Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Non-Stop Ever Truthful Loud Mouth

I read a blog today that reminded me of my son. I am sure that those parents whom have had a child that was non-verbal but now speaks can relate. My son was entirely non-verbal until he was three and a half. We could not understand a thing he was saying until he was almost four, and he was classified non verbal until the end of Kindergarten. I remember when he couldn't speak.

I remember him screaming constantly and pulling on my leg. I remember the chair being overturned because I couldn't figure out what he needed or wanted. It was so frustrating to know he needed something and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. I am sure if it was hard for me it was ten times harder for him. Anyways, I even remember wishing he would speak. Listening intently to every sound that came out of his mouth in hopes to hear a Mama or something. I would sit with him for hours trying to make animal sounds and attended every speech appointment sitting through each session determined to hear that first word. I learned sign language to attempt to open communication for him and carried thick folders of PEC Cards around with me. I was determined to hear my son speak.

When I first heard my son say,"I ov ew om"(I love you mom) for the first time and it made me cry. You would think that would be enough but no, I wanted more. More words, more sounds, more interaction. LESS SCREAMING!!! Well, I think that I got what I was asking for and I should warn you to be careful what you wish for. My son is very verbal. He has difficulties maintaining a two way conversation but he can talk. He can talk your ear off. He will go on and on and on and on about the same thing for hours. Now, when he first started talking you had to listen VERY carefully and it had to be quiet in order to hear his whispers. Now, forget it.... You can hear my son in the next town, OK maybe I'm exaggerating, maybe, but I don't think so. When we tell him to lower his voice he whispers so low you can't hear him. Hmmm... NO VOLUME CONTROL!!

Last summer our cat died and we had to explain that she would not wake up. We buried her in the yard and showed him where she was. All seemed to go pretty smooth but he would talk to her all the time and was obsessed with death for a while. I had to go to a funeral and didn't have a sitter so I brought him along. Big Mistake!! The man who had passed had a young daughter (13 yrs. old). My son yelled really loud, in the funeral home, that she wouldn't see him anymore he was going in the dirt and worms would eat him. Oh Boy... ummm... I had to be grateful that most people couldn't understand him and I didn't know what to say. All I could think was,"Well, you wanted him to talk"LOL...

Then as if that wasn't bad enough, we had company over for dinner and cake for dessert. The girl is a good friend of the family. She comes over a lot and she adores my son, which is why I felt so helplessly sad when he decided to open his mouth....again!! We were having chocolate cake, my son doesn't eat too much of this, when he looks at the girl and say,"Me no eat all cake me be fat like you" I tried to address his words promptly but I was a bit shocked that he said that and when I tried to explain how rude that is he didn't understand. I then told the girl that he wasn't meaning to offend her. She calmly, but swiftly pushed her cake away and said she didn't like it. I felt horrible that my son would say something like that. He tends to do it a lot.

Remember to take time to smell the flowers...Image by Frozen in Time Photographers via FlickrThe other day we had her over again and my son had just received a new orange exercise ball. His favorite color is orange so he is very attached to the ball. I guess the girl tried to sit on his ball and he told her,"You too fat you pop it" I again told him that the word fat is a rude word. Does anybody know how to teach them about what is acceptable to say? My son will scream as loud as he can that he has to go poopie , in the middle of the store. Whatever thoughts pop in his head, you can rest assured you will hear them.  It is like he cannot control it. Thoughts please????
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