When it comes to a non-verbal child, probably the biggest concern of parents is what their baby feels. Are they happy or are they sad? Is there something that is hurting my child? It’s the same for us when it comes to Miguel. We often wonder if he is feeling well or not if he is content, or if he wants something. We also think about what his thoughts may be.
We only rely on observations depending on his current favorite toys; we know that Miguel is happy when he has his favorite toys with him. Speaking of toys, his interests change regularly. It can be a piece of an object from another toy, a leg, a toy block, a twig, and so forth. These are just random objects that catch his interest.
Miguel also relies on gestures. He still doesn’t know how to point at objects that he likes. When he wants something, say his favorite snack, he would take it and then give it to me. If not like that, Miguel would take my hand and then gesture for me to do something that he likes me to do such as getting a toy or a book, and so forth.
At times, Miguel would just look at me or his Mommy intently to communicate that he wanted us to do a certain task for him. Honestly, these are the moments that we cherish. The random times when we would look at us were silent but full of words, meanings, and emotions.
Miguel and Rafa’s pediatrician sent me a reading material on how to encourage non-speaking children to talk. The document said that we should just continue talking to our son even if we get no response from him. It details how we should be descriptive and detailed in our words. Frankly, that’s what we’ve been doing in the last two years.
Just the same, our dream is to be able for him to one day express his feelings and thoughts verbally. Just the same, if Miguel is non-speaking, we want to find a way for him to be able to efficiently express himself. I know it can be frustrating not to be able to express oneself.
During Miguel’s last session, I asked his teacher if we could look for a speech pathologist to work on his speech therapy. His teacher answered that it would all depend on the developmental pediatrician’s recommendation if we can already go ahead with speech therapy. Ideally, it should follow after six months of continuous occupational therapy. After that, speech therapy would follow depending on Miguel’s readiness for it.
That sounded like a good plan to me. It’s something that we are looking forward to. Until then, we will continue with therapy, our home activities, and all the things that make us happy.
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