Tuesday, July 7, 2009

More?

We have always been told that Daniel would most likely be non-verbal because of the malformation on the perisylvian area (language area) of his brain. Although we’ve been told this by more than one doctor, by the statistics that you read on CBPS (Daniel’s 1st diagnosis), and the fact that he is almost 4 and hasn’t said “mama” yet, we haven’t given up.

We give Daniel many different avenues to communicate with everyone. He uses his facial expressions & eyes. He is one of the most expressive kids I know. He can move his eyebrows in ways I have never seen anyone do before, to show his excitement, his concerns, his anger. He has awesome eye gaze technique down pat. He doesn’t have to say a word to understand him. You just need to watch him and you’ll know what he is telling you. Watch his eyes. Many people assume because he can’t speak, that he also can’t understand. This is incorrect, completely..he understands everything. His brain just won’t let him speak his words verbally. Apraxia and CBPS are his enemies.

We teach Daniel words all the time. Using flashcards, pictures, verbally, written,and we use sign language, which he understands but because of the cerebral palsy, he can’t form his hands correctly. We always ask him to ‘try’ to say the word (verbally or with his hands).

Here is a photo of what the word “more” looks like using American Sign Language. You take your fingers and tap them together...more

More Here is Daniel doing his version of “more” for the first time. Does he rock or what?!?! He does it to the side because of the CP in his arms and he has a hard time getting the one arm to the center.

You can tell he is so proud of himself!

8 comments:

blogzilly said...

Awesome!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Way to go Super Daniel!

Danielle said...

Made me weepy...but I'm easy! *smile*

I SO know what you mean about the expressive eyes. Trevy is one of the most expressive kids I've ever met in my life. Because of all the seizures activity in his little brain...he doesn't understand language...but he DOES understand the world around him. And he communicates beautifully with his face...and body movements...

Thank you for sharing that beautiful moment...and your life with Daniel. Such an inspiration!

...danielle

Anonymous said...

Way to go Daniel!! What a big boy he is getting to be.
~Lisa & Konnor

Wherever HE Leads We'll Go said...

That is awesome! I love the look on his face - he is so proud of himself.

Mel Fraase said...

YAAY! That is too cool! Funny, this was the first sign all of my kids learned, too!!

Becca said...

I love your video of Daniel signing 'more'. We are also teaching our young one sign language; her favorite ones being 'all done' and 'music' Just wanted to also let you know it took our DD 6 years to say Momma which is still Music to my ears. Good luck Daniel and we are sending many, many prayers to you and your family for additional support!

Kristina said...

This is fantastic! And, he is such a cutie I would have had to give him more just based on his smile :-)

Emma is deaf and has CP. So, I completely understand communication via eye gaze and smiles. She does use a Cochlear Implant that was activated 7 months ago, and it seems her receptive language is coming along a bit, but expressive is still quite delayed. She does do one sign - more. It is and Emmafied sign, like Daniel's, and I'm so thrilled to see it!

Congrats, Daniel!