Birthdays!

last week in school, logan talked about parties and came home with a party hat on.

he had so many questions about birthday parties, so...we made another experience book!

"Pe-Pa, Please!"

We went out to eat tonight as a family. Logan usually likes to talk to the waiter and order for himself, so I always sit next to him to "interpret" for him. Tonight when the waiter came to our table, Logan spoke up and had an entire conversation with the waiter...ON HIS OWN! Not only did he clearly understand everything the waiter was asking, the waiter understood all of Logan's responses. I just sat back and grinned from ear to ear.

WAITER: Hi, my name is Jon and I'll be your server tonight. Can I start you off with anything to drink?

LOGAN: I want juice.

WAITER: Juice for him, and for you?...

...WAITER: What can I get you to eat?

LOGAN: I want pe-pa please.

WAITER: Pizza?

LOGAN: Yeah, pe-pa.

WAITER: What do you want on your pizza?

LOGAN: Cheese, please.

WAITER: Do you want pepperoni on it, too?

LOGAN: No, cheese.

That's My Name!

Logan loves to share things with his younger brother, Chase. Every time he sees Chase in the morning he says, "Chase, wake up, yeah." Every time he gets out of the car to go to school, he says to his brother, "Chase, Bye." Every time we pick him up from school, he says, "Chase, Hi. How are you?" and shows him what he colored at school by saying, "Chase, look." This goes on all day, however, Chase never responds to Logan or even acknowledges that Logan is talking to him, mainly because Logan still hasn't mastered Chase's name yet--Chase doesn't know he is being addressed. I usually repeat Chase's name to him, so that he will look up at Logan-I want Logan to know that his words have meaning, that we are understanding, so that he doesn't get discouraged.

Anyway, today in the car, Logan was sitting in the backseat, behind Chase. Logan found a batman toy in the car that he wanted to show Chase and said, "Chase, Chase!" (with the 'ch' and the 'a' sound sounding very clear). I was getting ready to repeat Chase's name for him, when Chase looked back at Logan and said, "What." He recognized his name! Logan said it good enough for Chase to understand. I grinned from ear to ear!

I feel like this is a start for "normal" brotherly playtime!

Thanks for the emails...

I have had a few other 'CI MOMS' email me and ask what kind of program/therapy we have Logan in. We are still trying to set all of that up, since we have just moved, but here is what we have been doing this summer to keep busy...

Logan attended the Preschool at the John Tracy clinic last year and that is where we learned most of the “therapy” that we do at home. They have free online courses, if you’re interested. Go to http://www.jtc.org/ to sign up. We just moved from California to Florida, so the only therapy he has received this summer is at home with me. I usually set aside one hour in the morning and one hour after his nap and play with him, making it a language activity. I am talking to him all day about everything we are doing. I ask him to repeat a lot. It took him a while before he would mimic me, but now he does it without me having to ask.

I choose a theme for the week (or sometimes two weeks) and we read books, do crafts, (try to) go on “field trips”, all having to do with that theme. I print off pictures of that theme (from the computer) and hang them up around the house. When we walk by the picture we say the name. For example, one week we did fruits and vegetables. We had pictures of apples, peas, corn, etc. around the house. We then went to a strawberry farm and picked strawberries. We also made carrots out of tissue paper. Then every night we read the same book, which has to do with our theme. My older (hearing) son enjoys the activities as well, and my 20 month old benefits from the language activities as well!

Right now we are working on the Alphabet. We do two/three letters per week, but don’t move on until he has mastered the current letters. There are letters hanging up around the house. When Logan walks past one, he comes to tell me what it is. When we read our book at night, we try to find the letters of the week, in his book.
You can find a lot of ideas off the Internet. Many preschool sites have free lesson plans; we use those, and then just tweak them to fit Logan’s needs.
Also, once he starts school, we'll find out their theme for the week and do our own activities at home that go along with what he is learning at school.

I am also a big fan of "experience books". Logan simply loves them and I find myself needing to make a new one about every month. I make experience books with Family members, daily activities, and objects/places that he sees everyday.

I would also love to hear any ideas, form any of you, who have done things that have worked as well. Please share!

Our first 5 word sentence...

Tonight Logan was picking a straw for his drink and said to me, "Mommy, which one, blue, yellow?"

One of Logan's new words...

"MOT-MAUN"

(BAT-MAN)

I bought some fun Batman masks at Walmart for the boys and he has quickly become the favorite superhero around the house. I hear "mot-maun, mot-maun" ALL DAY LONG!!! We're glad his language is expanding!

Logan's speech...

(click on picture to view video)



Logan's speech 7/20/08

Logan 6.26.08

(click on image to view video)

We are so proud.

So Logan's last day of school is this week and they do an end of the year assessment for him to take to his new school in Florida. To help with that, we sat down and compiled a list of all his language skills, receptively (what he understands) and expressively (what he can say). We were amazed at the list and wanted to show it off. We are so proud!

He is 5 months hearing and has

83 receptive words

25 expressive words (some spontaneous, some mimicked)

(click to enlarge)