Signing

Micah is signing words these days. We've been working on signs to communicate throughout the summer.  Micah doesn't have the jaw and lip strength, that most other kids have, to put his lips together in order to make sounds.

Most of the sounds he makes are vowels, cries or screeches. Therefore ASL sign language is helpful in communicating his needs. He has learned and uses the signs for: more, all done, please, yeah, go, and open. We are teaching him additional signs for: no, stop, help, play and nap. We add more signs each week to his vocabulary.

He understands what we communicate with him and will respond accordingly. If we say, "go get the ball". He will go get it. The challenge for kids with DS is that they often have a good vocabulary of words, and understand things but the connection/path in the brain between the forming the words and making the sentence is compromised. So it's harder and slower to communicate.

The good news is that assof this fall, Micah is starting to make more sounds, especially around meal time. This is when his jaw is moving and he is able form sounds as he chews. He usually says, "mama" - but uses that for more, milk, and mama. He still needs more work in this area, it's a big focus of our prayers.