Getting my point across

As a teacher, you work on helping children get their point down on paper. By the time they get to kindergarten, they KNOW how to get their point across through words. If they don't, then there are issues.

When working with little ones, you work on getting your point across through words. This is not so easy! Hearing your child's first word is so exciting. You begin listening to ever little babble and trying to decipher it as an attempt at a word. Then you begin to realize that a lot of their babbles are just that babbles. This is fine... they are little and learning. The challenge becomes when they are trying to tell you something and you can't understand him/her.

Blake is pretty good at getting his point across. He has mastered many words that help with his needs (milk, book, walk, truck, up, and some others). He also has some signs that he uses to get other thoughts across (all done, up, etc...). Or on occasion he points (usually hits) what he wants.

But, the challenge becomes when he is pointing at something and you can't figure out what it is he is pointing at. Last night we were sitting at the dinner table and he was pointing at the middle of the table and babbling, but the babbles didn't make sense to anything that was there. So you begin the process of offering him everything he can have, but let me tell you when you show him the wrong thing that makes it worse!

Oh well, we are getting there and he is working on it. Plus most times I can figure out what he wants or offer him something else that interests him. It will be interesting to see when he finally masters the words he wants to use if he talks as much as he babbles. If that is the case, the house will never be quiet again!