Our kids' first words/language

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Registered: 03-31-2003
Our kids' first words/language
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Tue, 08-30-2005 - 2:40pm

I was reading some messages and someone mentioned something about a child's first words. That got me thinking about my AS child and his first words. I know all of our children are unique, and a lot of them aren't very verbal yet, especially if they are PDD-NOS rather than AS. But David's beginning language days were really fascinating for us, and I've been remembering that time fondly. I thought it would be interesting to see what other people have to say about their kids' early language/first words.

I remember when David was 17 months old, I was taking a university class about Language Acquisition, and we learned that "at 18 months, children typically have between 3 and 50 words in their working vocabulary." The words aren't necessarily pronounced right, but they are used to communicate ideas. Well, back then, we had no clue that David was on the spectrum, but I remember being very proud that he had over 300 words. Every day he'd acquire new ones, and it was so fun to observe, that I kept a list.

The thing that I found very interesting years later was that words like, "mama, dada" and those kinds of words were like number 30. At one point, he had words for Volkwagon and Volvo, for statue, pinwheel, and fire hydrant. But no "mama". His first word, at an very early 8 months, was "t-t", which meant, "tick tock" or "clock". He'd get so excited every time he saw a clock. He'd flap his hands and "t-t!" all over the place. LOL! That was it for several months and then more words came fast and furious. But it was a while before he put two together. I remember him talking, in his funny little voice, in his crib at nap time, and he'd say, "freng! . vrrrrrrrroOOOOOOmmmmmm. wheel. roundroundround!..." He'd go on like that forever, and you could follow his train of thought from fire engines to wheels, to round things, to Ritz crackers, to grocery stores....etc. It was so funny. But he never seemed to talk about the typical toddler things, like "more juice" or "give toy".

We got none of that with my nt child. Or maybe I was too busy to notice, because by that time, David's bipolar disorder was at its worse.

Anyone else have first word or language-learning stories to tell?

Evelyn, mom of David, AS 7; Nathan 4

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Registered: 10-24-2003
Tue, 08-30-2005 - 3:03pm

Jake also picked up lots of single words quite young - I remember "boat" being one of his early words that he first used around 18 months and he did use the words "ma" and "dad' pretty young.

Pat

Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response. --

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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-30-2005 - 4:02pm

Well, this is odd but I have noticed in our family that both Emily and David's first words where Mama and dada. Neither Cait nor Mike had those for first words. I have half jokingly said that they said first what meant most to them. Cait it was "dog" and Mike was "cookie" (he was a big eater as a baby)

Cait said dog probably around 14 months and that was her only word for months though I think she knew all her colors and lots of letters by 18 months. But she never let us in on that. She would just point over and over and make me label them. However, up to about 18 months everything was "dog". dada came not long after but she didn't use it in relationship to her daddy for a long time. She didn't say Mama until after 2. She had 2 word phrases by 2 but at the time I didn't realize they were echolalic. I think there were one or 2 phrases.

Mike said cookie around 12 months and we thought he was the advanced child;-). I know he picked up on language quicker than Cait but was still frustrating to communicate with. However, his language tests were only about 6 months delayed with some areas really advanced and some gaping holes (he didn't understand "no" at 4)

Renee

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Tue, 08-30-2005 - 6:20pm
What a neat topic! It is so interesting to see the variations in first words among kids on the spectrum vs NT. Josh's first word was at 7mos and it was a very clear "kit-ty" but he only used it a few times then stopped. He tended to do that with most words that he added to his vocabulary. It was like "let me just tease you by saying this over and over for a few days, then you won't hear me say it again for a long long time" he he he. He did that...learning a new word(s) then dropping them and going onto the next until about 12mos at which time he brought all of them back and then more. I would say mama and dada were about number 20 and 21 on the list of when they were learned. I remember the earliest words being : kitty, ball, circle, one, two, three, four, five, stefascope (stethoscope), doggie, no, truck, book, uh-oh, eyes, nose, mouth, hair, hand, possibly others, those are the earliest I have written down. Justin, my youngest and NT as far as we know said his first word at around 7 mos as well.It was clock, followed closely by dog and mama and dada. Ironically, my parents tell me that my first word was also clock at six months and I sought out clocks everywhere I went and pointed and said clock (what can I say, the youngest came by the clock thing honestly)LOL. One definate difference that I noticed was not necessarily when or what word was said (other than Josh chose a couple larger words early on), but that Justin (my youngest) would point to the clock and say "clock" whereas Josh would say the word "kitty" for instance, upon seeing a cat, but was about two when he finally started pointing at things when saying the word.
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 08-30-2005 - 6:44pm

Pointing is definitely key. I remember with Cait's words that they really didn't attach meaning to things. It wasn't communicative and didn't point. Of course we WANTED her to be extra bright and ok in everyway so we made excuses for it and saw things that weren't there. Like "oh she loves dogs she is showin us the dog". Yup she is saying dog but never did she use joint attention to show us the dog. She could have been saying it to herself for all she cared. On the other hand my dave would take your chin and force you to look at what he was seeing.

