Nonverbal Facts and Ideas (From a Mother)

Here we are again, progress made with Antonio, then no progress. I’m not even mad though. We are making progress so much more than ever before. He is meeting goals after goals. He is a master when it comes to fine, gross, and even receptive language. The problem remains the same, how do we get him to talk?

We are using sign language now more than ever before. I can’t complain, we are all doing so well with the growth Antonio is having. There are still three things that lay into this nonverbal factor.

1. Occupation Therapy (if he holds the spoon properly, he will be able to eat correctly!). Right now, when he does attempt to use his utensil, he licks whatever is on it, so he doesn’t use his full oral movement. By not having his motor movement here, it can affect his talking. We have to keep working with him; there’s no real way to prevent or make this happen otherwise.
2. Physical Therapy (this is exactly what it sounds like). No, he doesn’t need it because of some accident. He needs it because he has sensory issues. The sensory problems affect his learning. If he is stimming, he can’t learn. If he focuses on getting sensory input, he simply isn’t going to be receptive at all to where we need him to be. (Read more about stimming here.)
3. But, more importantly, we are trying to get him to speak. He’s in speech; how do we get this to work? I’m sick of hitting a wall. I’m sick of trying new things. But not really; I just want SOMETHING TO WORK. We are working day and night to get him to imitate our sounds (because he mimics everything else). It’s only a matter of time I keep telling myself.

We have a few actions that we are going to try out, so be on the lookout as we share our journey with these ideas. I know there are other moms out there struggling and going through this, so I want to share our experience so that you can have a good outcome, too.

“Good things happen to those who wait” is my current saying, along with “nothing will happen overnight.” Let’s face it it’s how I am feeling.

Put on your mama bear and move on girl, you need to try new things and take risks. I’m a business owner, right? So, I’m always taking risks, and it’s no different for my son now either, let’s do this!

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