We have been concerned about our little foster boy. At 18-months-old, our Lil Bit just wasn’t talking. He would babble, but would say very few words and rarely call for mama or dada. (At 18 months, Lil Bit should have been saying 8-10 words)
In March, Lil Bit was evaluated by Early Childhood Intervention and was markedly behind in communication. An Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) was developed to assist us in helping Lil Bit catch up, with an emphasis on speech therapy.
Since then, Lil Bit has had speech therapy twice a month. Many times, the speech therapist was teaching us techniques to encourage him to talk:
- Encourage him to say a word when he wants something, such as juice, ball, mama, please, etc.
- Give him a choice of 2 toys with which to play. “Car or train?” And wait for him to say a word.
- Praise him enthusiastically when he does say a word, even if it’s not pronounced correctly.
After a few months of speech therapy and working with him, Lil Bit decided to talk! He just started talking. And it’s so stinking cute!!!
- “Peas!” with his hand on his chest. For Please.
- “Choo-Choo!” when he sees a train.
- “Eyeyuyoo!” after I say, “I love you.” Then he gets a big raspberry on his belly. Lots of giggles.
- “Tee-ta” for his brother’s name. That’s funny.
When I sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, Lil Bit will chime in on “star”, “are”, “high”, “sky”! And he has musical talent just like the rest of us in the family. Ouch!
He says “Amen” when we sing “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
And he tries so hard to sing along with “Hey, It’s Franklin” when the PBS show begins. All that comes out is “spend” & “you” but not pronounced, more like “eeennn” & “oooooo”.
I’m having such a fun time enjoying him!!! These are very proud mommy moments!
What have been your favorite words or phrases your child has said while learning to talk???
