[extropy-chat] Parenting: Late Talkers

[Spike]

> Karen Rand Smigrodzki wrote:
> > My fraternal twin nephews are now 26 months old, and they have yet
to talk.
> > ... Anyone here have that experience with their kids or themselves?

My brother-in-law, the elementary school principal, said
nothing until he was nearly 3, and said little for months
after that.

Keep in mind that children see the world thru different
eyes than our own.  Their motives are different than ours.
Speaking is a skill that may need a particular motive.

We gave our friend's 1.5 yr old a toy tractor but we actually
had given him six toys: the tractor (which he hadn't a clue
what to do with having never seen one) a cardboard box, some 
wrapping paper (with dinosaurs on it!), a ribbon bow, and two 
pieces of packing styrofoam.  

None of the adults realized there were six toys there until we
attempted to dispose of five of them (his favorite five), an
action which was met with immediate and unmistakeable protest, 
though this child spoke not.  He immediately began clacking the 
two pieces of styrofoam, enjoying himself greatly.

After having a great time clacking the foam packaging,
he handed them to me and said in a clear voice, "Now you do it."  
His parents were most shocked, for these were nearly his
first words, a complete and grammatically correct sentence,
along with a deomonstration that he knew the meaning of the
words.

Had the child wanted his mother to copy his actions, he would 
have simply offered the foam and she would know what the
child wanted.  I, being nearly a stranger, had to have
explained to me the appropriate action.  So he did.  And
so I did.

{8^D

spike