Today we had a joint birthday party for Noah & Shion- Noah will turn 2 in a week and Shion will turn 1 in early January- we lucked out with awesome sunny weather- it was cool but not too cold and a lovely day to catch up with friends, let the kids run around, eat lots of food and cake and here some wiggly tunes coming from a musical mat my mum sent {Theme was The Wiggles- photos to follow at some point}.
The party was a success and I think both boys had fun!
I have been trying to write this post since last week but with all the birthday party prep I didn`t get to it. We had Noah`s follow up assessment regarding his speech and possible signs of ASD.
After our original meeting where we had a home visit they had pretty much ruled out ASD {Autism Spectrum Disorder} – any of his “quirks” are more what seems to make him him and in the last 2 months some of the things that were concerning us have gotten less and less common. The Child Psychologist we met Wednesday also said that she saw no definite signs pointing to an Autism disorder and that she thought we had nothing to worry about. If we have the same concerns in a year or something else then we should have him reassessed then.
As for his speech- he definitely has a speech delay. Speech therapy in Japan though is non existent til 4. I was shocked! In Australia and I know also in America, it is all about early intervention but here they say just socialize your child and then if they are not talking at 4 or still behind at 4 then they start therapy.
No definite reason why his speech is delayed or hard to understand but she said she did notice he didn`t open his mouth very wide and used his hands a lot to communicate {more than the average child his age} without necessarily even making any sounds. Noah is still very drooly even at almost 2 so she thinks perhaps his muscles in his mouth/tongue are a little weak. She asked questions about how he eats {for example does he take bites then chew a lot then swallow or try to put everything in his mouth etc} and said that it might be better to give him large pieces of bread so that he has to use his jaw/teeth/tongue to bite bits off and eat that way instead of cutting things smaller.
He is not completely non verbal either, can say things that everyone can understand {mama, dada, ball, jiji, baba, go,, uhoh, nannan, and some others} and there is no sign of a hearing issue {which we already figured out as he has no problems responding to requests/his name/hearing airplanes or trains far off}. These two things mean that with time he should completely catch up with his speech.
The Child Psychologist made some good suggestions- she even suggested that because Noah is with me and I understand his signs/what he wants without him having to say clear words that perhaps putting him in an English class with other kids a similar age might encourage him to try and say words and things more because the other kids would be doing it also. It seems a bit strange to put my child in a class to learn English when I know he already understands things but when I thought about it what she said made sense. Not something we are planning on doing now but something to think about. There is also therapy offered once a month {to anyone that applies if they have had assessment though the hokken center like we did with Noah} for children that have communication issues. It is not speech therapy but more teaching kids how to communicate better with the skills they do have. Shun will ring up about this and we might look into it for the new year.
Other things we can work on at home include making exaggerated movements with out mouths including sounds {Ahhhhhh oooooo etc} and getting Noah to try and copy so that he moves his mouth more.
In Japan it definitely seems to be more of a wait and see approach. It still hurts to see other kids a similar age talking so much more but I have to stop letting it bother me I guess. I am still worried but there seems to be some things we can work on at home which of course I am open to doing- socializing him with other kids that talk, reading a lot, talking to him and listening to him talk back are all things I do already but the larger food, exaggerated movement with our mouths are things we can work on.
He is coming out with more “words” each week. I am looking forward to the day it will be more “words” each day.
We have been doing some Christmas themed tot school but probably no post this week! Will try to do one mid week perhaps or if not wait til next weekend! Lots of photos to upload from the party and from our recent activities!
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to find my way in a country that is not my own! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son {Shion} in January 2011- yes they are just over 12 months apart so life is a little insane with two toddlers underfoot. I am working hard at raising them to be curious, confident, bilingual and happy kids.
Sounds like good news to me! I have to say, I often wondered about the fact that his first language was technically signing. As he can make himself understood by signs, I guess who can blame him for keeping it at that? All about necessity in terms of communication. Do you always respond when he signs to you? Perhaps it’s time to start ignoring him? I did this whenever the children spoke to me in Japanese. They soon got the message.
