A Journey in Dual Language Immersion

    

     This year we have the privilege of starting our youngest, Mr Matthew, in a dual language immersion (DLI) program. Our school district made the fantastic decision to introduce all 5 languages offered in the states DLI program, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese. This is an opportunity I would not miss out on. Our school school was chosen for German. My sweet hubby is fluent in German having served an LDS mission there and although a bit rusty he still enjoys speaking this language and stays in touch with friends. We were thrilled that Matthew would be able to learn German. Our oldest, Josh, also entered his first year of German in high school. 
     Matthew spends 50% of his school day in German and 50% in English classes. His German teacher speaks only German to the students. They learn math, German culture and various other lessons in German. After the holidays the students were further challenged to only speak German to each other as well. It's challenging to be sure but allows his brain to focus on understanding and deciphering German.
     Our dinner conversations have been fun with many laughs as the boys share new words and try to stump each other. We knew it would be an adventurous year when the second week of school Matthew was making wise cracks to Josh...in German. Yeah, little brother thought he was ALL THAT!
     What I find amazing is how much faster Matthew is picking up the language than Josh. Earlier this week dad was thrilled to have a conversation with Matthew in German. He needed a few cues but Matthew was able to share his thoughts and feelings on the topic, why he was too big for "Cars" underwear.
     In sharing this fun moment with Matthew's teacher, Frau Page, she asked why I thought it was that Matthew was surpassing his older brother. Both are strong students. Both have the advantage of a fluent parent. Both are maintaining their grades and proficiency in other studies but Matthew is moving toward conversation passing Josh in language skill. Is it because of an aptitude for language or another reason? The answer is clear...AGE! Matthew's 6 year old brain is still hard wired for language development. He has an advantage over Josh despite prior language challenges.
     Matthew had a significant speech delay. At 12 months he spoke 6 words then...nothing. He stopped speaking. Life was good. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. No trauma or outside influences to prevent him from speaking. We have another son who also had a speech delay so we set to work using the skills and tools we had learned from Keegan's speech therapy to help Matthew. It took a year and weekly speech therapy before Matthew repeated an easy word he previously knew, bye. I was in tears to hear my little boys voice break through again. We heard all the usual reasons why he wouldn't or couldn't speak but none of them fit. Our speech therapist was stumped. He did not know why Matthew was not talking. Matthew learned to communicate through sign to avoid frustration. It took years, but he finally took off talking and caught up to his peers. In fact, this is the first year he has not had speech therapy so it is interesting to me to see him pick up a second language with such ease. 
     I love to hear Matthew share his latest German song, phrase, or just a new word. He even corrects moms pronunciation. Josh continues to learn as well but quizzes his little brother a little less...it's not so cool when little brother is no longer stumped by your "quizzes". Matthew is loving his DLI. He is learning to love the language, culture, and people. We are learning as a family as well. Next year we are even looking forward to having a German exchange student.
     The world is growing smaller. The internet has put the world at our finger tips. The opportunities my boys will have increase everyday. The opportunities Matthew will have by participating in and learning German are limitless. I am thrilled and so thankful our school has this opportunity. How could I NOT have my boys participate in Dual Language Immersion.

Pinterest Addict!

So sorry to have been MIA. I have had a couple of busy busy weeks. Then in my few moments of free time I just got sucked into Pinterest! 

Hello, My name is Shannon, and I am a Pinterest addict!

I love it.

All the great ideas.

The way I can organize them.

To come back to when it's time.

Some day I will do them all.

Each and Every one.

Someday.....

Never fear I have a couple of projects to post this week. We are inching closer to having my craft/guest room finished. I have so many ideas waiting to do. Projects I have supplies for but haven't started. Projects I have started but not finished. Right now they are all stacked in piles that get moved from one spot to another. 

I am dreaming of the day when I get to pull them out and organize it all nice and neat. 

Then Let the Fun Begin!

For now, we will start sheetrocking this week. I hope to finish that up by next weekend then start taping and texturing. I have already picked out my paint colors. I will try to find them online and share....hmm or maybe keep you all in suspense. hehehe!

I am also trying to get going on my scrapbooking. I have taken a bit of a leave from that but it's time to get a bit caught up, sort of. I am trying to do 1 page a day. We will see how well I do that.

Oh, and just on a personal note. 

Mr. M qualified for further speech therapy! Yeah!

After they turn 3 it is harder to qualify as the restrictions are so much tighter. There are just so many kids and they have to draw the line, in this case it's the 7th percentile. Well, he is not making enough progress so they qualified him. I know one day I will want less talking from him but for now I would just love to understand what he is saying. I am relieved to have this service through the school district. I hope to see some real progress soon. It's been nearly 2 years of therapy so far.

Speech Therapy: Start with the basics

As with any adventure we had lots of ups and downs with Mr. M during speech therapy. I was so anxious to just understand WHAT he was saying and what he wanted. After too many months to count we finally started to see some progress.

Then we would seem to loose ground again.

The proverbial two steps forward one step back.

One month our fabulous therapist came while Mr. M was still asleep. We had tried to keep him up but after swimming he was wiped out! It did give us a nice chance to just talk though.

I had been feeling like we were loosing ground and I couldn't figure out why.

Our therapist listened and then made a simple suggestion.

 Go back to the basics!

