Well we never ended up doing anything with this. Since she did have a very large vocabulary at a very early age (her 1st words were "bye bye" on the video camera at 7 mos.) so it was just a couple of mos of this period where she'd get frustrated with not knowing how to tell us things, even though she already had the words in her vocabulary. She just needed to know how & when to use them, which came on it's own. She's now already pretty good at telling me what she wants herself. My sister is a speech pathologist & tested her verbal skills recently. My daughter was 16 mos at the time & we stopped the test at 23 mos - she was able to say or demonstrate she understood EVERY item tested for, which means she test for at least what a 2 yr should be able to do & probably more, but we didn't know since we didn't continue the test. I told my husband when she was born that she'd speak early if we constantly spoke & sang to her. I think it's paid off. Michie

"I forget: does your SS have any learning disabilities or behavioral disorders?" Ceph, it is hard to say. I think he's very borderline. Granted, he is only in 2nd grade and most LDs aren't diagnosed much earlier than this stage. But each school year, his teachers have all said "he exhibits some signs of ADD, etc, it might be worth getting him tested" yada yada. But they all kind of downplay it, and shrug it off like "could be a problem, could not be." So my theory is if he DOES have some behavioral issues/LDs, they are very mild. He is definitely a young 8. He's always been young for his age, from the start. It doesn't help that he is VERY small (shortest kid in his class) and has a slight build. I feel bad for him because people will meet him and say "let me guess, are you in kindergarten?" OR "are you 6?" It's hard on him. If anything, it has taught me that when guessing a child's age, ALWAYS err on the older side of what you think. Most kids are FLATTERED to have someone think they are older than they really are, but not so much if someone thinks they're younger. Anyway, he kind of acts the same way he looks. He has DEFINITELY matured over the last couple years, so I think he is on his own emotional growth curve, just not sure it's on par with his peers. For example--he sucks his thumb A LOT. Is very into stuffed animals/Littles Pet Shops, etc. I know this sounds bad, but it just seems to me these are things either a younger child or a girl would like, as opposed to an 8 year old boy. So I guess it's not surprising that his language seems delayed. And I DO think a lot of it is BM's poor influence in this area. Another thing he says a lot is "was" in place of "were." As in: "Was my dad and mom there?" (When he really means "Were my dad and mom there?") He's going to be working with a reading specialist 2x a week this summer, so I think DH will speak to her about the language/grammar concerns.

there are a lot of little ones who don't/won't start talking until they are older. My nephew was one! Nothing wrong with him, just two lots older sisters who said everything for him, (and with those two, getting in a word of your own can be a challeng!), and he wasn't ready yet. When the child is ready, he'll start talking and you won't get him to shut up! The reasoning behind teaching an infant to sign, is that the "terrible two's" aren't as bad, because they don't get frustrated because they can't communicate since they can usually get their point across by sign. Dilly_dally, LOL! At least you must not have told them you were pleased to meet them improperly, then! The direction you are holding your fingers can make all the difference! That was explained with the above example, very emphatically by my instructor at the time. As the friend of a deaf person, you have my thanks for your efforts in making it easier for your customers. I'm sure it was appreciated. My DD is a photographer who has several deaf customers. She doesn't remember much of the signs themselves that I had taught her, but she finger spells a lot! If she couldn't remember, or didn't know, a sign, she finger spelled everything for them that she needed to. They were repeat customers for that very reason. Firemanswife, You are great! And what an accomplishment for your. You had great doctors. My friend, Gale, has/had an implant. She still did more lip reading than hearing, last I talked to her. Unfortunately for her, she had severe back problems and had to have surgery. Every time they had to do an MRI, they had to remove the implant and she would get an infection. And when she had surgery, of course the implant wasn't in because of the infection, and the nurses ignored her when she needed help, because they couldn't just answer the bell over the intercom. I don't know if she still has the implant or not. The only contact I have with her right now is thru email. Please ignore any typos. I am typing on a rubber keyboard and think I have typed a letter or made an upper case, or space and it didn't type! Tami

Mary RP is 'Received Pronunciation' considered the accentless 'standard' form of English. See the description below. I can well understand that local accents can be difficult to follow. Geordie is from the North East up to the borders of Scotland, and 'Scouse' is the nasal whine of Liverpool, but not heard outside that city where the local population speak with a Lancashire or Cheshire accent. The old 'plummy' cut-glass way of speaking is fast dying out, as was mentioned on the off-shoot of this thread, even the Queen's way of speaking has become greatly modified and easier on the ear. Do you notice if you hear old recordings of US speech that women's voices have developed a lower pitch . .. as they have over here? Mrs Thatcher is an eg. She obviously had elocution lessons when she went into politics which, although making her sound unnatural at least put her voice down half an octave! And yes, we do swallow our words and most of us speak much quicker than you do in the US, although 'country' speech is slower. Re Aussie 'fair dinkum' I think it means 'genuine/real Here is a link that might be useful: RP English