If an alligator was chasing me, and my only salvation was to jump vertically onto the roof of a car---and I didnt---its not for lack of understanding what I need to do, lack of trying, stubbornness, or personal fault, its equipment failure. Expecting speech to quickly develop from children whose oral motor muscles dont have the strength or coordination to speak is exactly like hoping Ill suddenly be able to jump atop a car. I very well might might be able to jump onto that car someday, with the right amount of support, encouragement, practice, and training . . . but what Id really like most right now is some other way to deal with that alligator. And I would bet that many of our kids will develop a great amount of speech someday, but right now they would very much appreciate an alternate way to deal with communicating.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 00:57:50 +0000