Follow his lead- let him set the pace and initiate the action; mimic him.

Guess what he's thinking.

Wait for him to talk.

Give partial parts of words to cue him.

Then try language rich activities- outings, pet stores, sunflower houses.

Each of these suggestions make sense but I had to make a consious effort each day to DO them.

Even now, whenever I feel we are slipping I go back to these basic skills. Guess what he's thinking can easily become a game. I mean have you ever tried to figure out what is going through a toddlers mind?

Yeah- GOOD LUCK!

I am excited to announce that Mr M has finally started to put 4-5+ word sentances together. I feel like I can have a conversation with him. I still spend a lot of time playing the guessing game. Now what could that sound possibly be...BUT each day it is getting better. Considering his age and not qualifying for further therapy I am thrilled. I am also optamistic for where he will be this fall. I know one day I will wish for LESS talking but right now I can't tell you how wonderful it is to TALK with my son! 2 years after are journey started we are finally making big strides!

Tips for helping with Speech Delay

Many of you know we have been struggling to help Mr. M learn to talk. He is now 3 yrs old and only puts a few 2-3 word sentences together. Normally a child should start speaking 2-3 word sentances at age 2. Age 2-3 is a crictical window of opportunity for language development. Perhaps even earlier. Last summer he tested as low as 1% in some areas. Yeah, he was struggling.

Mr. K went through speach therapy which we later found was common with children with Aspergers Syndrome (of course we didn't know about his Aspergers until years later). After this I had some idea of tips and tricks. I started trying to remember some of our old tricks, trying to help Mr. M they way we had been taught.

Have you ever thought of that?

How to teach a child to talk, I mean?

I hadn't. How do you get him to say "ball"?

We have been on a strong learning curve for 1 1/2 yrs now. There are so many little things that you don't think about in learning to speak. I thought I would share some of the lessons we've learned. I plan to do a series of posts sharing some of the information we have learned and some of the handouts given to us. We are not there yet. I have often found myself very frustrated at the slow pace. We take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Then, just when I thought we were making headway he has his 3rd birthday and no longer qualifies for therapy. Don't worry, we aren't giving up but at least we have a good start. We were fortunate to start early. We had a great doctor who didn't put it off saying "let's wait and see". We have had amazing therapists!

Sometimes kids are simply delayed and will start talking on their own but the window of opportunity is before age 3 and can be easily missed. Plus early intervention programs only cover up to age three.

Whether your child is on track and you want to be more active and knowledgeable or if your child is struggling hopefully you can find something to help you and yours!

Ideas for Communication Goals (from It Takes Two to Talk)

1. Motor imitation without toys ie. peek-a-boo or clapping

2. Motor imitation using toys and objects ie. pushing cars, building blocks, or brushing teeth

3. Transition from motor to sound imitation ie. m-m-m (good)- rubbing tummy or oops!- toy falling

4. Early single words ie. mom, dad, oh-oh, no, bye etc

5. Later- two word phrases ie. car go, dad play, go out

Did you realize all those "baby games" actually build pre-language skills? Yep, clapping, patty cake, peek-a-boo, giving five, even pulling faces all help to build the foundation for language development within the brain. I had never realized that eye contact and turn taking were language building blocks. It makes sense though. Communication ie. language is not just verbal. It is nonverbal and full of expression and actions.

First comes the imitation of actions, then the imitation of sounds, after that comes first words.

Line upon line.....

So your challenge for this week is to PLAY! Just park it next to your little one, either with or without toys and play. Pay attention to eye contact. Practice turn taking. Make silly faces. Repeat any sounds or words you child makes. Have fun. Remember

Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.

-O. Fred Donaldson

American Sign Language

Matthew has been in speech therapy for about 5 months now. He was saying several words at 12 months but then just stopped. His hearing is ok and he understands ok. Since we have gone through speech therapy before we kinda knew what to expect. Keegan started talking after 3months of S.T. Matthew however is still not talking. Keegan was already 2 when we started and Matthew just turned 2. We have a great therapist, Derrick. Matthew has a great time with him. We have been learning sign to encourage communication. He is signing more (although much better for dad than mom) and trying new sounds but still not talking per se.  One suggestion was to have a "sign" of the week. So I searched the web for signs and pictures. This is what I came up with....

Apple

The sign for "apple" is made by closing your hand and placing the knuckle of your right index finger against your cheek.  At the same time, pivot the hand back and forth.  Note: Many people use an "a" handshape instead of the "x" handshape.

I plan to print this off then laminate it and have it on the fridge for the week to remind us all to ask for "apples" and practice signing the word. When the older boys sign Matthew is more apt to pick it up. He just has to do what his big brothers are doing. 

I found the signs here: American Sign Language

I am impressed with what I see so far. The drawings are simple and also have pictures or movies of the sign being made. I am making several sheets for the sign of the week to practice on. I hope this will help getting things going more with Matthew. Sometimes I wonder if I am too good at reading and understanding what he wants, I don't wait for him to sign it or make him sign it. I am going to work on that. He is very expressive despite his reluctance to talk. Oh, and no his brother's don't talk for him. They are gone during the day. I'm not sure how S.T. will be after we move. I am going to have to research some things. 

*sigh*

Just added another thing to my list didn't I!?! Dang boys anyway! Gotta love 'em.