Last night Evan was sitting with me at my scrapbook table and we were looking at pics of his birthday celebration at school. He picked up a picture and I kept asking him "Who is this?" and after a few times he says "Evan" and then he says "me", so then I had him show daddy what he could say.
A few minutes later we were sitting at the table and I was having him help me pick out paper to go with the pics from school. We were sifting through paper and I was on a blue piece and Evan points to it and says "blue". I almost cried. So we went and pointed out other colors as well. When you have a non verbal child it is sometimes hard to know what they know because they cannot usually tell you in words. I worry about Evan's cognitive delays and how he will progress in school. I am so thrilled to know that Evan is learning in preschool and knows his colors. Anyway, just had to brag about my smart boy.
I just wanted to add that these words are not clearly spoken so Evan is not on the verge of talking in sentences or anything like that. His Evan sounds like "etan" his sounds are mostly vowels. His "me" sounds like "eee" and the "blue" like "ooh". Some people may think that I am underestimating Evan or not happy about these accomplishments. This is not the case, I am just being realistic about the fact that he does have a brain malformation and a lot of the problems are in the speech area of the brain. It is highly unlikely that Evan will ever have a functional speech which means he will be dependent on his communication device and probably signing as well. I am so overjoyed that Evan is able to show me what is in his head, that he does in fact know his colors. This certainly gives me hope for his future especially in school.
We are the Justinich Family- Rudy, Stacy, Cynthia, Gabriel and Evan. We talk about everyday life including the joys and heartaches of raising a child with special needs. We hope you enjoy our blog and learn something as well.
2 comments:
I think it is incredible! Be happy, he is learning and I am sure he WANTS to talk, it just doesnt come out. I can tell Daniel wants to talk, he moves his mouth, he watches my mouth, but whether its because of the brain malformation or the cerebral palsy, low trunk tone that he can't get the words out I don't know. But I can tell he wants to communicate. There are words that we can understand at home, that he'll say but to a stranger they wouldnt understand. Daniel has started to vocalize much more since getting his augmentative device.
I feel the same way about Evan, I know he has lots to say I think for him it is a combination of the brain malformation, low tone in his oral motor area and trunk that is contibuting to his problem. I am so happy that he is learning because I tell you I was a little worried. I see him watching and trying all the time. It is almost bittersweet because I know he wants to talk but he has things working against him that are preventing him to talk. But I am happy, and very excited.
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