My
son was non-verbal till he was 3.5 years old and he communicated with
me by lifting my
hands to point something like snacks, water etc. He came to me only
for the snack items and other things did not matter to him at that
point of time. I was 100% sure that he would come to me at least for
something he wanted.
Whenever
he came to me and did the gesture of lifting my hand to point at
something, I gave a word to his gesture. For e.g. He pushed my hands
trying to point at the chocolate box at a top shelf that he could see
but could not reach. At that time I said Chocolate
and gave a chocolate
immediately. I didn't expect him
to say Chocolate, since it was a
very big word to him. Slowly he started to make some
sound for chocolate but not chocolate correctly. So then onward if he
requested with the sound for chocolate , immediately I picked up the
chocolate box and gave one but I gave the correct pronunciation
“chocolate” and gave the chocolate immediately. Slowly the sound
for Chocolate became “Chocola” and then “Chocolate” later.
I
have made a matrix of how it evolved
Stage
|
My
son
|
Myself
|
Original
gestural communication
|
Pushed
my hand to point at something he wanted
|
I
gave the object he wanted
|
Introduced
giving a word for gesture
|
Pushed
my hand to point at something he wanted
|
I
said the word for the object he wanted and gave the object as well
e.g. Chocolate or toy
|
After
some time
|
Pushed
my hand to point at something he wanted and gave some sound(e.g.
"cha" for Chocolate or it
could be any sound)
|
I
gave an expression that I comprehended him and said the word(i.e.
correct one) for what he wanted and gave the object
|
After
some more time
|
Reduced
pushing my hands and he started giving a sound which was closer
to the original chocolate
|
Similar
as above
|
At
last
|
Gladly
I gave the chocolate to him and just repeating the word for his
memory and reference
|
In
all the above stages, whatever is the form of request at that stage,
I used to give the reward immediately, so that he recognized that his
efforts were bearing fruit.
I
would like to mention one another classic example of my son's request
by gesture and how I changed into a word. My son liked to play with
“Bubbles”. I used to keep Bubbles bottle in a way that was
reachable. Whenever he wanted he took it and gave it to me. Here I
didn’t use any Question like what do you want? Or do you want
bubbles etc. Since I knew very well he would give the bubbles bottle
to me. I waited in the position that is on my knees so that I could
able to reach his level and I would be able to establish eye contact
with him. Even though the eye contact was very few seconds I used the
opportunity and said the word “Bubbles”. This was just to get
started and I will start blowing only when he made the request.
For
making this request I made him to stand/sit in one place and I was
little away from him. He initially made request by reaching out and
touching my hands. I took that as a request and immediately said
“Bubble” and blew the bubbles. After the bubbles came out, myself
and my husband used to play with bubbles along with him like saying
pop pop and poking at bubbles. After all it should be a jolly game so
that he will request for more.
Once
he popped all the bubbles, again he touched me; I gave him the word
“bubbles” and blew bubbles. In a few days, he made some sound for
bubbles like “ba” sound and he stopped touching gesture. Now I
took the “ba” sound as the request. I heard that sound
immediately I said the word “bubbles” and blew it for him.
Eventually “Ba” became “Bubbles” on a good day.
Tips
- List down the words which your kids show interest/request. For e.g. my son requested for snacks by pointing snacks box, sandals for going out, tumbler for water and bubble bottle for playing with bubbles. Since above are his needs, I was able to convert them to words. The key here is to use our kid’s interest. Their motivation is what makes this possible and not our motivations.
- We can do this activity at anytime and anywhere even in the friend’s/relative's houses or public places. That is wherever the kids find their objects of interest.
- Also one additional thing that can be done along with introducing words is to do an action(like showing drinking water) or flashing a picture of the object he is requesting(you should have it made earlier and keep the picture ready at the appropriate place). This could be one another useful tool to shift away from gestures and a useful step before full speech(this never impedes speech, it only aids and helps)
- Give the list of your kid’s interests and appropriate words also to other family members.
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Thanks a lot Virginia.
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