Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Sound and Fury

but I think it signifies something.

Verity is in the midst of an explosion in her speech and language development, and I am thoroughly enjoying watching it occur. The language development of each of the kids has been unique, but still Verity has managed to impress me multiple times.

Pauly was a delayed talker, then at around age 3 it seemed like a switch flipped and he began talking, not only catching up to the "average" but surpassing it. Roger was pretty much an average talker, right on track with all the milestones. Rosie said her first words absurdly early, at around five months. I know most of you won't believe me, as I didn't believe my own ears, either, until my husband, my mother, my mother-in-law and a sister-in-law all insisted she was in fact using words with meaning. Still, she only said a handful of words until she was over one, then her speech development was normal -- she added a ton of single words to her vocabulary, once she had a certain number she started combining them into phrases, then sentences, then she talked constantly. Wait, they all do that. . .

Verity's speech development isn't abnormal but it is different from the others. She has been adding lots of single words to her vocabulary, but she is also using a lot more "jargon" than the other kids did. "Jargon" here means babbling with the tone, cadence and inflection of actual speech. She's constantly telling me things using jargon and gestures, and seems to be very good at getting her meaning across. What's really interesting to me that there are whole sentences starting to spring up in the midst of this jargon, and not always short sentences, either. Things like, "Can I please have it?" when she wanted her sister's popsicle. So instead of combining already established vocabulary into phrases, then sentences, she's coming up with whole sentences that use words that she may or may not have used on their own before. It makes me wonder what else she is saying that I'm just not understanding but am mistaking for jargon.

Added to this is the fact that she seems to be able to repeat just about anything she hears. "Knock, knock!" she said the other day, after hearing multiples jokes in the car. Or when Roger tried to trick someone with, "I bet I can make you say 'how,'" she was the only one in the family who responded with "how?" She is definitely reminding me of how fun watching a child develop can be.

3 comments:

  1. That age is so much fun! Much work, but much fun. I was telling Matt the other day that I miss baby and toddlerhood because, tired as I was, I was able to just enjoy my kids and not be trying to get them to do what I want them to do all the time. Well, it seems like all the time, anyway.

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  2. It's such a hoot, isn't it?! My two kids have had seriously opposite language development. My son has always communicated "outside of the box," finding different ways to explain what's on his mind, as he has always struggled with vocabulary and expressing himself with words. He's very visual, and communicates very well with "hands-on," physical expression. My daughter, on the other hand, repeats everything she hears, uses big words in the correct context, and has been making long sentences for quite some time now. It is scary, and yet hilarious how well she communicates verbally at such a young age. She's also a screamer.

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  3. This is a great post, Becky. A reminder that everyone does things differently and it's all good. Your kids are really fantastic and, not only because they are in their own right, but also b/c they have very good parents.

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