Communication

I have always prayed that Julia would be able to understand, but not just understand...that she would also be able to EXPRESS to us what she understands and how she feels. Lately we are seeing so much more actual conversation from Julia...expression of complete ideas. It is exciting to watch her.

Here are some typical conversations:

Julia: Mom! Pease! 'Mon!!! (Mom...please...come on!)

Me: What, Julia?

Julia: Mom! Nana pay dame! (Mom...Susanna's playing the game!)

Me: Oh, Susanna is playing the game?

Julia: Yas! Mom! Nana Oo-ee-ah pay dame! (Yes! Mom...tell Susanna to let me play the game)


OR

Julia: Mom! Ee-ah ky! (Mom...Olivia is crying!)

Me: What? Why is Olivia crying?

Julia: (Demonstrating on herself) Me pu air! (I pulled her hair!)

Me: Julia! That's not kind! What do you say to Olivia?

Julia: Sowwy. (Sorry.)


Sometimes it's like this:

Julia: (Running to me) Mom!! Mom!! Sowwy! Sowwy!

Me: What did you do, Julia?

Julia takes me by the hand and shows me the mess...towels pulled out on the floor, water spilled, the tub overflowing...you get the picture!

Me: Oh, no, Julia, you made a mess. You have to help clean up.

Julia: K (Okay) and actively involves herself in trying to help. Sometimes I can see where she has already tried to clean up...towels where she has tried to wipe up water, for example.


And finally:

Me: Julia.

Julia: What?

Me: Why are you throwing your books on the floor?

Julia: Cuz. (Because.)

Me: 'Because' isn't a reason!

Julia: Oh. (looks perplexed)

Me: So...why are you throwing the books on the floor?

Julia (looks thoughtful for a moment and then says decidedly): CUZ!

The flip-side is that when she is at school she DOES NOT SAY A WORD!!!! Not a WORD! They are able to bribe an occasional response out of her with fishy crackers or some other edible treat, but Julia does not communicate much outside our family. In fact, Julia will count from 1-10 with very little (if any) assistance as she climbs or descends the stairs at home, but did not meet her school goal of counting from 1-5 WITH PROMPTS for her teachers at school.

While I understand this, it does bother me. I want Julia to be able to express herself to other people as well as her family.

To be fair, I have to note that Julia changed classes this school year. She went from being the most verbal (!!!!) kid in her class to being in a class of kids that is 3 times as large with lots of kids who are older than she is. Many of the kids in her class are not as delayed in regards to speech as Julia is. S0...a new environment, some new classmates (a few familiar kids moved with her last fall too), and new teachers. Add to this Julia's 5 second processing delay between stimulus and response and all of these things conspire together to produce the silence we are seeing at school.

Her teachers are great ladies and they are working hard to get Julia to be more interactive at school. We have recently re-introduced Julia's communication devices (Big-Mac switch and 4 choice switch) in hopes that they will help her communicate more effectively outside our home. I am reconsidering PECS or some other picture-type program that will help Julia's communication.

The bottom line is that Julia DOES communicate! She can express her wants, dislikes and emotions! This is more than we were encouraged to hope for in the beginning and we are so THANKFUL that she is the bright, charming little girl she is.