"andrea" wrote in message
...
My son Alden is 4 in September. He has Apraxia, which is a speech
disorder.
Progress has been slow on the speech side according to the therapist, but
I
feel he is doing great compared to how he was.
He had at one point zero understanding. Now his understanding is great for
his age, but he has limited vowels and can't pronounce constanants.

I thought about signing for babies (like for drink), for Joseph and
hopefully Kamron, to help avoid the frustration babies have before they
are
able to talk. I also plan on starting this with Alden, he does speak but
it's not very clear, and we usually guess what he is saying.

Have any of you already started signing for babies/toddlers? How did it
go?

My pack I have ordered says some babies can start signing from 6 months.

It's sounds like it's worth a try, as babies that can sign find speech
comes
more easily. Some people believe signing delays speech, but i'm told this
is
not the case.


My 10 yr old son is autistic, his teachers sign and speak to him and have
done so since he was about 3. I don't personally, but it works pretty well.
TO keep it from interfering with your sons learning speech, make sure you
talk and sign at the same time.
If he is 4, he should be old enough to begin some reading. Picture symbols
are also pretty good.

My son has clear speech, but it took years before his receptive language was
above that of a 2 year old. His expressive language is in the 2 1/2 to 3
year old level. What e finds easier than speech, is writing. Once he learned
to read,write and spell (age 5) he began writing one word requests and now
can write complete sentences.
At school the combine it all. So he will have a paper with picture symbols,
some including Signs, and below that the typed word. Ex: "I want some juice"
will have the signs for I and want then a picture of juice, with the words
below. WHen the teacher reads this, she will likely sign it. So he gets the
sign language, the pictures, the written word and the oral all at the same
time. The sign language is part of a whole language plan.

If you can get yours to sign, it will probably ease his frustration a lot.
(assuming he is frustrated) Because my son did have speech and could write,
we didnt teach him to sign, we chose to have him speak or write. But for
those who can do neither, signing can be a miracle!

Hope I was a little helpful.