Generally by the time a child is a few weeks old they are elicit vocal sounds called cooing. These are often in response to stimulus from sounds that they hear. I have a grandson who has had multiple difficulties with his speech. It became apparent by the age of two that he was not developing his speech as most other children his age would be by that time.

We were somewhat worried, but not overly so because he'd had a difficult birth and seemed to be a little delayed in other areas, but would quickly catch up. Except in his speech. He was started with a Head Start evaluation, and they agreed that he definitely qualified for their program. Speech therapists would come into the home several days a week and work with him.

His sister two years younger was also getting the benefit of watching her brother and trying to join in with the "play" he was sharing with his teacher. They mixed sign language and speech to help him communicate better. The little sister was easily keeping up with her older brother and over years passed him up in many ways. She did however pick up some of his speech habits and patterns. Their mother has a sort of speech deficit which may have contributed as well. She has difficulty pronouncing some words and with diction.

Several times we have questioned the possibility that my grandson also may have some hearing problems. Since his little sister seemed to overcome her poorly learned speech habits as soon as she began pre-school, it was clear that she had merely picked up habits which were overcome. However, my grandson improved much more slowly.

The problem was that my grandson did not tolerate the hearing tests. Even the speech therapists that worked with him thought that he may have some hearing problems. He seemed to learn the sign language to pair with the words much more easily than speech. To this day, he has difficulty and has not as yet tolerated the earphones or quiet room for the testing. Even with his mother in the room and demonstrating the headphones, setting him on her lap for comfort, he would scream whenever they were applied to his ears.

My dear grandson is now in his third school since he began pre-school. He has had teachers in speech therapy in each one and with some improvement. However; he is now in a school where his speech therapist and reading teachers work one-on-one with him, and his speech is quickly clearing up. I am now able to talk to him on the phone and understand nearly every word he says. Some sounds are still difficult for him, but he is now making the 's' sound, and working on the 'th' sound, and other soft sounds.

In the few experiences that I have had with children who may have a mixture of hearing loss and speech development problems, it is often the softer sounds that they have difficulty with.
We hope to see him tolerate a hearing test soon, however; he may prove to be able to overcome all of his speech problems. Whether he does or not, the fact that he is learning sign along with improving his speech gives him the advantage of developing a second language at a very young age. It doesn't hurt either that his little sister learns with him and is the most able of anyone to communicate with him.

Her clear speech often helps us to understand what he is saying when we cannot see his hands or haven't yet learned his current sign. I do feel that it is our responsibility to learn sign language to be able to communicate not only with him but with other hearing or speech impaired persons.

I am hoping that if a book on American Sign Language is not enough, that mixing it with lessons from my grandchildren with help me join the party.

Learn more about this author, Glenda K. Fralin.
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