“A is for apple these are the sounds the animals make”, Owen said as he pulls up the voice-activated control for me to find it for him. This is the hard part. He knows what he wants, but his words do not always reflect what he really wants. I guess a lot, sometimes getting it right. The thing is most of the time he was watching the exact video he wants me to find. He will close it, coming to me, asking me to pull it up. Some of his words the tablet understands when he is making the request so it gets confused when I’m asking for his words as well. He’s been more interactive with me in the last few days and responding more to my questions. We’ve been working on spelling and sight words. I will show him tiles that have a picture and the word underneath. I have him spell the word while looking at it and then I cover up the letters and make him spell it again. This frustrates him some of the time. He doesn’t want to spell the words without seeing the letters, but he actually does really well with it. There are numerous letters he still has a hard time pronouncing, but he thinks he is saying them correctly. He says the letter J more like an S. So he will say, “sump sump sump” as he jumps on the trampoline. For two months I’ve been working with him to stick his tongue out. I never imagined I would have to teach him how to stick his tongue out and how difficult it would be for him. He’s yet to be able to do it. When he was younger I taught him how to open his mouth and say, “ahh” so if the doctor or dentist asked him to open his mouth he could, but I never imagined he wouldn’t be able to stick his tongue out. I was helping him with his L sounds so I was trying to have him over exaggerate the sound by pushing with his tongue on his teeth. He couldn’t grasp that concept either. I remind myself how far he’s come and that this is the little boy the doctors told me might not talk. Not only is he talking, but he is singing. I am thankful for his voice. Not a day goes by that I don’t rejoice the words spoken to me. I know how hard he worked to find his voice and I praise him all the time for using them. I cherish our victories and I celebrate them big or small. He deserves it. Every step forward is a step. Celebrate our victories and celebrate yours. You deserve the victory dance too. Keep pushing forward. Smiles to all and donut daze!
RSS Feed