“I remember driving home with my daughter once, before she could talk. It was dark out. She started wailing while we were on the highway. There wasn’t a good place to stop, and there wasn’t anything she could tell me. I just gunned it the rest of the way home, feeling upset and tired and drinking out of my water bottle. When we got home, I could see in the light that her flailing hands were making her version of the sign for water, but I hadn’t been able to make it out in the dark. I had spent the ride drinking water in front of her while she cried for it. I admit to a few tears of my own. It did not seem fair that she could communicate so little, and then only in the best of circumstances.
The staff at Barrett promised to help improve her communication. They thought speech was her best bet, but they offered to help us with other methods (such as a speech app) if needed.
Her speech came slowly but steadily, with a lot of work. It’s been worth it. Now, I get to enjoy car rides with requests for water, gum, open windows, the book her brother took… few parents have been happier to hear “How much longer?”
When she was younger and had very limited communication, we found one of the odd things was that she couldn’t name her toys. You can only call so many plastic horses “horse”, or so many dolls “dolly”. It seemed so impersonal. So in the beginning, I named them based on things we knew she liked. (I remember naming a black-and-white horse Oreo.)
As time went on, I could suggest names to her, and she would say yes or no. It was a small victory, but it made us happy.
It was a fantastic day when she first decided of her own accord that her new horses were named Carrot and Peanut Butter.
Now, years later, she not only names her all her Beanie Boos, but tells me about them all and makes up silly stories at great length. (Often while she is supposed to be getting ready for bed.) It seems like a little thing, but it’s a big thing for us”.
~ Mom