Home of the Four Trans

are blossoming! His words may not be comprehensible to you, but to me, Nathan, and Loi, he makes perfect sense! We hear him saying the same thing enough to know what he’s trying to tell us. The important thing is he’s using his words to express his needs and emotions. Before this, he was  solely signing, pointing, grunting, nodding, and shaking his head.

Not only is he using words, but he knows how to use his words correctly.

Here are some instances of how he’s blown my mind with his newfound language skills:

After completing the scavenger hunt challenge at his friend’s 2nd birthday party, he opened his box of prizes to find a plastic wrapped candy necklace. He called “Mama! Mama!” to open it. I had just finished explaining to Nathan that he may not eat the candy, so I turned to Justin and told him the same thing, “Justin, Mommy will open it for you, but you can only hold it, not eat it, OK?” And, just like his brother, his response was, “Wah (Why)?” It took me a moment to realize what he had said. Once I did though, I was ecstatic. I’ve been telling this story to everyone, including the parents at his school during the parent discussion meeting!

“Hmmm…what’s in here?”

“M! M! (open)”

“Why?”

Justin’s second favorite new word is “Stah (Stop)!” He’ll use the word stop as in, “Stah! Stah! Stah!” to get me to stop the car to pick up the toy bus that he’d dropped on the ground; or, “Stah!” to make his point that he does not like the music that’s playing on the CD player; or, “Stah!” to get my sister to stop wiping his hand with a Wet One.

Here are some other words he knows.

1. ta (diaper in vietnamese)

2. Mama/Papa/Cuh-Cuh (older brother)

3. Mah (me)

4. Nah, Nah (no)

5. Mah (milk)

6.  wah wah (water)

7. mow (more)

8. go

9. ca (fish in vietnamese)

10. ba (grandma)

11. buh (Boy, my brother)

12. bah bah (bye)

13. woah woah (dog)

14. dow (down)

15. uh oh

16. bubboh (bubbles)

17. buah (book)

18. paw paw (carry me in chinese)

19. oo oo, ah ah (monkey or gorilla)

20. ba (bath)

He’s also mimicking more when I ask him to repeat after me. For the things he cannot say, he’ll make up for by pointing, gesturing, or signing.

One reason (I think)  for his blossoming language skills is music. He loves to listen to the CDs in the car and sing along in his special sort of way; his favorite songs are ‘Alouette’, ‘Wheels on the Bus’, and Music Together Summer Edition songs. He also responds well to the songs sung during circle time at his preschool, and knows one song, his favorite, well. He’s starting his Mommy and Me music class called Music Together this Friday after a month’s hiatus which I hope will encourage further language development from Justin.

Even with his most recent burst in language skills, Justin definitely has speech delays. Children his age (25 months) should know how to say about 50 words, and be able to put two words together. In order to help him with his expressive language delays, we started him on speech therapy with a speech pathologist one hour a week. So far, he’s had two sessions though not much work has been achieved because he hasn’t quite adjusted to the long day (his speech sessions follows his 2.5 hour school sessions) and new therapist, yet. His speech delay may have something to do with his stroke though his hospitalizations, general aneastesia, and low oxygen levels to the brain may have something to do with it, also; it’s difficult to tell for sure.

Regardless of the reason, we are enjoying the fact that he’s making progress, and trying not to worry too much about something we don’t have answers to. Justin really is so much fun to be around!

“So, how is he…you know, up there?”

I get asked this question quite often about Justin’s cognitive development. Most people assume that since he has had so many medical issues that he is cognitively behind, or even mentally retarded.

Well, Justin is cognitively behind, by about 4 months for his age. Justin’s cognitive abilities were measured by a test. The tests included shape matching, block stacking, self care tasks such as undressing, picture matching, etc.

Justin is also behind in his receptive language skills. In Justin’s case, receptive language is his ability to understand spoken language (it could also include written language). The assessment done by his teacher shows Justin understands the spoken language at about an 18 month old level. However, if you interact with him, you’ll find he understands a lot of what you say, and ask of him to do. It’s only when the teacher tests him is she able to see how behind he is. I personally think the tests are not accurate enough in measuring his intellect. Seeing him every day the way I do, I know he knows more than he is showing. And, as always, I look for progress as positive signs of his development.

I suppose the numbers are disappointing to see because if anything, I’d rather that he not be behind. But, he is, and so we deal with it. I can’t stop buying stuff to help with his development (like things will actually make him all better) because I’m always so hopeful. Just today, I went out to Toys R Us on what Loi called a shopping spree to buy him picture books, flash cards, and learning toys (Nathan got a Hungry Hippo game and a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle set). And, I’m so glad I did because with one of the books, I was able to see how smart my little boy is. I worked with him on a magnetic book called “Let’s Learn Our First Colors,” by Priddy Books.

Justin was able to match the magnetic pictures to the outline of the pictures on the book. I was so proud of him for being able to do this because it was always so difficult for him to do this just a month ago! I went through 11 pages with 3 objects to match per page with him before he got tired. I was too excited that I forgot to take pictures of him doing the task! But, above is evidence of some of his work! I’m so proud of him, can you tell?

I don’t care what the tests say, Justin is just something else!