The Sounds are Starting to Come
Jamie and I had a late night conversation last night about the nonverbal struggles. We both agree that although nonverbal is hard…it’s the delays in ‘understanding’ that is harder. There is no waiting. There is a little tiny bit of ‘first this, than that’. There is very little reasoning. And holy moly can that kid carry on. At times I am secretly impressed by his devotion to the things he loves. If only his devotion didn’t have to be so damn loud and shrill.
I truly believe the language is coming. I truly, really do.
We have been really working on sounds lately. And they are slowly starting to come. But even more exciting is that cooper is getting closer to making conversational sounds!
This is a pretty silly short video that I took yesterday. Cooper will attempt to mimic. Attempt to engage. Obviously he is silly as a goose because he knows I am asking him to perform for a video. But there are sounds in there. LOVE!
https://youtu.be/xojaFLmCpC4
Those small victories are so sweet. My son is two and a half, and he just recently started saying his first word, ‘mama’ (okay, it’s actually mamamamamamama, but it still counts). I can’t tell you how amazing that felt, but there’s a tension between wanting to shout it from the rooftops, and being a little embarrassed and knowing that if i tell my friends it won’t sound like a big deal at all.
Sorry for rambling. Keep on keepin on, mama, you’re doing great!
I so get this! Wow. Completely. Part of the reason I started this blog was because I had no one to talk too. Other moms were like…we are potty training and my kid does this and this and I would be like….Cooper waved today. It freaking killed me. I withdrew a lot. So many victories that moms share are the verbal victories. I don’t have any of these really. Yay to your son for saying mamamamamama!!! I love it! Shout it from the rooftops my friend!
He is beautiful, and you are doing such a wonderful job! Hurray Cooper!!!!
Thank you!
<3 yay! Love the pictures of you on the wall too lol
I knew someone would notice those!!! I considered hiding them in my bedroom and then was like…damn, I paid for these! They are going up!
He’s doing it…he’s mimicking sounds! I think this is huge progress for Super Coops, and I agree that it’s a really, really big deal. My son does have some verbal ability (he’s 4, but barely at the speech level of a 2 year old), and he still does an enormous amount of that very loud, nonsense noise verbal stimming. It gets a bit wearing at times to say the least. I’m so glad you’re beginning to see progress in the verbal area…it can be painfully slow, yet there is hope that once he gets the basic sounds down things will speed up. Do you think the speech therapy is helping? My kid has been in speech therapy for two years and I’m honestly not sure it’s helping…I suspect my son is simply picking things up from other kids at preschool instead (at a very slow pace).
Hey there, Nope, I don’t think speech therapy is helping at all. At least not the way it should be. We have been doing ST and OT on and off for 3 years. No therapist has ever gotten past the ‘building a relationship’ stage with Cooper. It’s all chasing him and trying to find a way to motivate him. It’s actually pretty damn stressful. I can see what Cooper needs. He needs someone to help him use his mouth…like mold his lips into different shapes and motivate him to make the sounds. I am the only person he will let do that right now. And I don’t know what the hell I am doing. But anyhoo, we continue to do ST and OT because that is what we do.
I totally get it. While I’m doubtful therapy has helped one bit, I’m terrified to stop it because I don’t know how the heck else to help my kid. It’s not like I know what the hell I’m doing either!
Amen lady. And for Cooper building the relationship is half the battle. And understanding that every Monday at 4:30 he has speech. And he needs to walk down this hall and go into this room and play with this lady. Seriously that is what he needs to learn. Even more than language. He needs to learn that he can’t sit at home in front of a tv all day. It’s all about understanding and awareness. One of the biggest struggles for me about autism is how there are no easy victories. EVERYTHING is hard.
Reblogged this on mgwebbuddy.
My grandson is verbal, but he’s 10 and has been working on it for a few years. Now that I really think about it, just a few years ago he was giving up on trying to communicate with us. There are still times that we don’t understand him, but mostly we do. He has routines and we’ve learned from rote. I don’t know Cooper’s, but to you and Shrinking Violet, just continue to follow your instincts, and know that once they establish routines, whether it be favorite foods, or favorite children tv shows, those were Willie’s foundations, when we thought he’d never be able to make us aware of his needs. Now, I’m inspired to blog, because this reminds me of a dear friend.
Thank you!
This brings back so many memories. My heart breaks for you and him, but he’s doing great. He’s interactive, vocal and his words will come. Just have to give it time.
As a future Speech Language Pathologist, my heart MELTS for your little one, and I wish I could give you both a giant hug!!! Thank you for sharing
WOW!! Holy crap he was really mimicking!!! That is HUGE!!!!!!!when Mason was able to mimic, it was a real turning point for him. Praying it is the same for Cooper.
Yay Cooper and well done Mum. He’s mimicking you and the sounds sound like they are supposed to. A great step.
Very exciting to watch!
Thanks!