[restless2long]

My son who's 2 1/2 has been declared developmentally disabled, due to severe speech delay. He doesn't put 2-3 words together yet, and he has a vocabulary of about 10 words at most. He does show extreme frustration with his inability to speech or communicate, and becomes a danger to himself and others physically. We have seeked helped and he his currently enrolled in classes and speech therapy. At first the therapist was going to introduce basic signs to get him started, that was a month ago. Now they want to make sign a formal way of communication for him. Ok, fine. But when they sent the papers home for me to learn the monthy sign words to help enforce them constantly in his daily use, I was floored at how hard they are to learn!! I'm having a hard time understanding from the book how to sign, is there a video out? I've contacted the college's for taking a course but nothing is available till june, I need help now...Any suggestions?

[debsdone]

I wanted to share something with you. My youngest daughter, (not adopted) had delayed speech. Her situation was as you described, except that she didn't get frustrated. She seemed to have a "secret language" that had all the hand signals and voice inflections, byt just gibberish. They started teaching her signs and then I enrolled her in a speech and language school, when she turned 3. It was officially "special ed" in our town. From there they bumped her up to the next level of "special ed" and we were official. She was in the program for 2 years and then we decided to try kindergarten. I had kept her in a "normal" pre-school 2 days a week so she was around higher functioning kids as well as the special needs kids. She had an aid everyday in kindergarten and I was unsure about her moving to 1st grade. At this pont she was speaking, but eye contact was bad and behaviors were strange. Not violent, luckily. Anyways, I had her repeat K without the aid, and pulling her out twice a week for extra help. First grade didn't require assistance and 2nd grade she was released from special ed. She is now 11 and reads in college level, wins the spelling bees, and is a GATE (gifted and talented) student! She is still a bit different, but in an artistic sweet way. My happy story that started scary, I wish the same for you and yours! Love, Debi

[lucyjoy]

This awfully young to assume his delay is that severe. Has he been screened for auditory processing? Do loud noises bother him?

My nephew didn't talk at all until he was three. He started talking after his younger brother did.

You might check with a school who teaches adults to do sign language. You may find a student who would like the practical experience of teaching you and your son sign language. (A friend of mine did this as a student so she wouldn't feel so awkward when she went out to use her skill in public.) Do any of the churches in your area offer a sign language interpretted service?
Someone from there might be willing to teach you.

[restless2long]

Hi,


Thank you for your responses, I'm glad to hear your daughter has successed and is doing very well. I wish you both continued achivements.

As to the other posting, yes he's sensitive to loud noices. He has had 6 hearing tests and have turned out normal. He has seen neouroligist, patholigist,speecholigist,socialoligist, physical therapist, development specialist ect..... We have been put through the ringer with numerous testing.

All testing place him at the 12mth age stage for speech & development. Physically he is normal and above average. At this point there not sure how he will progress, were hopefull he will develope speech language for age appropiate with time. The speech patholigist has suggested the sign language strongly do to his behavior, he needs a way to comminicate to eleviate his frustration and a open door for teaching as well as learning.

He wants to talk very much, but what comes out is babbling. He has difficulty mimicking sounds, and becomes so frustrated he bites himself to the point of bleeding. He's very intelligent, he points to all the animals you ask, and different objects. He can work the tv and vcr, much to my horror lol. He is around alot of other children, with normal speech.

On a good note he has picked up one new word at school, the one we all dread lol..... "MINE" everything is mine! I'm going to the school for the Deaf & blind and I'm going to post on their bullitin board seeking help for a tudor. Hope it will help us.

Thanks again for all the wonderfull responces.

[lucyjoy]

Auditory processing does not show up in normal hearing tests. My niece use to cover her ears and scream(until she was nine) if the noise was to loud. My nephew couldn't practice his trumpet, they couldn't use a vacuum, and she didn't potty train well because she couldn't stand the flushing of the toilet. She's outgrown a lot of this problem, but continues to have speech difficulty and becomes frustrated when she can't get the words to come out right.

I think auditory processing falls under the sensory integration and deslexia catagory.

Anyway, hope you find a tutor for the sign language. If he doesn't end up needing it later on, he'll just have the skill of a second language(and so will you).

[restless2long]

They did mention wanting to test his sensories, they haven't yet though. But you have given me something more to look into, thanks. He's not as extreme as your neice, when it comes to loud sounds. We can be sitting around the dinner table and I raise my voice to my daughter to warn her she's going to spill her milk. He will cry out very scared and try to get away. But I didn't scream or was "that" loud, basically a raised voice.Also he seems to always want something small in his hands, and has problems with alot of textures. He won't eat meat or anything tough, although he has all his teeth. The other thing is he doesn't react to pain as normal, when pinched he laughs. A girl in class bit him and left teeth imprints and my son put his arm out to her and was giggling and said "mo" (for more). This is when they brought up sensory testing. I'll have to ask what they have decided and if they are still interested in doing that. I wonder if this is related to speech? If so what type of help did your neice recieve?
Thanks again, Sheryl

[lucyjoy]

My niece (E) has regular speech therapy, her teacher wears a special microphone in class that allows E to hear her without the background noise interfering. She also recieved special hlp at a school that deals with specific deslexic and sensory problems one on one that included a different way of looking at and interpreting language and used some specialized tapes for audio sounds. Her speech is improving and although she struggles some accedemically, she has no social problems and participates in many extra activities.

