Speech

As most of you know, Luca receives speech therapy.  She uses her voice to express likes and dislikes, to alert us, etc., but does not truly have words yet (except Mama - it is the only word she uses regularly and appropriately).  She does imitate sounds and will imitate the way our mouths move when we say a word. 

She has a lot of frustration from not being able to express her needs and wants.  So I started using signs with her and she started picking it up pretty quickly.  I took a video about 1.5 months ago of her showing the signs she knew at that point.  Since then, I keep a record of all of her signs so we know how many she knows, and so we can explain to anyone else what she might be telling us.  As of right now, she probably knows and uses about 40-50 signs.  She is picking up signs more quickly than Ian and I can learn them!

I cannot wait to hear her use words.  People keep saying that I will want an "off" switch when she does start talking.  Well, right now, I am so longing to hear her talk that I disagree with wanting an "off" switch.  It will come.  Her therapists keep reminding me how far she has come.  She is making improvements and showing the desire to communicate.  They also remind me that often g-tube kids have weaker core muscles, which are needed for breath control for speech.  Soon, we will be adding physical therapy into her routine to try to work on breath control.  And in the meantime, I will continue to work on sign language to expand her knowledge there, while dreaming of the day she decides to talk to us.  Everybody keeps joking that when she does talk, she will come out with full sentences.  I will not be disappointed with that!

Her signing video (that she likes to watch and has memorized).