My 3 1/2-year-old daughter Elisabeth, you may recall, is apraxic (severely speech delayed), mainly due to delays from being a micro-preemie, having open heart surgery at 5 months, an extremely rough recovery from that (overdosed twice by hospital error and resuscitated once), and a feeding tube down her throat until she was over 8 months old. She's coming along well now and she's a healthy, happy girl with her development holding steady at about a year behind Catherine in everything except speech - she can only pronounce a few sounds and therefore only a very small number of understandable words. She has good comprehension and does know quite a few ASL manual signs, but since her manual dexterity and muscle tone is low she is still fairly vague with them. Elisabeth attends preschool five days per week while Catherine happily hangs out with me.My husband reported in an email to family on the surprise she gave us:
"I wanted to report something unusual. Elisabeth, as you remember, loves to sit on my lap, as well as showing considerable snuggliness when she crawls into bed with Nancy in the morning. Well, on Friday or Saturday, she climbed into my lap and before turning around to make herself comfortable, she poked me in the chest and said "Em", rather distinctly. I didn't at first appreciate what had happened. I looked more carefully and realized that she was poking precisely the middle of the big "M" on my University of Michigan T-shirt, and besides, with her other hand, she was trying to make the ASL sign for the letter M. Of course she's been watching the alphabet videos that Catherine has been using to learn most of the alphabet, but neither of us realized that she could recognize letters. Nancy tested her after I left and reports that she also recognizes the letter A. It's also notable that she is able to say the "Em" sound.
Let's see if this is the beginning of her learning to talk. Even if it isn't, it's another reason to be confident that her problem isn't cognitive. Not if she can recognize letters at age 3!"
Go Elisabeth!
20 comments:
I suspect that as a parent, that could put a lump in your throat. Congratulations on what I am sure will be many, many more firsts for you and yours.
Go Elizabeth!!!
Stay tuned...
I remember when my oldest was 3 (in 1987) and I gave him some crayons and paper at a restaurant to 'shut him up' (sorry). I was astounded when he started drawing letters, which he learned from sesame street. Good job - GO girl! this is misty, by the way. I'm just too lazy to log Myles out and log myself in.
Notwithstanding a normal birth and pregnancy, my daughter was delayed on all her milestones. She has an older brother who was early on all his, so we were concerned. In kindergarten she learned to read and write and she's been advanced ever since. So you may be seeing the same kind of development.
smart kid. you'll see. :)
That is outstanding! As you say, it is clear evidence that the gears in her little brain are whirring away, right on target. She may just need to develop better neuro-muscular control. I'm guessing she gets there.
what a clever girl! So encouraging for you all :)
That is so exciting! I love when you can see that kids "get it" and make that connection.
That is so exciting! I love when you can see that kids "get it" and make that connection.
That is awesome! Go Elisabeth! She can't hide her knowledge for much longer, it's starting to leak out.
A bright child, if I do say so myself. Go Blue!
Great news...choked me up...I love those little victories!
My daughter too was a premie and had surgery at day one...besides a scar you can see when she is wearing her bikini, you would never know she had some setbacks!
Elizabeth is a fighter and a winner- like her mom- I just know it!
OOps...Sorry Elisabeth, I spelled your name wrong! I never will again! :-)
That is very good news that she popped that word and understanding out. When children go through so much in their infancy there is certainly oddities that for the parents become blessings.
My son learned to read and speak simultaneously from Let's Learn English Picture Dictionary by Marlene Goodman
That is awesome. Woo!
Yay, Elizabeth! Way to show everyone what a smart little cookie you are. :)
You KNOW she's in there and the wheels are always turning - it's so COOL when she comes out and shares it with you.
How very, very exciting!! Go Elisabeth!!!
That is such good news! Congratulations Elisabeth :)
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