Mike would say cookie if we brought him one. Back then pointing wasn't a big thing so I didn't notice, but on going back over old video's I never see him pointing until at least abour 18-20 months and then it was once and hard to tell if it was pointing for me to look with joint attention. After that there isn't much again either.

Another weird little thing, I noticed with my older 2 when they were tiny all the videos are really quiet. They were quiet when they were little, unless they were tantruming which they did alot, but mostly on videos we caught the good times and the weird thing is how quiet it is. I think that really gives an indication of how little they were interactive. I didn't realize it until watching videos but my other kids were much more interactive and really added alot of noise to the house. Now they are noisey, but when they were little it was very quiet.

Renee

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Wed, 08-31-2005 - 5:18pm

At about 15 months, Aaron's only word was "dog." We were so wrapped up in dealing with his hypotonia/motor skill delays that we did not think much of it. We rationalized it by the fact that we had a dog in the house that we played with a lot, so of course Aaron would be really interested in the dog. The only reason we ended up in speech therapy was EI suggested we have him evaluated, because speech delays often go along with the motor delays. So his testing at 18 months of age showed about a 6-month lag.

As he approached age two, he got more words. He finally said "Dada" at 19 mos and "mama" at 20 months. ST began to work on his repetitive speech. None of them EVER mentioned that echoing is a sign of autism, so I remained blissfully unaware. Every time the EI worker would come over, she would often read the same books to Aaron.... and he would have say the same phrases about them to her. Her only comment was that he seemed to get "stuck" on things. At that point we decided to have another baby. The Neuro flat-out denied autism when Aaron was 22 months old. So we still thought his issues were due to prematurity.

As Aaron approached 3 (and new baby was due any day, and I was again fighting preterm labor) we had him tested with the school district. He was found to be a full year behind in all areas. And, gross motor he was more like 1.5 yrs behind. They still denied him access to their PPCD and he continued to get ST once/week though the district and we had him in private preschool.

When the fog cleared from having our new baby Aaron was about 3 yrs, 3 mos. I realized that he was scripting from his videos. I did not realize what that meant till I read some things online. He could communicate his wants and needs quite well. But, he scripted and had pronoun reversal. Often he stated his wants as a question. ("Do you want a cookie?")

Now at nearly 5, most people do not understand why I even have him in speech therapy. To a casual observer, he is fine. But he tends to go off and recite on several topics of his interest, all the while looking 'through' me. And of course he takes everything literally. One night he'd asked for a snack late, after a big dinner. I told him the kitchen was closed, and that I was not making anything else. He said something like, "No it's not. There is no gate."

My almost-22-months daughter has lots lots more language than Aaron did at this age. She is starting to say things like "hi Daddy' and "Bye dog." and "more." and "All done." She has gotten into repeating "I sorry" a lot. I hope that doesn't mean anything, considering her language is good in every other way.

Interesting thread.

A.

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Registered: 03-31-2003
Wed, 08-31-2005 - 7:48pm
OMG! That is so strange!! The reason I say that is that my son's first word was clock!! How strange is it that both of our children learned clock first? Mama and dada were not in his first words either. My son is ASD, so language development has been slow. He had up to 10 words at 15 months, but by 23 month he had no words at all. Now at 2 1/2 he has had a language explosion and he is around 400 words. It is so beautiful to hear him talk a little. I love it when he says pweese (please) or tanks (thanks) most especially. He even calls his baby sister Aba (Ava). I am not sure that parents of NT children get quite that same thrill I so every time Ian speaks. I try not to give Ian much candy or juice, but when I hear his little voice ask for a tweet (treat) or apple juice pweese (which he happens to say perfectly!) I just melt and I cannot help but give in. I guess I am just so thrilled I will do anything to reinforce his speaking!

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Registered: 07-24-2003
Thu, 09-01-2005 - 2:51pm

My daugter's first word was "quack". She said it in imitation of a Wiggle's song and she was 8 months. At the time I thought it was hilarious that she wouldn't eat solid food at all, but could sing.

She too did not have a word for me for a long time. As a matter of fact, I know I was still complaining that she didn't have a word for mommy approaching her 2nd birthday, although she had several hundred words in her vocabularly by then. I remember because her grandmother came to stay for 2 weeks and was having fun teaching her annoying phrases like "poor me" (with the back of her wrist pressed to her forehead) so I suggested that she try and teach her "mommy" instead.

And, I remember her at around 15 months laying in bed at night telling herself stories about ducks quacking (mostly incomprehensible, but lots of "duck" and "quack" thrown in the babble).