[shorty]

restless2long,
I just read your post. I wanted to ask what sign language they were wanting your son to learn. Why I ask is I have a son who is deaf since the age of two and he is 16 now. There are many different sign systems out there. We started out with Signing Exact English and used some Pigeon sign also. I would encourage voicing with sign also. We used total communication with our son...but our son signed some but chose not to when he got to Kindergarten. He is oral and does very well with his speech. The American Sign Language (ASL) is what our son is learing now for college pre-requist for foreign language. We were wanting to wait for ASL until our son got english basis down, because ASL is French word order. If you know what sign system i would be glad to post information to where to get a book. Also there are web sites on the internet to find videos to learn to sign. You could check with your library too. Yes it does take time to figure out the handshapes. I took 72 hours of sign with a community college and it helped learning with other people..then going back to the book made more sense.I think we have about seven different sign dictionaries now. Hope this information helps! Shorty

[sweetnoodle]

I strongly urge you to get help for getting your son tested for sensory integration. Some feel this is a "new" diagnosis that is not legitimate, however, there are other professionals who do think it is valid and therapists that can help with this. It truly sounds like he has this problem. It may be exaggerating or contributing to his speech delay, or they may be separate problems.

As far as signing videos, etc. Please contact Self Help for Hard of Hearing at www.shhh.org for materials and more information. They are a national organization. It is hard to learn sign language, which is 3-D, from a flat piece of paper with a 2-D picture on it.

We're rootin' for you!!

[sweetnoodle]

You may also want to get the book:

The Out of Sync Child by Kranowitz and Silver

You can review exerpts on amazon.com

[denise marie]

hi restless
my son is 3 years old and is deveopmentally delayed too.He says mama dadda etc.Just small words.Sad thing is what words he does say is in hindia due to we are in process of adopting.they have him in speech therapy there.poor baby will be confused when he gets here and speaks english.My son is a very special needs child no hearing impairments though.But he has alot of other special needs.I am hoping oce he gets home and i can get him the help he needs he will talk more.I have been looking into all kinds of things to help stimulate him and what i can do here at home to help him.

[debsdone]

The sensory stuff is interesting. My daughter, while going through her language problems, also was very insensitive to hot, cold. She could get in a tub that I sure couldn't, and eat really hot foods. Her lips would be purple, yet she would insist she wasn't cold. She was called "tough" because she could take pain. She never had a definate diagnosis, but the connection is interesting........Debi

[lambeausam]

I second Nancy suggestion for sensory integration evaluation. I have two boys, now 7 and 3 1/2. They were each placed in my home at 2 1/2 years of age. Neither could speak more than 8 words intelligibly. Both began traditional speech therapy within one month of placement. Predictably, two different boys, two different results. My youngest son, M, will be four in April. He has a vocabulary and comprehension of a 1st grader. His speech delay was due to educational neglect. My oldest son, C, is in second grade. He "graduated" from speech therapy after two years. He, too, has an advanced vocabulary and comprehension. However, speech therapy led to a few other discoveries. C has some sensory integration problems, dyslexia, and dysgraphia. The delay in speech, coupled with these other problems, created frustration for him and sometimes resulted in behavioral difficulties - specifically biting. He discovered that if someone had a toy he wanted and they couldn't understand his request for the toy, he would bite them and they would drop the toy. As his speech improved, his frustration decreased and the biting ceased.

I am curious why there is such a rush for your son to learn sign language when there doesn't appear to be a hearing problem. I realize that sign language is also used by individuals unable to speak, but you don't indicate that you have such a diagnosis. It seems to me that learning two methods of communication at the same time would only increase his frustration, and in turn, his behavioral problems.

Based on your observations, I would encourage you to have a sensory integration evaluation conducted. Some of the other posters have offered some common characteristics - temperature insensitivity, noise level sensitivity. Another one I didn't see mentioned in fabric/food texures. Do clothing tags bother your son? Does he steer away from food with certain textures? My son loves food, but does not eat fresh melon or any jello due to the texture.

[restless2long]

Hi Everyone,


Oh My, so many responses to my posting. All them are so informitive, I definetley have my work cut out for me! First let me thank all of you for your support and understanding, it's nice to accually discuss this people who understand, been there, and know what they are talking about lol.
As to the question of what form as sing are they teaching my son ( J ), that one sent my husband & I scrambling for all the paperwork. We are still so knew to all this, we didn't realize there were many forms of sign. He's being taught ASL, he also has a booklet of flashcards with pictures to show us what he wants or is trying to tell us. So far that doesn't work, he doesn't like it.
As for the textures he doesn't like... sand,grass,mud,playdough, fingerpaints, can't stand to have stickers put on him, and doesn't like to be dirty.He won't eat hard or cruchy foods, carrots, apples, cookies, cereal. ( J ) has a vocabulary of less than 10 words, and those words are not pronounced correctly or full. I,m just following the speech patholigist & therapist suggestion for signing, I figure basically what do I know?
Thanks for the link to information on signs via computor & video. To the family adopting the hondius child, your all in our prayers & good luck to you. Thanks again to everyone..you've been wonderfull and so helpfull.

[restless2long]

One more thing, yes we will have the sensory integration testing done next week.