More Than Words
My son didn't talk until he was almost three years old. At least he did better than me. I didn't talk until I was four.
He's nine now and doesn't know how to stop talking. His vocabulary is huge, and the ideas coming out of his head are sometimes stunning. The problem comes with the speed of his words. He speaks slowly and carefully, a by-product of years of speech therapy.
Most adults have the patience to hear him out, but I've noticed that many kids his age won't. They interrupt or talk over him. That only leads to frustration and increasing shyness on my son's part.
Today we were at the park when a friend he hadn't seen in a long time ran up to him and started talking a mile a minute about how his summer went. My son couldn't get a word in, and when the friend finally asked him a question, he seemed overwhelmed to try and match the speed at which the other boy had been talking.
It's like he's PBS talking to MTV.
I try not to call attention to his speech mannerisms. Many kids his age who have speech problems deal with it by not talking much at all, so I am proud of him for not just giving up. Pointing out the careful enunciation of words and the frequent pauses might make him overly self-conscious.
However, I do have him practice speaking by reading out loud from his books during the school day. We also have many give-and-take discussions about various topics that pop up during his studies (today we had a long talk about alternative energy). Verbal communication is an underrated skill, and one which has fallen by the wayside in our schools. I don't mean just public speaking, but also the simple act of carrying on a coherent conversation with another person.
Over time I hope that the speed of his words matches the speed of his thoughts and he has another tool with which to express himself to the world. If he can't do that, I'm afraid his head might explode. And that would be just one more thing I'd have to clean up.
He's nine now and doesn't know how to stop talking. His vocabulary is huge, and the ideas coming out of his head are sometimes stunning. The problem comes with the speed of his words. He speaks slowly and carefully, a by-product of years of speech therapy.
Most adults have the patience to hear him out, but I've noticed that many kids his age won't. They interrupt or talk over him. That only leads to frustration and increasing shyness on my son's part.
Today we were at the park when a friend he hadn't seen in a long time ran up to him and started talking a mile a minute about how his summer went. My son couldn't get a word in, and when the friend finally asked him a question, he seemed overwhelmed to try and match the speed at which the other boy had been talking.
It's like he's PBS talking to MTV.
I try not to call attention to his speech mannerisms. Many kids his age who have speech problems deal with it by not talking much at all, so I am proud of him for not just giving up. Pointing out the careful enunciation of words and the frequent pauses might make him overly self-conscious.
However, I do have him practice speaking by reading out loud from his books during the school day. We also have many give-and-take discussions about various topics that pop up during his studies (today we had a long talk about alternative energy). Verbal communication is an underrated skill, and one which has fallen by the wayside in our schools. I don't mean just public speaking, but also the simple act of carrying on a coherent conversation with another person.
Over time I hope that the speed of his words matches the speed of his thoughts and he has another tool with which to express himself to the world. If he can't do that, I'm afraid his head might explode. And that would be just one more thing I'd have to clean up.
Permalink posted by Phil at 12:01 AM
6 Comments:
Maybe get him to write on the computer? Hands can sometimes move faster than vocal cords.
Btw, I used to speak 10 miles a minute. I'm down to just one mile a minute.
My mouth moves faster than my thoughts and I'm constantly saying things I don't mean or leaving things out I wish I'd said. I wish I took more time to think about what I was going to say before I said it. But then I'm an adult and don't feel like I have to keep up with anyone. I hope he feels that way overtime. Most adults have a lot of respect for others who seem to put some thoughts into their words.
Our son also has speech therapy. He is overstimulated by background noise and multiple people talking. He also struggles with aggressive fast talkers. He does better with adults, but we are constantly practicing with peers. The more confidence he builds with small groups, the better he does overall.
Keep practicing.
I didn't know there's so many kids having speech delay..till my son was confirmed one. We're working on it now.
Our old preschool in California had about six kids taking speech therapy classes. Is this a new phenomenon or something that's been going on for a long time?
I think your practice conversations sound like a great idea! We have to practice with Katie, too, although for different reasons. Asperger's kids tend to dominate conversations with their own favorite subjects and don't naturally understand the rhythm of give-and-take that true conversation requires. Sometimes we have to remind her to pause and let others talk, and to allow a subject change when others lose interest. They are skills that can be learned, but they take a lot of concentration for her.
Post a Comment
<< Home