I personally think it’s good that they don’t do speech therapy so early here either. Add to the fact that he is a bilingual child, not being able to speak so much at his age doesn’t really seem to be abnormal, with the longer input time that bilingual/multilingual children need. Luka could say “moon” and “dog” until he was two years old. A couple of weeks after his second birthday, he was talking a blue streak. I don’t think I really ever worried about it, as he was happy enough. I knew that he would eventually talk when he was ready, and if he didn’t, we would cross that bridge if and when we came to it. It’s not as if catching them early is going to change their lives forever!
I think it’s very easy to get carried away with comparing and worrying about our children, but all people/children are different, especially at this early age. I think it’s unnecessary stress all around. I hope you find comfort in what the psychologist has said, and that you can relax and continue having fun with your two beautiful little boys.
Laura, you must be so relieved. I know autism would’ve give you a “why” so you could deal with that head on and you still must be full of answers but I think this is a good thing. It seems like the lady was nice and supportive (which would’ve been my biggest worry!).
I think they gave you some nice practical ideas and then some “next step” ideas so I hope something works for you. Thanks for taking us along on your journey!
Laura the party was great and I really enjoyed seeing your boys up close! Shion was having a good nosh on his wholewheat bread before crawling away from the music mat and Noah was “playing” with Mio. He took a fancy to her sparkly eyes and kept trying to touch them before deciding to give her a KISS instead! A very cute moment and I wish we had caught it on film… perhaps Shun was stealthily catching it from afar… you never know??
I think JapanMama has spoken for me here too. I agree with her post concerning the signing and the longer time it takes bilingual kids to configure responses according to the language set they are drawing from. I saw a great video on FB this AM and believe your baby geniuses have plenty of time:
http://www.ted.com/talks/patricia_kuhl_the_linguistic_genius_of_babies.html
Drawing from my own experience… My brother was ‘slow” in language development and is now a very successful actuary having been top of his class throughout school. Makes you sick until I grew up and I was PROUD of him instead ;P Needless to say he was in an Afrikaans pre-school (I was born in a predominantly Afrikaans town in SA before moving to Johannesburg) by day and an English household at night and travelled to Germany for the first 6 months of his life. As Noah is, he took his time, so speaking truly is just the beginning. So whenever his beginning happens is up to him I guess and soon he’ll be WOWing you even more than he is now I guess.
Anyway that’s my 2-cents worth Xx
I also think, that he might consider signing his first language.
As you know, I read quite a bit about children with -possible- development delays. I Germany they do something called “signing aided communication”, I think it is not far from baby sign. And all the texts say, not to start too early to make sure they know speeking is the goal and signing is only there to help them as long as they can not get it across otherwise.
I am quite sure,he will catch up soon if he gets that talking is the main street to take.
If you want to look into something, look into the Macquirie University’s progamm for children with developmental delays. I think in english it it called “little steps”. It covers all parts of development and is originally made for children with DS, I think, but you could just yous the part on speech/expression, if that suits you.
I have not looked into the things they have in English, yet, I just have the German version of”little steps”. Maybe they haveother things, too.
oh, and my godson would not talk for a loooong time not even babble much and for the first months of his life he would not even laugh or smile or show any signs of communication (other then crying when hungry, gassy etc). He had no hearing problem and his mum started to think her kid might be a bit, hm, numb, is that in english??
he is a spirited nine year old now, who just explained to me last spring how children value things in a diffrent way and therefore consider tasks like taking a shower or brushing your teeth a complete waste of time. As it keeps them from PLAYING.
LOL
There might be some surprise be waiting for you!
Great news!!
ops, Macquarie, that should be.
Great to hear the party was a success and you had fabulous weather, friends and lots of fun. Looking forward to the pics of the birthday boys.
Also good to hear the child psychologist has given you some things to work on at home. The larger food thing to help is jaw muscles was very interesting.
Chomp chomp Noah. You’ll be calling mum a poo in no time. Surely its a phase all kids go through and not just mine
xxx
Wow that’s great!! The psychologist sounds really helpful
Great that she was supportive (or not negative) about English, signing, etc.
They don’t really do early intervention here either Lulu, I’m not really sure why. I think it can be a good and a bad thing. Definitely a bad thing when you’re talking about more serious problems like autism, where early intervention can really make a huge difference later on down the road, but maybe a good thing when it comes to minor delays. Kids who have delayed speech do catch up, they just do it at their own pace. Maybe for those kids it is better in some ways not to have all that labeling at such an early age.
