Ever since our kids started to use English, they have had some pretty bizzare ways of saying things and trying to express themselves. Some of this stems from having learned Spanish first and trying to apply the rules and sentence structure to English - which sometimes doesn't work so well. Other times, it is just due to the severe deprivation of the early years of their lives coming through in their speech limitations.
Lately, Diana - when asking a question - will put a "yaah?" on the end of it. It's hillarious to me because she sounds like a Swede (imagine Wally Walrus). For example, she will say, "Mama, I do la rondie(laundry) good today, yaah?". To which I will usually answer "yaah!"...
Oscar on the other hand will say, "Yes y yes" - when he means to say "Yes it is". He says this so much (especially to his sisters) that Tim and I say "yes y yes" to each other instead of saying "yes it is". Yaah, we have warped senses of humor...
Mayerly thinks the word "look" starts with a "g" (glook). I think she had heard me tell her "go look" so much ***sidebar - Mayerly used to never look for anything she would lose, she just expected everyone to drop everything and help her find whatever she lost without looking for it herself first (if at all). So, I told her (at
least once every day for awhile) to "go look" for her fill-in-the-blank-here because
I didn't lose it.*** that she just runs the two words together now. "Glook at this mama!"
When Claudia tries to say "popsicle" it sounds like "bicycle". Now she just says "fruit bar" instead (but that actually sounds more like "fubar"). Can't win for losing...
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We have completed vision testing on Oscar now. He has a
convergence insufficiency and will need vision therapy. He got reading glasses back in April and we will start his therapy in September when school starts. Diana has been doing VT since January and is progressing well. Her eyes are straight sometimes now - which means she is using them together when they are :-). Unfortunately, my insurance is refusing to cover it so it is about to get twice as expensive for us to pay for this therapy.
We had Oscar and Diana tested for
auditory processing disorder. They both have this - which explains their slow aquisition of English and the repeated mispronounciations of words even with retro-feeding. We started APD therapy for that today (also not covered by insurance).
I asked our audiologist about getting speech therapy evaluations. He said that it would be a good idea since APD therapy only deals with the processing aspect, not with learning to articulate correctly. Soooo this month we took all four kids in for speech therapy evaluations. Oscar, Diana and Mayerly have
ankyloglossia - more commonly known as "tongue tie". I'll be scheduling surgery for them this summer to "loose their tongues". Interestingly, I found this scripture referencing tongue tie, "...and the string of his tongue was loosed , and he spake plain." KJV Mark 7:35. At least 3 kids will be starting speech therapy after their surgeries (this
should be covered by insurance). Claudia has the speech of about a 5 year old, but not sure if this warrants therapy right now.
So if you are keeping score, that will be three kids, doing three different therapies - or seven therapy sessions per week coming our way soon. I haven't figured out how we are going to do this all yet - financially or logistically. Keep us in your prayers...
