Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Momentous day for us ...

Payton has Down syndrome ... this we know. Payton has a speech delay, thanks to that extra chromosome. I feel like I have been beating my head against a brick wall in trying to get her to sign. Since she was about 10 months old or so, I have been signing "eat", "drink" and "more" with her on a fairly regular basis. Although she has not signed back to me, I know she understands what I am signing to her.

The sign for "more" is to touch the tips of your fingers together (bad explanation, I know). A lot of kids will clap as their way of signing "more" and while Payton has clapped during mealtime, I have never been able to really associate it with her saying she wants "more". Well, today I was able to associate it. I asked her verbally if she wanted more while I signed it and I kept asking her, trying to get her to sign. SHE DID IT!!! Several times, on que! OMG I kissed her about a thousand times! It is such a great feeling to have your child communicate back with you, especially when you have worked so hard to get there.

Aside from signing, Payton has some words! Here is a list of the words she says (some of them perhaps only her father and I understand) and correctly associates:

Mama
Dada
Hi (this is her favorite word right now)
Bye-bye
Doggy
Ball
All done

I think that is it (that we can interpret, at least), but it is a fabulous list if I must say so myself! Her development has been phenomonal and I'm praying that her communication continues to flourish!

2 comments:

  1. good job payton on signing and words!!! mayson will sign more but not at the right time all the time. she says MMMM with it too so i think she is trying to say more too. she will not sign anything else though even though we try!! stubborn!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love when she says "hi"! next words should be "auntie shay". lol

    ReplyDelete