We've struggled with Sophie's speech for a long time. In fact, when she was about 18 months we took her to an audiologist because she was saying so few words. There might also have been the fact that she absolutely did not listen to me and I would much rather think it's because she has hearing issues than that my parenting was lacking. Well, thanks to the fine specialists at Seans Bobkins, we found that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her ears. (read: it was, in fact, bad parenting)
So we've spent the last year and a half struggling. She with her attempts to communicate to us and us with our attempts to understand exactly what she was saying. While we watched the vocabulary of all of the kids around us grow and grow. While younger children spoke more clearly, communicating in phrases and sentences, Sophie continued to be nearly incomprehensible.
One of the cute but frustrating elements of her speech was something that sounded much like gidda-gidda-gidda. Said rapid fire, it was my theory that because she didn't know the words, she used that as a placeholder. As time wore on, I wondered if it was some sort of speech impediment, perhaps the beginning of a stutter. But as she slowly, ever so slowly, began to say more words and phrases, it became clear that it was not taking the place of words but was more of a transition sound between words she did know.
I'll be honest, I was beginning to get a little worried. She turned three in October and she was still so hard to understand. I talk to people all the time who say their kid barely said a word until they were 3 or 4 but that doesn't make the anxiety any less. But then, just in the last month, she has had a vocabulary explosion. All of a sudden, she is communicating relatively clearly in phrases and sentences. There are still words that I have absolutely no clue what she is talking about, but they are far outweighed now by those I do. So my frustration level, at least in this ONE area, has gone done significantly.
Now, if I can just get her potty trained. SIGH.
Monday, January 24, 2011
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Potty Training - It will happen - although sometimes it will seem like she'll be going to the Prom before it does.
ReplyDeleteThat is good about her speech. That can be frustrating. We took Shaun to John Hopkins in Baltimore when we lived in MD for a stutter which is now gone for the most part. It is weird how stuff like that can just come and go. Good Luck with the potty training!
ReplyDeleteIt's not bad parenting. It's kids. My 6 year old is still very good at pretending he doesn't hear me. What helps with the little ones is getting right in their face, they can't ignore you that way. I'm really bad about hollering instructions down the steps, especially after my knee surgery when I couldn't run up and down like usual.
ReplyDeletePT--Johnny was about 3 and 3 months and it suddenly clicked. Maureen PT'd herself during the day 2 or 3 months before she turned 3, but is still not dry at night. She turned 4 in November. I'm anxiously awaiting the day when I no longer have to buy diapers.
That's great news.
ReplyDeleteOk, um, the first paragraph? Literally had me laughing out loud.
ReplyDeleteI had my first checked out for hearing for the same reason. I'm sure my pediatrician had a chuckle on us after I left.
Emily(Sophie's kindred spirit), still has trouble with l's and r's. Her teacher, Mrs. Clark, is "Mrs. Clock".
Isn't it great when you can have an actual conversation with your child? Even if it is about pee.
ReplyDeleteYou know - you may want to consider getting her tested for developmental delays. If she qualifies as delayed in any way - the school system in your area should be responsible for getting her speech therapy. Even if she'd do it all on her own in her own time - she'll have more frustration issues than if she gets a little help along the way. I have a son with far more significant speech delays - so I'm not making a comparison here. But one thing I've learned in the past few years is that it's always better to take the labels if you can get them, as well as the associated services. That's great about the language explosion. It must be a huge relief.
ReplyDeleteYay - vocabulary explosions are awesome! And I have to say, I'm still DYING to know what your secret Scary Mommy post would be about!
ReplyDeleteOh, potty training! I plug my ears and say la-la-la any time a mother tells me her kid practically potty-trained herself. Even if it's true, I don't want to hear it!
ReplyDeleteAnd hooray for language explosions! (My son is three, and I still can't figure out what he's saying sometimes.)
Awesome!!!! Good for her! All in their own time I guess! My niece was the same way, barely anything then like an explosion. It's very cool when they finally find their voice, isn't it? It's like a whole new kid. Except for the exasperating parts. lol.
ReplyDeleteWoo hoo on the vocabulary explosion! I'm sure mother-daughter communication will continue to improve day by day until Sophie turns 13, (just kidding, there's no reason moms and their girls can't stay close even in the tough years).
ReplyDeleteAs for potty-training, the urologist we saw for Sweet P told us not to rush it and to let the child decide when he/she is ready. I tried everything with Bub and then all of a sudden when he was ready, I did not really have to do a thing. It will happen!
Miss you! Next year -- Blissdom maybe?
So happy for you! My sister's kids all spoke at around 3 or so. And potty trained late but FAST.
ReplyDeleteSo, there's that.
Gabe refused to talk English until after the age of three. The day before we were due to meet with a speech pathologist was the day he decided to join the crowd and actually TALK.
ReplyDeleteFigures.
Good luck with this. And potty training. Summer was always my favorite season for that. Cheap summer dresses and cute panties for Isabel; Hot Wheels underwear and nothing else for the boys. The less laundry to do, the better...
Yeah for her (And you!) Have you ever had her evaluated? ST really work wonders! My son didn't speak AT ALL at age 2 - nada, nothing - by age 3, after a year of ST(speech Therapy) WOW - what a difference! He didn't know how to use his tongue to speak and they had to teach him
ReplyDeleteMy mother is a speech therapist - if you need advice, she has been very willing to help a bunch of my friends...but that being said, it sounds like the bean is just developing at her own pace. I have more friends with toddlers like Sophie than those other weird kids you speak of.
ReplyDeleteMy eldest spoke his own language for the better part of 3 years. Because I spent so much time with him, I understood most of what he was saying, but I needed to translate for the rest of the world. Strangely, when his pronunciation improved, and he became comprehensible to the general public, I mourned the lost words and sounds, like the purring noise he made when he presented me with 'clues' (little treasures he picked up in the park!) You may come to miss your daughter's "gidda-gidda-gidda"!
ReplyDeleteJocie (my granddaughter) doesn't say anything remotely like English even though she is 2 year old. It worries Stevie & I but I think a big part of it is that Joey (my niece) who is only 5 months older speaks so well. I find myself comparing the two. ~sigh~
ReplyDeleteGlad that Sophie has found her voice, but I bet some days you wish the "gidda-gidda-gidda" was back. :)
I've had 2 that were poor speakers....1 went to therapy the other did not and we've had the same results at the same age for both!
ReplyDeleteAnd I guess now is a good time to tell ya that Shea was 3 yrs 10 months and I had to buy a musically potty seat to get that girl out of diapers!!!!!