Talking help needed

[mysticamethyst]

I have recently started babysitting a 15 month old little boy. He really is a cutie, but he doesn't talk at all; only screams. Yes, he can hear, but his mother thought baby signs would be more effective that teaching him sounds and how to speak. I do not know baby signs, and quite frankly I don't like them, I get it for kids that have to use thembut this I do not understand. I cannot communicate with this wee one at all, and the screaming is well, getting on my last nerve. He will not make sounds with me, I have tried he just looks at me then screams to get down or he walks away from me. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to help him learn to talk. Thanks for any help and guidence you can offer.

Tammy

[Claire]

I would think at this age that songs might help. Could you get a tape that plays over and over again? Sing along with it sometimes, dance with him to the music while you sing, etc.

[Mandamom]

I would agree with mom in this case. Reducing his frustration level by giving him tools to communicate with should help immensely. Can you get mom to show you a few important signs? My 23 month old currently isn't talking yet but signs have helped tremendously. He uses about 5 regularly and it helps us get through the day. He has been in speech therapy for 3 months and he still isn't talking yet (BTW, I'm still not worried yet because I know he'll talk eventually).


http://asluniversity.com/asl101/pages-layout/concepts.htm

[mysticamethyst]

I am working on learning some signs, but I am really frustrated and so is wee one. I just don't remember my kids going through all this, wow, it has been a long time since there has been a baby in the house. I will try songs to encourage him. Thanks again Ladies.

Tammy

[Cadam]

I have one child with a profound speech disorder who had to learn to sign so he could communicate at all. I sat through 4 years of ST with this kid and learned a ton about how speech works and how signing works for them. At 2.5 years old he only had 3 words - It was that bad. My second child I tried to teach to sign but she talked so early she had no use for them. My third child (23mo) is normal to the extreme. Her speech is fine but she does use a few signs and has for over a year. She drops the signs when she can say the word.

So these are my qualifications for the following statements.

If a child can talk, it is much easier than signing and they will choose to speek every time.

Teaching a child to sign lowers frustration and may actually improve (there are studies on this), not delay their speech development. Signing does not delay speech development in normal children.

The only way to teach a child to only sign, instead of talking would be to never talk to him and make sure no one else ever talked to him. Unless the mom is specifically never talking to him, he would learn to speak.

So, if this little guy is not talking 2 things need to happen. 1. please learn a few basic signs. It will make your life and his much easier. It will take you all of 10 min. to learn the signs for snack, juice, diaper exc. If you are lucky his mom taught him real ASL signs and not just something she made up, but you will have to ask her.

2. This kid needs a speech eval. The rule of thumb is 20 words by 20 months as a minimum development milestone. If he doesn't hit that his mom can start ST services then. Yes, she can start before he is 2yo and frankly if he has no words it is a profound problem.

Out of curiosity, does he make sounds? Car sounds when playing, grunting, babbling at all? My son did not make sounds when playing. It is a hallmark sign of verbal dyspraxia - although not definitive, he would still need a full eval.

I hope you can convince his mom to get him help if this doesn't improve.

hth

[mysticamethyst]

e really only screams for the most part and the signs he uses are a combo of ASL and whatever she wants to use. I am trying to learn some signs he uses but there aren't very many. He can sign; more, please, daddy, mommy; and I am working on bite and cup with him. His mother has made up signs for shoes and coat, and I can never remember these; this is the extent of his knowlege of any words. How many should he know? I know he can hear because I will ask him to get his cup and he will, or I will ask him to get his binki and he will but he will not make a sound or doesn't like to sign cup for me but will do more and more as the days have gone on. I do find this whole thing very frustrating so I can only imagine what weeone is going thru. Are there any books or websites you can suggest that will help us both? I am not sure how much talking his mom does with him or not, I know she thinks it foolish to read to him at this age, but we have started that and my oldest loves to read stories to him. I am ready to print out pictures but don't want to go further into nonverbal skills when I know he can do this. Thank you agian for all your help, I feel truly stuck.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I know she thinks it foolish to read to him at this age, but we have started that and my oldest loves to read stories to him.

Ack! I'm so glad that you read to him! I started to read to my from birth. I do not think it is foolish at all.

I would talk to him all the time. I would have a running monologue. "See the car? Vrrrrrm." Make it silly. Use a lot of noises. I would pick up my baby and say "ba, ba, ba" letting the little one put his hands over my mouth while I did it - he though it was funny. I would point to the pig in the storybook and make piggy grunts or cow moos. Maybe he will start to make some of these noises himself. Maybe not. If he makes a noise, other than a scream, I would praise him over the top. And make a game so that he learns to consciously make those sounds.

Yes, I agree, he sounds like he definitely needs speech help. But whether it helps in a "therapeutic" way or not I think playing with sounds won't hurt and if you make it a game, and don't force him to go along, it might even help.

[Jenn in Mo]

I thought signing was silly...right up until my 4th child. She is a great talker and I think the signing actually helped increase her verbal skills. We were watching Signing Time videos for my 3rd child. They are just fun videos and I thought signing would be a cool skill to learn. She had seen someone signing and was interested. My toddler watched along and picked up a lot of sign language. She signed as she learned to talk. If your library has any Signing Time videos, I HIGHLY recommend them. They have catchy songs that are very engaging and help you quickly learn new, practical signs. You'll be amazed how quickly you learn (and the child, too.) And saying the words out loud as you sign them will only reinforce those verbal skills. If you google Signing Time, you can find their website. It has lots of great info as well.

[Mandamom]

>>> How many should he know>>>


I have no idea. My ds1 knows cup, eat, more, where (he made this up), I want (he made it up) and that's about it. My ds's comprehension is really good and he knows his body parts, beginning to grasp color and can put together things (one of his strengths). He likes to look at books and can hum in such a way that you can tell he likes music.


Teach to him like he is a verbal child and when he's ready to talk he'll have the knowledge in his head already. That's what I'm doing. My dd5 was also nonverbal at a young age and it worked for her.

Encourage the use of sounds -- cars, airplanes, animals, etc. Practice using the letter B sounds and M sounds as they are early sounds. Have him try and blow bubbles and using a straw are two skills to strengthen the mouth area.

In my earlier post I linked an online sign language dictionary that I'm using.

[Mrs Mungo]

I agree with the idea of teaching him some more signs. My kids all talked early but I think it's partly because I talk *so* much, myself and I kept a sort of running dialogue with the babies about whatever we were doing. At 15 months it isn't at all unusual for kids not to be talking. If you want to help him in the language department, I wouldn't try and force him to make sounds, I would just do a lot of talking to him and encouraging him to communicate whether through gestures or sounds.

Example:
Let's get you a drink would you like water or juice? *point to the water when you say water, point to the juice when you say juice, hold baby so he can point to one or the other*

Read books with farm animals or use other opportunities to make sounds with him. Those sounds help them connect the idea of making a sound to stand for an object.

Just a couple of ideas...I can definitely hear your frustration, I hope you find something that works for the two of you!