When They are Pictures!
                                                                 Helping Your Visual Child
                                                                               Become Verbal! Part 3
                                                                                                   

 

 At first, I was stumped. "When no one was looking," Russel told me, "someone dropped a piece of orange."  I was used to these colorful, out-of-the-blue comments, but I still had to read between the lines to figure this one out.  I was almost certain Russel was making a joke, and he only joked about things he was pretty sure I could figure out.  Yup, there it was: the orange fabric that we could see peeking out from under the blue and the green of the swings in our clinic!

My first clue to understanding the comment was that 8-year-old Russel is always making jokes.  Defying any stereotype suggesting that ASD kids are "literal," Russel challenged my propensity to be literal all the time.  Years ago, Russel had taught me to give myself time before rushing to the conclusion that he was saying something "off topic."  I had to stop and actually look at what he was noticing before I understood his reference.  But, there it was!

Russel and I were a good team: a left-brained SLP trying to think in pictures and a visual kid trying to use verbal language in socially-entertaining ways!  We were both becoming better whole-brained thinkers!

And that's where this column fits in.  The third in a series on language development in kids whose "first language" is pictures, this column will help you learn when, and how, to introduce language to your visual child.  Russel could have been a "poster child" for how to do this, as his unconventional "view" of the world has colored his language from the time of his first words.  But before we tell you how it worked for Russel, we want to focus on your child again, and pick up his story from where we left off last time.

In our last column, we were talking about how, and when, to introduce sound to your visual child.  You learned that you should add a "sound track" to your child's experiences only when it enhances, or at least doesn't detract from, the pleasure of the joyful activities you and your child share.

You also learned that sound accompanies our experiences in life more than we realize, and that much of it isn't "language" at all.  We asked you to stop and listen to the sound around you as you read.  Noticing the sound tracks of our life episodes can help us all be more sensitive to how sound enhances or detracts from the experiences our children enjoy. 

Now let's assume the following: you have had some success in noticing the built-in sound tracks your child finds enjoyable (like the tone, songs and sound effects of a favorite movie segment), and you have had some success introducing some pleasurable sound to a favorite activity (like saying "Whee!" as he happily slides down his favorite slide, or humming a song while he splashes in bubble bath bliss).  You have jotted these specifics down in your child's Language Acquisition Journal.

Your Child's Language Acquisition Journal:

Chapter 1 - Observations of your child's delights

Chapter 2 - Referents you share with your child

Chapter 3 - Sound tracks of shared referents

Chapter 4 - The language of joint referents

If you have a nice Chapter 3 going now, and your child is at least 12 months old (most kids are probably much older), you are quite possibly ready for Chapter 4.  Before we jump into it, however, and even though you have many ideas you've gleaned from your entries in Chapter 3, we need to add one caveat:  If any language, or if any sound you try out does not meet the "joy test," reject it immediately, and find something else.  Language can be fun, powerful, and enhancing to life experiences for visual thinkers.  If your child learns this, and continues to build on success, language development will happen!  If your child inadvertently experiences language as drudgery, or worse, painful, you will have two tasks ahead of you: helping him unlearn the pain, and then learning the pleasure.  Far better to learn pleasure right from the start!

OK, what will the language you are going to use look and sound like?  Rule #1: Make it fun!  You know enough about your child's auditory system by now to have some good ideas.  "Whee!" counts as language.  So does "La la la," as does "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, presenting...bubbles!"  What do these phrases have in common? They are right for somebody's child... Introduce the language that's right for your child.  Please don't forget to keep all the intonation, lightness, and music from Chapter 3...but, this time, it's language!  Yes, it sounds the same; yes, it's the same "words."  But, now it has communicative intent; it's not just a sound track, so you are writing down words this time, with the idea that it's the start of language development. 

This is Rule #2: Language is whatever a group (that's you and your child at this point) agrees to use to refer to something you share.  That's all language is!  Yes, it's true that the group will get larger someday...but not today.  Just decide the words for today.

As you are selecting items from your child's Chapter 3, to become his first Chapter 4 language experiences, another rule will guide you.  Rule #3 says: Your child's early language will match his own unique style...and you already know a lot about it!  You chose all of these sound bytes in Chapter 3 for a reason.  And it was probably that your child enjoyed all of them.  They made your child smile and laugh.  They were the ones that worked.  They represent the language of your group.

Now, your job is to discover what about these sound bytes made them work.  Here are some questions to ask yourself: Were they all songs (like the ABC song) and sing-songy phrases (like, "I'm gonna getcha")?  Were any of them short or delivered with an element of surprise (like, "Boo!")?  And how about your tone of voice?  Did you say them all with a lilting, "motherese" inflection ("Tickle, tickle, tickle")?  Or did some of them sound more like another style we use with kids, reading a story ("This little piggy went to market...")?  Did they all sound a bit like 'baby-talk' ("In your tummy wummy")?  Or did some of them sound the way you would talk to an older child ("Yeah, it's really good")?

As you consider the commonalities of what you said, think about the "key styles" that worked.  And, now, for the first time, think of them as language, as the key phrases you and your child share!

What you learn now will help guide choices you make in your child's language experiences over the next several years.  Yes, there will be some commonalities with other children, but much of what your child will want to say will be words that speak to his experiences, his referents, the way he sees the world, and the things he shares with the important people in his life, people like you!

As you discover the language your child chooses to hear, you will think of more and more examples of it.  Chapter 4 will take on the flavor of a journal written just for one, your child!  Take notes daily, so you can teach others to use the language your child truly enjoys and associates with important experiences in his life.  Then you will have expanded your efforts many-fold.

And, it is just the beginning!

But, now, dear reader, this column comes to a close.  It is time for you to take stock of this amazingly important time in your child's life... he is ready to learn language!  You will continue to have fun as you and your child write his Chapter 4, and by the time we return to this topic in the next issue, you will be ready to tackle some principles that will help your child expand his language to the words that others in his environment use.  My friend Russel did this over time, and your child will too.  In our next column, we will tell you Russel's language development story, and you will see how the principles you are learning now will lead to your child's useful, flexible language development.

In the meantime, please have fun with Chapter 4, and know that the work you are doing now will have far-reaching benefits as your visual child becomes a verbal language user!

Marge Blanc founded the Communication Development Center, in Madison, WI 10 years ago.  Specializing in physically-supported speech and language services for children with ASD diagnoses, the center has successfully helped scores of children as they moved through the stages of language acquisition. 


Contact Marge and her associates at:
 

Communication Development Center
700 Rayovac Drive, Suite 200
Madison, WI 53711
lyonblanc@aol.com
 

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If any language, or if any sound you try out does not meet the "joy test," reject it immediately, and try something else!

Your
child's
early
language
will match
his own
unique style...and you already know
a lot
about it!