I just want to say thank you. Though I haven’t responded to every comment, message, and e-mail you’ve sent about Thursday’s post, I’ve appreciated them all so much. Thank you for reaching out, for sharing your stories, for sharing your encouragement. It means so much to our family. Just as with how much difference that single smile made in my day, so do each and every one of your kind messages make a difference. I hope you know that.
Many of you asked about sign language. Yes, that’s one of the changes we’ve been making lately. (I plan to share about others soon and hope to answer more of your questions then.) We were hesitant for awhile, wondering if it would make Bracken rely on the signs more and practice his speech less (they’ve proven that to be false), but then we researched and talked to our speech therapist and it turns out sign language is really helpful. I’m so happy to find that out because I’ve been wanting to do sign language with him. When Bracken was a baby we taught him some signs and he loved signing and ended up making up his own signs as well and teaching them to us. I know learning from videos will be much better for us than learning out of a book. We found a few videos on youtube and Bracken picked up the signs right away, really loving it and beaming with each sign he made. We love learning them all together as a family and practicing them with each other. Though we haven’t found any videos there (on youtube) that we’ve loved so far, we just got some DVDs from the library that teach sign language and I’m anxious to check them out. I plan to search online to find more sources where we can find good videos that teach sign language. If you know of good resources, please share!
And this picture is unrelated, Bracken making sand pies with his friend in the fall. He has some friends he doesn’t really need words to play and have fun with. Those are the best kind of friendships.
While we haven’t had to tackle issues like apraxia of speech in our home, we do have two highly spirited children. My oldest has always been extremely intense. He could throw such huge fits with intense anger and stubborness and shortly after, show such intense love and empathy. I’m sorry that someone approached you and said something about their child not throwing fits. That is just silly to even say to another mom.
I always think to myself how I should handle my son’s outbursts with love and tenderness–maybe gently touching him to calm him…but in the moment, I don’t remember those things and many times, nothing at all will calm him.
It sounds like you are so thoughtful, patient and caring towards Bracken, even in the midst of his fits. It is a tricky age anyway…kids are testing boundaries and exploring independence…exploring who they are. I can only imagine what the frustration with the difficulty speaking adds to this age for him.
You are doing a great job! Lots of love! Kris
Hi Taryn!
My kid threw tantrums when he was little … and still gets pretty miserable at times now that he is entering his teens … my questions to the woman whose child does not throw fits is “What medication do you have him on?” – Anyway, that was not a nice thing to say to you. If you have a perfect child then just be thankful and feel for the rest of us who have normal children. Your blog is very inspiring! Thank you for writing!
Hello, I’ve been reading for a while. Just wanted to let you know that Signing Times is a great way to teach signs. The only downside is that that songs get stuck in your head forever! They are a lot of fun. I work in the schools with kids who have special needs and every class we use these videos in, we have great success. Best of luck to you!
So happy for you all!!! 🙂
I’ve heard Signing Time is fabulous!
YAY! I’m so glad to know that sign language will be helpful in Bracken’s situation and that your family already enjoys learning it together. I’m excited to learn more about which DVDs you’ve chosen – we loved the Signing Time series the most, but there are some fantastic programs out there from other companies too.
The picture is wonderful – you’re so right about friendships that don’t need spoken words. 😀