I truly believe that having Evan learn to understand letters and their sounds
at an
early point was a VERY big part (and I do feel it was inspired in me by God)
of how
many words she attempts to say.
I used MANY methods for that such as whole
language phonemic awareness applied in very large print on the computer.
Another
wonderful item is the Dr. Seuss's ABC video. It is almost like reading the
book except
the letters are zoomed full screen and it is easier to grasp the upper case
and lower
case letters this way.
I could then talk to Evan about the "may-may" sound
comes
from the letter M, then I could say "See, it is right here, mmmmm". I felt
that at least
she could realize why I was bugging her to place her mouth a certain way.
Okay an
M word is made with the mmmm sound. Gotcha. Mouth placement was still a lot
of
work but it seems that the desire (which is what drives the attempt to work
hard) became
stronger once she understood language better.
We started this whole language
reading application at around a year of age. (Another reason that we used
the computer
and large print, is because her vision was terrible the first year, by having
her begin to
track large print letters on screen as they were typed and spelled
simultaneously prompted her to develop visual discrimination and track the
large type, she has had
MAJOR visual improvement).
The other tip that I wanted to include regarded a "fill-in-the-blank" type of
therapy. If
Cameron will sit still long enough to hear books like Brown Bear or I Went
Walking, you
might want to read them repeatedly and then when you feel he remembers the
lilt of the
words, leave the last rhyming word blank (in I Went Walking the sentence that
ends the
rhyme is... Looking at Me, we leave the last word blank and Evan says "me").
Later on
you can start to choose other words in the story to leave blank for him to
attempt to
fill in.
Sometimes I deliberately read a book with a different character and
see if she
wants to tell me the correct character.
In one book we have called Pig in
the Pond, it
begins "This is the story of Neligan's pig". I might read it, "This is the
story of Evan's
pig...." she will grin and say "Neligan's". I might say "Are you sure?",
she'll say "I'm
sure".
Another fill-in the-blank excercise is try to sing Old McDonald enough times
until he
learns the rhyme, then at the last part sing "E-I-E-I- ____" leave the O
blank.
The brain
just has a strong desire to complete what it knows is missing. I did it one
day at our
PT/OT appointment and the OT while working on another child across the room
filled in
the blank. It is very compelling.
We also do that with the alphabet song,
I'll sing "A"
and Evan sings the next letter b, (or maybe just says it, but this good
too!), then I'll
sing B (try to hold on that melody note because somehow the melody is
prompting for
the next melody note to fill the blank, Evan will try to say "C" as best as
she can, then I
sing C). By doing it this way, she is not imitating me, she is thinking of
the answer
and filling in the blank.
It is not a problem if you want him to IMITATE you
singing the
letter you've just sung, but at this point I am attempting to have HER
advance the alphabet instead of merely repeating me.
I am wanting her own
thoughts to drive and prompt her speech. When she sees flowers or clothing
that she likes, she says "pretty". When she has a diaper that needs changed,
she says "yucky". When the microwave bell
dings, she says "ready". When she finishes her drink, she says "more". Now
it is
time to prompt for more syllables. I expect her to one day scream, "WILL YOU
LEAVE ME ALONE?!?!!!
Well, that's probably enough to keep you guys going for a day or two.
Sincerely,
Joan