Re: Hearing & Speach

[Guest guest]

We had late speech also but took away the

reward for grunting. Gavin had to actually use a word approximation

and/or a sign to get milk, up, more, etc. Sounds mean but as long as

grunts got him what he wanted there was no reason to develop speech which is

much harder work. Gavin has 500+ signs and 1000’s of words now (at

7). He can say pretty much any word but tends to become a mush mouth when

speaking in sentences. Again, with the low tone it is about motivation

and reward. If they can get their needs met with little effort they will

(as we all will).

With the monosyllabic babble, try to mimic

it and give it meaning. Point to yourself when they say mama mama mama and

parrot them. Any word approximation that you can tie meaning to.

Help your son get his hand to his mouth

but have him keep attempting to do it himself. Unfortunately, they gotta

make a mess to get this one. I had homework from the OT to get me over

this hurdle.

With regards to hearing, I agree with

tubes may help but may not be the only source of the problem. The tubes

should help with the sound getting into the ear but may not help with

processing. The tubes will help with equilibrium (and standing, walking,

balance, etc.)

I would try to keep the boys together

also. I think that if Marcel is not frustrated with the older class then

they both should be there. It should be an easier class for him to get

assistance because he won’t be with all the babies. It has also

been my experience that our kids want to do what the other kids are doing and

it pushes them. With the appropriate support this can be very beneficial.

Hope this helps!

Suze (mom to Nicolas and Kristopher

identical/15/Opitz and Gavin 7/DS)

From: Multiples-DS [mailto:Multiples-DS ] On Behalf Of Anja

Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008

9:19 AM

To: Multiples-DS

Subject: Hearing

& Speach

Hello, I have a question for the members with older

kids. When did

your children begin to have first words? Marcel and Fabien are both

17 month old and they do not have any actual words. They do say mama

and dada but its not intentionally. They do not know what it means.

they are still just doing the monosyllabic babble. We just started

ST a few weeks ago and I hope this will help them improve. Marcel is

going to have tubes placed on Friday for the fluid rention in his

ears. This greatly affects his hearing right now. When he had the

audiology it showed a moderate hearing loss. So we are eager to see

if the tubes are going to make positive impact right away. Also

there are some reports out there on the net claiming that tubes do

not always correct hearing issues. Generally Marcel is a couple of

month behind his brother in development. He is only 18lb, Fabien is

24lb. They eat the same amounts of foods but it appears they have a

different metabolism. Fabien can finger feed himself, Marcel can

pick food up but can't get it in his mouth. he rather puts the food

in his hair. The daycare just separated the two cause Fabien was to

wild pulling himself up on the babychairs so he is going to the

young toddler class now. Most kids in this class started to walk. I

am not happy that they are not together cause they are clearly

missing each other. We are trying to get them to move Marcel as

well. He has not started to pull himself up but he gets bored in the

baby room. Its not stimulating for him.

Cheers, Anja. Mom of Fabien,Marcel 17mo (DS), Celine 5y.

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[Guest guest]

Each child is so different, speech will come. We started sign language when the boys were 6 months old. We would sign and use the words. I almost cried when Davey started signing. He understood what we were saying to him, and he just couldn't get out his response. The signing helped SO much. Our service coordinator had this great book called, " Singing Exact English " . I bought a used copy on eBay. Davey even made up his own signs. He had this great one for ice cream! Eventually Davey dropped the signs in favor of the words. We still use a couple of signs.

Could be your boys have " twin speak " going? I know my boys understand each other better than any of the rest of the family!

We have also been through the ear tube thing. It was amazing, on our way home from the outpatient surgery center, we noticed a big increase in sounds coming from Davey. I think he needs new tubes again, and we see the ENT on Thursday. He is turning up the TV way too loud. This is a sign to me that it is time for new tubes. He has had 8 sets. His little canals are not big enough yet for the T tubes. Hopefully this time.

Good luck, give the sign language a try, and keep us posted!

mom to Amy 20, Kelsey 18, Davey 8, and Will 8

Hello, I have a question for the members with older kids. When did your children begin to have first words? Marcel and Fabien are both 17 month old and they do not have any actual words. They do say mama and dada but its not intentionally. They do not know what it means.

they are still just doing the monosyllabic babble. We just started ST a few weeks ago and I hope this will help them improve. Marcel is going to have tubes placed on Friday for the fluid rention in his ears. This greatly affects his hearing right now. When he had the

audiology it showed a moderate hearing loss. So we are eager to see if the tubes are going to make positive impact right away. Also there are some reports out there on the net claiming that tubes do not always correct hearing issues. Generally Marcel is a couple of

month behind his brother in development. He is only 18lb, Fabien is 24lb. They eat the same amounts of foods but it appears they have a different metabolism. Fabien can finger feed himself, Marcel can pick food up but can't get it in his mouth. he rather puts the food

in his hair. The daycare just separated the two cause Fabien was to wild pulling himself up on the babychairs so he is going to the young toddler class now. Most kids in this class started to walk. I am not happy that they are not together cause they are clearly

missing each other. We are trying to get them to move Marcel as well. He has not started to pull himself up but he gets bored in the baby room. Its not stimulating for him. Cheers, Anja. Mom of Fabien,Marcel 17mo (DS), Celine 5y.