"Why doesn't Brianna talk?"
Brianna DOES talk... just not much ;) But I know that's not really answering your question! lol Brianna, though she's received speech therapy since she was about 7 months old, doesn't have nearly as many spoken words as a typical child would at 2 1/2 years old. Children with Down syndrome have a developmental delay. One of the areas that's generally delayed is speech. This has some to do with their oral motor skills and some to do with their developmental age. Brianna is able to sign and has excess of 60 signs that she uses appropriately. She also has about 30 words or word approximations that she uses.
Most adults with Down syndrome speak clearly and are able to be easily understood. Some are more difficult to understand or do not enunciate clearly, and very few are nonverbal. Brianna WILL talk... and she'll talk a lot once she figures out how to make the words that she's already trying to tell us in her babbling! LOL
Most adults with Down syndrome speak clearly and are able to be easily understood. Some are more difficult to understand or do not enunciate clearly, and very few are nonverbal. Brianna WILL talk... and she'll talk a lot once she figures out how to make the words that she's already trying to tell us in her babbling! LOL
Glad I saw your blog today...I was going to blog about signing and language....too funny ...great minds think alike LOL
ReplyDeleteSarah's the same way. It's only been in the last 5 months or so that we've really seen an explosion in words that a good chunk of people are able to understand. Sign is still her main mode of communication, but she's getting better and better at enunciating her words. To me, it doesn't matter HOW she says it, if I can understand what she needs, that's fine with me! :D
ReplyDeleteWith her hands flying and the babbling going, I wonder sometimes what she is explaining to me and if I'm being told off. I have about twenty signs down so she's got me beat. Love, Gma
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.
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