Communication... with a 2 year old :-)

So Chloe's primary form of communication to us is sign language; though we primarily use verbal with her unless she is unaided for whatever reason.  Her receptive language (what she understands verbally) is very high.  Sometimes it even surprises me what she understands.  Then other days I think her batteries are dead (even though they aren't because I checked, yet again).  Usually when we ask her to do something/give us something/or are just talking to her she responds with sign.  She is very quiet and does not vocalize. It's a concern.

Birthday girl! age 2

Back in May she said Hello (very clear) for about 5 days to a week... then she just stopped. and never said it again.  She also used to say book (about 3 days), mama (one time), arff (woof) about 2 weeks, Hi (for about a month).Off and On while flipping the light switch (sometimes will say these still), Dada/dadee,( said if for about 2 or 3 weeks a month ago); then she would just stop. and never say it again.
She says up, and has been saying up for about 3 months consistently.

Well the past 3 days she is saying:
horse (sounds like "orsse) (says with sign)
ball (2 times tonight) sounds like bah (says with sign)
on and off, sometimes
up (still)
juice (uisss) (and will sign with it)
sleep and sheep (know the difference in the 2 by context) (seep or shhhhhep) (says with sign)
please (eesee) (says with sign)
water (waaawa) tonight! (says with sign)
dada dadee (it came back today...!) (says with sign)

But she has mostly been saying sleep... and often. it's pitiful.
We have recently been skipping naps on and off.
When she is tired she signs sleep (hand dragging from forehead to chin and closes her eyes) and it's really pitiful as she makes the adorable pitiful face when she does it.  She will usually get her blankie and her milk and cuddle in my lap.

Well when she tells me she's sleepy in the above manner but it's 5pm, I've not been letting her cuddle in my lap and go to sleep... as I don't want to be up with her until midnight or later. and it's still early for bed. So now she does the above (blankie, milk, sign with pitiful sleepy face) and says SSSEEEEPPPP. It's the most pitiful thing ever. I feel like she's saying MOMMY don't you see me signing that I'm sleepy! she's been saying it quite often. and If i ask her if she's sleepy she will sign and say it now. I'm hoping this word doesn't go away. It's so exciting.  This week she seems to be really really trying to say words. and ALL of them are with the sign. 

When a child loses words, every parent's heart sinks because it's not normal... EVEN for a hearing impaired child. They take longer to get words but once they have them... they have them.  Obviously we have been watching for ASD symptoms/signs; and while she has some, she doesn't have enough, and the ones she has can be explained by other things.  We are certain she has SPD.  Our other thought is a possible Apraxia... but at least a motor planning issue from her head to her mouth.  (knows what she wants to say, but can't form the words).  There are also times that she will "mouth" the words but nothing comes out.

I am very excited about this, but I hesitate. I am just really hoping she keeps these words. I have noticed the difference in these words then the ones before. Right now she is using them to communicate TO me instead of babbling a word while playing solo.  she is also signing with them.  She has over 40/50 signs that she understands and can produce (half of them look alike so it's a lot of context as she doesn't have the fine motor skills to produce some). She loves to communicate and sign and I think she's finally trying to add the words with it. especially when I am not understanding her sign without context. She is also combining 2 signs together. more please, mommy please, more fish, more juice, more milk, phone please, mommy phone, mommy up, and others i can't think of.

Oh another thing she did the other day... she was signing what I thought was mommy. SO i would say Oh you want mommy? and she usually will come up in my lap if that is what she wants. but yesterday she signed no and signed mommy again. and then she signed wash hands then mommy then wash hands. so I said Oh you want mommy to wash your hands? and she gave me the "no look" (I don't think she signed it that time) and signed mommy mommy mommy with more "ummph".  Then it occured to me. She was signing water. (looks identical for her) so I said OH you want water (my thought: because you wash your hands with water) and she goes EESSS and signs yes and runs to the kitchen.  I got her water and she drank it down. I have a very smart girl.   I am about 99% sure she was signing wash hands because you use water and mommy wasn't understanding her sign for water. especially due to how excited she got when I finally "got" it. And my husband witnessed all of this... so he knows i'm not making it up. LOL  She also signs milk and juice (and say uice) when she wants those spontaneously...


Every word is precious with Chloe, especially because I know how hard she is working to produce them. And Every time I hear her sweet voice I treasure it... because I'm not sure when I will hear it again.  This is not due to the hearing loss and we have hopes that she will learn to talk... it will just take a lot of work. But I also am going to keep up the "total communication" approach and sign with her and respond to her signs so that she can communicate with us. She also uses flash card pictures to show us what she wants/when she wants it. Or if she is interacting with someone who is not understanding her signs, she will grab a flash card and flip to what she wants to say.  She is very resourceful.  I also really really want to learn fluent ASL regardless of if and when Chloe learns to talk. It's a beautiful language.