So, we are making great strides with Avery over the past week. Her diet which basically consisted of oatmeal and goldfish crackers now includes: soup, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, meatloaf, peanut butter sandwiches and yogurt! The other day she even ate rice with broccoli! She is really starting to try all sorts of foods and that is a HUGE relief. When we were away in NY she literally only ate goldfish and NOTHING else for the 2 days we were there. So I was starting to panic. Since we returned home, each day she is eating really well so we are hoping this trend continues.
Her tantrums are few and far between. I haven't really seen any this week. I know she has a few during the day when I am at work as she and my 2 year old niece attempt to "share" toys! :) But, other than that, she is behaving VERY well.
Our main concern right now is speech/language development. I am not concerned enough just yet to start any formal therapy, but I do see that in the near future. Just curious how many others with toddlers home from Haiti are experiencing the same thing. Avery tries to repeat almost everything we say, which is great. However, everything she says sounds the same. For example, love you is da do. Thank you is ta tu. Doggie is da da. Papa is da da. Please is dee. Pretty much everything she says is starts with the "da" sound. The only exception is Mommy which she says Nonny. It seems like she can only make a handful of sounds and can not make most sounds at all. Anyone else out there experiencing this? Honestly, she prefers to get through the day by pointing and saying "da". I correct her and tell her what to say, and she tries, but it doesn't even come close to sounding like the right word. Just wondering if this is normal/beginning to learn a new language stuff or sounds more like a major problem that needs intervention sooner rather than later.
Any input or advice?
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Adopted kids and speech
Posted by Tracy at 4:54 PM
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6 comments:
No expert here, but our five year old has similar issues. Dog and duck sound alike, for example. She says "baby soup" for bathing suit (which we find totally hilarious!) Of course she laughs at us when we try to speak some phrases in Creole, too...
Maybe some sounds/ letter combinations just aren't in the Creole language?
I try to speak clearly for her and pronounce each syllable separately.
Yah for food! I had thought of you a couple of times this week and was going to ask you how the food stuff was going but hadn't gotten around to it. I'm sure you're feeling much better about it.
My kids both repeated everything they hear/heard when they first came home. In my teacher brain, that just follows the normal pathway to language development. Babies learn by repeating sounds and words and by noting the response they get when they put certain sounds/words together with certain objects. Same thing for older kids as they learn a new language.
I don't know enough about the sounds to know if you should be concerned. My personal opinion (ie if it were me, which it's not so don't feel like I'm saying this is the only solution) I would not do anything for a while. She has had lots of trauma and changes and the language thing may just need some time. There are some charts out there that show you what sounds your child should be producing at what age that can give you a better idea of what you should be expecting her to correctly produce. Also, something to consider, if you ask for early intervention services, at this point in time, you may not get a very accurate screening because she is still shell shocked. If she is too scared or unsure of herself and won't follow the directions or doesn't understand the directions, the screening could not be real accurate. (And in theory, kids are supposed to be tested/given directions in their first language. Kids in international adoption are a bit unique in that they may not understand everything in English but they also are losing their first language so they may have forgotten some of it too.) Also, just from a developmental standpoint, all kids coming out of orphanage care are developmentally delayed in some way. They simply have not had the life experiences to be on target in all areas (physically, emotionall, socially, linguistically) So I wouldn't look at the delays as a red flag. Instead, I would evaluate her over time and look for rapid progression in overcoming those delays. (The changes in Kenson are nothing short of miraculous.) Again, just my opinion, but I don't see the delays as concerning. What would concern me is a child who is not making considerable strides in those areas. (That is of course for kids with mild delays; if it's severe then they should be evaluated and get services.) What we chose to do with Kenson was to wait a year and see if we had any concerns in a year since he seemed to be really improving in the areas he had delays in.
I don't really know. She's two, right? I think the schools will test at three. I'd give her some time and just enjoy her for now. I had two children with language processing problems and articulation issues so I've been that route. At two and three all they did was about the same things you are--played and did lots of talking while they played and encouraged them to repeat sounds.
We have a few more consonants, but they're having difficulty as well. They're starting to catch on, but I'm thinking we should get started soon with the area education agency services that the doctor referred us, to just to get a jump start on things - especially for Elijah. Josephine speaks more clearly than he does.
They'll be starting daycare in a month, and since they'll be in different rooms because of their age, we're thinking that might help them to learn more English than having each other to babble with in Creole all day long.
They too like to point at things and say "Ma", but I correct them with the words they should say, and they're starting to pick things up and say them on their own now - especially please, which comes out sounding like "pee". :) "Mommy" here also sounds a bit like "onny" but sometimes it comes out as "ommy" or even "Mommy" - but usually when it's by itself and not at the end of a phrase.
I can tell they're understanding more and more of what we are saying to them though, which I think will be a help with them learning to speak. We're also trying to read a LOT of books, and they like to repeat what we're saying - if they'll sit still for the book. While we're playing, I'm trying to tell them the words for the toys they're playing with, or for the actions they or the toys are doing, in addition to counting, saying what color things are, saying what noises the animals make, etc.
I know our five year old has issues, too. I know she won't (not can't) say "s" in words, it becomes a "t." Like, "Let me tee" instead of "let me see." But I know she can do it with work.
Bicycle sounds like "Mexico."
She does repeat most of what we say, which is good.
I'm enjoying everyone's comments on how their children say different things. "baby soup" is awesome!
Nathan is 2 1/2, and has been home for 5 weeks. He repeats what we say - or tries to. I think he understands much more than he can say. We've been working on three or four basic ASL signs - "Help", "Please", "Food" and "Water". So he knows now that if he start whining and pointing or yelling, "Da da" and pointing, we say, "What do you say?" and he stops and either signs "help please" or "food Please", etc while he says it as best he can. It calms him right down to know that we understand that. Much fewer tantrums since we started that.
But I agree - give them 6 months to a year and see how they do when they realize that this part of life is stable and it isn't going to change like everything else in their life has done thus far. She'll be great!
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