As Ty picks up more grammar, phraseology, and vocabulary, we are becoming a bilingual family. Our second language is Ty-ese. While receptive and comprehensive abilities have made huge improvements (our therapists and specialists say they’ve never seen such a large jump in such a short period of time…then again, maybe because they’ve never worked with an internationally adopted toddler*), his articulation is the worst they’ve seen in a 3-year-old. As far as phonological processes go, he has almost every single one. Here’s a sampling of Ty-ese…
~ “datch-a-giggles?” = Watch Wiggles?
~”gook!”= Look!
~”poop-ease”=”soup, please?”
~”I anna pay dat”= I wanna play that
~”Ghee-ga”=Grandma or Grandpa
~”Gakin, Pipee, peese”=Napkin or wipee, please
On the plus side, he’s finally saying “PJ” instead of “Eebee.”
~Aside: The fact that Ty is adopted has made figuring him out a constant game of second guessing ourselves and over analyzing life. Speech and hearing specialists claim his speech is fabulous for someone with “8-month-old English ears.” Excuse me? He may have only heard English for 8 months, but he’s 3-YEARS-old. Does that count for something? Do we take him to an occupational therapist about his eating and sensory integration issues only to have them say, it could be part of his adjustment? Well, yes, it could. But when do we stop blaming every concern on his adoption and adjustment? Probably never. I’m not sure how I feel about that. While I don’t want to minimize his trauma or dismiss his feelings, I feel like adoption (especially international) gets a bad wrap for being the root cause of so many issues–especially speech and identity related. Did anyone ever consider that thousands of other non-adoptees suffer from the same issues? What do we blame then? Actually I’m not so sure blame is my “beef”. Fine, blame the issues on adoption, but treat them just like any other person…heck, just treat them at all. Don’t shrug it off with a “wait and see.” Is that really too much to ask?