Molly has been A LOT more verbal in the last say 6 months. And by verbal I mean louder. There are many summer days when I wonder what the neighbors think who are walking their dogs by our house and hear her noises emanating out of her bedroom window as she plays on her i pad and listens to music. Do they wonder if we are abusing our daughter or do they know, like most in our little town, "That must be Molly's house"?
It's hard to describe her sounds for those that don't know her. She doesn't modulate appropriate sound levels so often it is too high pitched or squawky sounding. But she IS repeating everything you say to her which in autism world is called "echolalia" (echoing). I say "How are you?" and instead of answering, a child with echolalia will say "How are you?". Remember how Molly's boyfriend Spencer does this too and I always say to him "You look very skinny today" so that he'll say it back to me?
Just kidding....I still don't make him do that.
Sometimes I love that she is attempting speech more. Sometimes it's just annoying and loud. But I recall my daily prayer that she could one day communicate with her mouth and so I try and be patient. And then I ask if she wants a bath as she will always be quiet in there ;)
I got such a kick out of her after a bath last week. She always takes a bath with the lights off and her music on low from her iPad . It's always Bob Marley that she starts with. She adds hot water every now and again and her baths last for an hour or so. If it's too quiet, I peek in to see if she is still alive. Or do the token sound through the door "Oooo"or maybe it sounds more like "Ew"?... and she responds "Ooooo" "Ew". Good, she's alive.
After a long bath last week, she was making all kinds of loud noises and I couldn't decipher if she was happy or upset. I pulled myself up off of the sofa and walked back to the bathroom and peered in. The light was on and she was standing naked in the empty bathtub. She looked at me. I said "What are you DOING?". And she looked at me like I was crazy and said with her mouth "I'm SINGING!" It came out pretty clear and it made me laugh. Of course that's what you were doing :) I have NO idea what song that was or that she even knew that people sing in the shower, but I loved it.
And then last night she had her first Special Olympics volleyball practice. 3 out of 10 hits actually went forward (instead of backwards over her head) so there is a lot of room for improvement but she smiled the whole time!! More on that fun as we move through the season!
Happy Hump Day!!
1 comment:
Singing in the bathtub, la la la la la!
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