continue talking about what's in front of us and I control the exchange.

She said to say something along the lines of "I hear you have a lot to say. Do you want to show me what you're talking about."

Somewhere along the lines of if she uses a random sound for an object like for example Finley calls monkeys HaHas I would say to her "I don't know what a haha is. I see monkeys on the page. Did you mean to say monkey?"

Ahhhhh! This is so stressful. Fwiw I do what you said in your second paragraph.

So you know she's saying monkey when she says HaHas and your SLP wants you to pretend you don't know what she's saying? Or only when you don't know what she's saying?

[Deleted]

rachydc and ashiscute - I'm sorry if I caused any offense/frustration - I carelessly didn't even notice the EI check-in portion of the title.

[rachydc]

@officedronette, No worries! That's why we have separate threads now Just my own insecurities to work through.

[ashiscute]

Apr 5, 2017 12:55:01 GMT -5 @justinslovo said:

Apr 5, 2017 12:49:08 GMT -5 ashiscute said:

So you know she's saying monkey when she says HaHas and your SLP wants you to pretend you don't know what she's saying? Or only when you don't know what she's saying?

She doesn't want me to let her not attempt say the word. Telling me not to accept a word that is not at least an approximation.

Hmmm... I would disagree with her (also I am not a SLP). For Finley hahas IS an approximation. I think acting like she's not saying it when she's trying is going to lead to more frustration for both of you. I would say "hahas, you're right there's the monkey!" And move on.

Anecdote- DD called water dote for a very long time. I have no idea where she got it or why but we all knew what she was saying. We continued to call it water and she eventually and randomly switched. She had articulation issues and dote was probably as close as she could comfortably get.

[jacks15]

I feel like L has finally started using more words, and mostly correctly. It really seemed to come out of nowhere. One day she just started talking.

My favorite things are that H taught her to say bye to the swing as a way to get her to leave. So now every time she hops down and waves and says "bye bye." And when she spots it, she wakes with a very enthusiastic "hi!!"

My least favorite is that she calls bananas "mena" and H reinforces it. It drives me <excuse my corny pun> bananas. I've asked him repeatedly not to use mena for banana, but he still does.

[yelah250]

I don't make tons of corrections when they say stuff like call monkeys Hahas (Rosie does a similar thing). I accept hahas and agree that "yes! It's a monkey. It says haha!" Rosie says DEP (aka yep) for yes and I accept it because we all know what she means.