Jake's speech consists of mostly echolalia and lately a bit of sign language. He's always loved TV, and I never really limited it, because he never seemed to mind if I turned it off and initiated other activities. Lately I've begun to hate the television, because I hear it even when its off, through Jake. During our interview at the Team Centers Jake accidentally opened a "snake in a can" and got startled. He ran behind me shouting "no no NOOOO!" and then, when the therapist tried to show him that the toy was nothing to be feared, he stood behind my chair yelling "MAX!" at her. I gave her the long version of the translation (I think she might be used to it) and told her that yelling "MAX" was Jake's way of scolding someone. It comes from a cartoon "Max and Ruby" where Ruby often scolds her little brother Max. If Jake wants to tell you "no! don't do that" He yells "MAX!"
I have been working with Jake on saying "I want ___" He can say the noun that he wants like "Juice! Juice" or he will sometime stand in front of the fridge saying "Want. Want. Want." but rarely can he put the things together. On one particularly verbal day he wanted a "vitamin" which is actually a probiotic supplement which he sometimes calls "tylenol." The resulting sentence came out: "Want want want. Jake, tell me what you want. I want. Want want... birdhouse, no its a birdfeeder.. Tylenol vitamin." In Jakeese that is "I want a vitamin. It can be frustrating and I find myself translating a lot. Also, one of his favorite phrases to say is "Ice cream cone truck." When traveling to the Team Centers Jake yelled "Ice cream cone truck!" in glee as we went through a tunnel. On the way back he yelled "Tunnel! Tunnel!" So you can see that his echolalia is intermittent.
Consistent phrases that include too many words are:
Daddy = "Daddy's Home"
Birdhouse(or birdfeeder) = "Birdhouse no its a birdfeeder"
Mail truck = "Ice cream cone truck, no its the mail truck"
Manny = "Baby Brother kiss"
Mommy = "Mommy I saw you"
Hermit Crabs = "Its a spider, OH! sea turtle, no baby crabs"
Jake can also repeat quite a bit of Dr. Seuss, recite the alphabet, and count to 20. He actually has quite a bit of appropriate language, but the echoing and scripting can be worrisome.
Recently I found a copy of Baby Signing Time that he wasn't interested in as a baby and put it in. He was enthralled. Since then we've purchased 2 more volumes of Signing Time and he is absorbing it like crazy. He uses a combination of sign and speech to create appropriate sentences. While he still only rarely or never says "I want banana," He may say "I want..." then sign banana. I have never EVER been able to get him to say "I'm sorry" (unless you count "Opps SORRY!" echoed from Diego). But while fussing at him for tearing up some flowers I had planted I said "tell Mommy that you're sorry" while I manipulated his hands to sign "Sorry".. he looked me right in the eyes and said "Mommy, I sowwy." I could have hugged him until his eyes popped out.
I guess part of the reason that his speech hasn't become as apparent to us is because he seemed to develop normal speech while in the "labeling" stage of toddlerhood. He still loves labeling and is consistent in labeling hundreds of objects, numbers up to around 20 and all of his ABCs. But somewhere at the point where he was supposed to develop phrases, something seemed to misfire. Although he has hundreds of words and phrases, can speak very clearly and be understood by most anyone, his robot-like language is odd and may or may not be appropriate to the situation.
Returning to the T.V. subject... I have become so disgusted with hearing TV show phrases repeated that I've waged war on television. Jake can watch Signing time at naptime and bedtime to wind down, and we usually end up watching Jungle Book about once per day. Jake love Jungle Book, but it seems to be too long and complicated and non-repetitive for him to echo. The rest of the time we listen to classical music or bluegrass music or Phish, or Zappa, or anything else. I have 3000 CDs worth of live music, and if he's going to repeat, it might as well be Doc Watson he's repeating. I suppose I saw no harm in television in the past, but I've started hating it. My life used to be filled with music, and it is again. Thankfully, Jake loves to dance.
The only questions that Jake will answer are labeling questions like What's this? or What's that. Asking a complex question like "What did you do today." "How do you feel?" or "What is that in your hand?" will cause him to zone out and appear deaf, sometimes for a minute or more.
I'll end this with a wishlist of things I can't wait to hear Jake say:
"My name is Jake." (He will label himself in pictures or the mirror "That's Jake")
"I'm three/four/five (years old)."
"I am happy."
"I had fun/that was fun."
"I love you."
