For the last month Poppy and I have been homeschooling. Sometimes it gets a bit tense since we can both be knuckleheads. If you ask the shrinks how we communicate they don’t have a clue. What mystifies them is that we communicate at all, since I prefer not to talk. Poppy has done a deep drive into the literature about cognitive testing and forms of communication utilized by us kids (non verbal) and our caregivers. He sums it up this way. Unless and until you read The Helen Keller Story and see the world through the eyes of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan you shouldn’t be swinging a bat in this ballpark.
Don’t take this the wrong way. There is a considerable amount of literature out there that deals with our cognitive issues and communication skills, however when put together it represents a jigsaw puzzle, with many pieces missing, no picture on the box and no one agreeing what the picture should be.
So we are going to try to assemble a few pieces, here and there and propose some preliminary sketches for the cover of this box.
The reason we note this quote is that it acknowledges there are developmental steps in language progression. And only you know the code that flourishes in the tender years.
Have you been informed about steps before language? Do you suspect that there is communication in your child but it is difficult to describe? Have you seen communication skills but are frustrated that teachers, therapists and clinicians do not? Could you describe your child’s communication that has amazed you?
We would love to hear from you.
When my grandson was three he was evaluated and the diagnosis was that he was unable to organize his thought patterns and had repetitive speech. What followed was all the therapies, physical, occupational and speech. He didn’t do well in school. It’s a long story and his journey has been a difficult one. He is now 24. He expresses himself through music which is his first language. He has his own YouTube account. Take a listen to Chad Gardner. I am his biggest fan.