I’m glad it was a good experience overall. New words every week is good progress too, I am sure he is on the verge of taking off. My son did around his second birthday and by 2.5 you really couldn’t tell he’d been slow to speak.
I’m so glad to hear that Noah is looking good and that there are no concerns beyond his speech at this stage. My daughter is about 6 months behind Noah, and she is hardly talking either and also drools like crazy (just fyi).
But, with regard to the speech delay thing and early intervention, I do think that maybe the wait and see approach is fine in this instance. A lot of the early intervention may not actually be that necessary; kids develop so differently and at such different timelines. When I was telling my mother about how my daughter still isn’t really talking (3 words total now) my mum reminded my of my neighbour with whom I grew up. He didn’t start talking till well after 2, and then he burst forth with full sentences.
So. Basically, don’t fret. I know it seems like in Japan things are a bit lax, but that might be (probably will be) fine.
If you’re looking for other mouth-strengthening exercises, you may try giving him his drinks with a straw sippy cup. (You’ve prolly already heard that, but just FWIW)
Hi Lulu
I want to agree with everyone that that’s great news and you probably have nothing to worry about, but I also want to offer an alternative perspective, without wanting to cause you any alarm.
I was in your shoes – my son’s language was developing very slowly. At 2, he was saying maybe 30 words in both English and Japanese (he started attending Japanese daycare at 18 mths and before that was at home with me) but was not stringing any together. His comprehension seemed behind his (Japanese) peers too, and the daycare centre staff had commented on this. I didn’t worry too much because, as everyone here has said, he was learning 2 languages at the same time, which can take a bit longer before speaking properly. However, now my son is 4 and since we moved back to my home country I was able to get him formally assessed. His language did keep slowly improving (in both languages) but at 4 the gap between him and his peers seemed very large. The assessment was very comprehensive. It was by a Child Development Team comprising three specialists – a developmental paediatritian, a speech-language therapist and a clinical psychologist. It was quite a long road to get the assessment (referred from GP, to special ed to finally the Child Development Team). Anyway, the result was my son has a “global developmental delay”. That is he is delayed in several areas of development, although we were only aware of his language delay. Early intervention is important, and if I hadn’t been living in Japan (where everyone pointed to the fact there was 2 languages at home) I’m sure his delays would have been picked up earlier and he would have received early intervention services. I understand you are travelling to Australia soon. If you can talk to your GP there for a second opinion, I would do so. It may be nothing, but just because he’s bilingual doesn’t mean that is the only reason he is behind. It could be a wider developmental delay, and if that is the case then the sooner you can work on developing his skills further, the better. In the meantime, I would definitely participate in the class that you mentioned that develops childrens’ communication skills.
Again, he may be fine. But that’s what I thought about my son, and actually he wasn’t. It’s really hard to know without a formal assesssment.
Silent lurker no more!
My son did not start talking at 4! He has an Asperger brother who started talking at 6 months, remember his ABC at 2 (and did the puzzles by himself), spoke 3 languages by 3 and reading at 4! (he is the ONE with high spectrum disorder but fantastic memory) So we were worried.Well he had a vocab of 40 words by then but that was it. He also did not walk till he was 2. It left me “huh” but I knew why. At 4 years old, he went to sleep one night and something MUST have clicked while he slept as he has NOT stop talking now! He is 11 now, thinks his brother is a fuddy-duddy (16 yrs) but goes to him for ANYTHING as he thinks Bro is a walking encyclopedia. He still gives me a one word reply but it is a MAN thing but talk about his fav subject, oh boy, off button, pls.
They are so close, although a 5 year gap and that is the sweet part as the 16 year old (with Aspergers) has a mental capability of a 24 years old, but an EQ of 12 so they get along well that way. Bro thinks he is a gangster as he likes to spike his hair and play gun games on xbox while he thinks Bro is a fuddy-duddy with all his reading and dressing like a 30 year old!
The thing abt kids – let them grow at their own pace, you will be amazed!
But teach them manners. I swoon each time they open doors for ladies, ask to carry their heavy bags and stand up when they come to the table and when you cry HELP, they rush down just to check you are OK