Declan reached 100 words today. (Realistically, he probably reached this number much sooner, since there are undoubtedly words that he uses at daycare that I haven't heard yet.) It's been a fascinating journey to experience. At his 15-month doctor appointment he had maybe five words. Now, at 19 months, he has at least 100. His speech has exploded with new words arriving almost every day. He knows colors, shapes, animals, vehicles... and SpongeBob, embarrassingly. (The full list of his first 100 words is below.)
100 words is a lot, but a long way from being enough for effective communication. This progression, and Declan's frustration when he cannot make us understand what he wants, has me thinking a lot about language development and about how many words would be enough?
I've followed the Nieder family blog/Facebook page for many years now. I discovered them long before I had a kid, long before we even thought that children might be in our future. I don't remember how I found them and I don't have any personal connections to their situation, but it's a fascinating story to follow about a really amazing family. Maya - the daughter - has undiagnosed developmental delays that leave her mostly nonverbal (though her speech continues to increase). She uses an iPad with the app Speak For Yourself to communicate. The Nieder family tried a huge range of options to help her communicate before they discovered and adopted Speak for Yourself - and it's been quite the battle. Maya doesn't necessarily perform well during assessments (I can easily imagine this being true of Declan, or of almost any young child) and many professionals insisted that the Speak for Yourself app would be too complicated, too advanced, too many words. They wanted her to start with something simpler. With far, FAR fewer words. Maya's mom, Dana (the author of the blog), has been a tireless and inspirational advocate for presuming competence and all the words all the time. Maya shouldn't have to wait until she demonstrates she can use the words to be given access to them. One evaluator wanted to give Maya a device that would allow her to access to 32 words at a time. 32. Each set of 32 words would be themed (lunch, art, zoo, etc.) and would be predetermined by the evaluator. When I first read that post, many years ago, Dana had me convinced that 32 words at a time was unacceptable, but it's only now - with Declan's 100 words - that I realize just how unacceptable that would be. Can you imagine giving someone Declan's 100 words - the words he has demonstrated that he knows - and asking them to communicate? No. That would be crazy. Or imagine that we selected the 32 words for him to access/learn on our recent trip to Yellowstone. We would have included hot spring, geyser, canyon, waterfall, bison, etc. Would we have included gravel, nails in the boardwalk, signpost, ground squirrel, or huge black raven? Almost definitely not, but those were the things he was interested in.
The Speak for Yourself app has grown with Maya. Words are added as needed, as thought of, as they come up, and at Maya's request. She isn't limited by a set number of words that are available. It really is an incredible tool - and Maya is an incredible girl. I'm so happy I found them on Facebook and Dana's posts mean so much more now that I'm a parent, too.
Declan's first 100 words:
100 words is a lot, but a long way from being enough for effective communication. This progression, and Declan's frustration when he cannot make us understand what he wants, has me thinking a lot about language development and about how many words would be enough?
I've followed the Nieder family blog/Facebook page for many years now. I discovered them long before I had a kid, long before we even thought that children might be in our future. I don't remember how I found them and I don't have any personal connections to their situation, but it's a fascinating story to follow about a really amazing family. Maya - the daughter - has undiagnosed developmental delays that leave her mostly nonverbal (though her speech continues to increase). She uses an iPad with the app Speak For Yourself to communicate. The Nieder family tried a huge range of options to help her communicate before they discovered and adopted Speak for Yourself - and it's been quite the battle. Maya doesn't necessarily perform well during assessments (I can easily imagine this being true of Declan, or of almost any young child) and many professionals insisted that the Speak for Yourself app would be too complicated, too advanced, too many words. They wanted her to start with something simpler. With far, FAR fewer words. Maya's mom, Dana (the author of the blog), has been a tireless and inspirational advocate for presuming competence and all the words all the time. Maya shouldn't have to wait until she demonstrates she can use the words to be given access to them. One evaluator wanted to give Maya a device that would allow her to access to 32 words at a time. 32. Each set of 32 words would be themed (lunch, art, zoo, etc.) and would be predetermined by the evaluator. When I first read that post, many years ago, Dana had me convinced that 32 words at a time was unacceptable, but it's only now - with Declan's 100 words - that I realize just how unacceptable that would be. Can you imagine giving someone Declan's 100 words - the words he has demonstrated that he knows - and asking them to communicate? No. That would be crazy. Or imagine that we selected the 32 words for him to access/learn on our recent trip to Yellowstone. We would have included hot spring, geyser, canyon, waterfall, bison, etc. Would we have included gravel, nails in the boardwalk, signpost, ground squirrel, or huge black raven? Almost definitely not, but those were the things he was interested in.
The Speak for Yourself app has grown with Maya. Words are added as needed, as thought of, as they come up, and at Maya's request. She isn't limited by a set number of words that are available. It really is an incredible tool - and Maya is an incredible girl. I'm so happy I found them on Facebook and Dana's posts mean so much more now that I'm a parent, too.
Declan's first 100 words:
- Daddy
- Mummy
- Tractor
- More
- Cracker
- Please
- Thank you
- Farmer
- Truck
- Sleep
- Milk
- Bottle
- Rag
- Kitty
- Dog
- Eat
- Jeep
- Star
- Wheel/Wheelbarrow
- Bumble bee
- Baby
- Book
- Ball
- Shoes
- Fish
- Car
- Apple
- Banana
- No
- Stop
- Blue
- Orange
- Yellow
- Fan
- Cheese
- Teeth
- Up
- Down
- Put back/put it back
- Bye
- Night night
- Bird
- Purple
- Bowl
- Bear
- Sponge Bob
- Jello
- Brown
- Hi/hello
- Turtle
- Black
- Red
- Bubbles
- Bath
- Potato
- Sheep
- Help
- Giraffe
- Nose
- Eyes
- Push
- Pull
- Green
- Outside
- Home
- Jump
- Spider
- Ketchup
- Get out
- Airplane
- Mouth
- Clock
- Picture
- Step
- Chicken
- Duck
- Bear
- Egg
- White
- Pink
- Circle
- Triangle
- Hat
- Walk
- Run
- Sock
- Hot
- Flower
- Grandma
- Bicycle
- Axe
- Rock
- Heart
- Strawberry
- What is it?
- Glasses
- Water
- Mouse
- Spoon
- Fork
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