My third greatest accomplishment at the preschool today. / myLot

Walnut Creek, California

April 4, 2022 11:23pm CST

I worked with the Big Kids at the preschool today. Many good things happened. But my third greatest accomplishment was the gains I've seen in the language-delayed 2-year-old (she is actually 26-months-old) I've been working with in the younger classroom. I spent some time with her during my breaks, and she babbled at me incessantly. We held hands and went to the water, and she said both "wawa" (almost English) and "awa" (almost Spanish). Then she spoke to me in complete sentences with perfect inflection, though the words made no sense. Finally, when I went to take a smoke break and headed to the parking lot, she said "Bah" as she waved at me. She is learning to say "Bye!" I hope to keep working with her on her language development. Later in the week I will be back with the "littlies." I am hoping she is another "cloud talker," my name for those kids who seem language delayed, and then suddenly start speaking in complete sentences at 2 3/4. Not every child follows the developmental progressions we read about in our psychology text books. Photo is of my friend's daughter as she approached two, not the child I'm writing about.

21 people like this

21 responses

@DaddyEvil (141219)

• United States

5 Apr 22

I hope you're correct and she starts talking your legs off.

(When I was trying to get Pretty to say Mama and Daddy, her mom told me I'd regret teaching her to talk...

)

6 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

I se her as making progress every day. I present myself as someone she can talk to, and she does her best. I have not researched her family life.

5 people like this

@DaddyEvil (141219)

• United States

5 Apr 22

@TheHorse I realized you would have said if you knew why she wasn't talking yet.

5 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

@DaddyEvil I think she's getting "assessed" this week. I'll provide and update, I'm sure.

3 people like this

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Judy Evans

@JudyEv (346007)

• Rockingham, Australia

5 Apr 22

Our son had a few speech problems. He had a few speech therapy sessions and we carried these on at home. It didn't take long and he was over any problems he'd had.

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

What kinds of problems were they?

1 person likes this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

6 Apr 22

@JudyEv So he could count. That's what matters. Dipthongs are overrated anyway. Why combine two vowels when one would have been fine?

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Judy Evans

@JudyEv (346007)

• Rockingham, Australia

6 Apr 22

@TheHorse He couldn't/didn't pronounce certain consonants/dipthongs. If he counted to five, it was 'dun, do, dee. door, dive.

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Shavkat

@Shavkat (140225)

• Philippines

5 Apr 22

I can deal with pre-schoolers but not with Chinese toddlers.

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Shavkat

@Shavkat (140225)

• Philippines

6 Apr 22

@TheHorse They always play and cannot even utter any English words. Most virtual teachers and I called them parrot students.

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

What's peculiar about Chinese toddlers?

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Anna

@LadyDuck (472476)

• Switzerland

5 Apr 22

I hope this kid will improve, are you sure there is not a physical problem in the roof of the mouth that prevents the kid to speak?

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Anna

@LadyDuck (472476)

• Switzerland

5 Apr 22

@TheHorse I hope it's not physical as she is generating "sounds" not "words".

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

She's actually generating a lot of the sounds of both English and Spanish now. So my hunch is that the problem is not physical. But we'll see.

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rosé

@mnglsp (3615)

• Philippines

5 Apr 22

Wow. These past few days I've been thinking if I really want to become a teacher someday because sadly, I need to shift courses again because we don't have enough money to sustain what I have started and the only thing left for me is to study in a public school but sadly the course that I want is not there. The only courses they have is all about teaching. And because of this post, I am quite interested now to become a teacher... especially of the kids.

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

It's a rewarding profession, though it is hard to "get rich" being a teacher.

1 person likes this

rosé

@mnglsp (3615)

• Philippines

6 Apr 22

@TheHorse Yes, I heard it before from my teachers during Junior High School. They also said that if I choose to teach us my profession it is like working 24 hrs a day. Even on your rest days, you are working... Is that true?

ihasaquestion

@ihasaquestion (8275)

•

5 Apr 22

You seem to be pretty good with kids; that's certainly a commendable trait.

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

Working with kids is something I enjoy. It relaxes me, for some reason.

1 person likes this

ihasaquestion

@ihasaquestion (8275)

•

5 Apr 22

@TheHorse That's really awesome.

BarBaraPrz

@BarBaraPrz (48488)

• St. Catharines, Ontario

5 Apr 22

Are you sure she wasn't trying to say you were bad for smoking?

1 person likes this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

As in "bah humbug"? I hope she didn't know I was off to smoke and watch the birdies.

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Judy Story

@jstory07 (141712)

• Roseburg, Oregon

5 Apr 22

Kids really start talking at two and when you can not understand them they get mad.

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

When I don't understand, I often say, "Really! Thank you for sharing that with me!" If I catch one word, I repeat that work back to them.

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Vicki, #1 Creek Girl

@1creekgirl (42376)

• United States

5 Apr 22

You are such a compassionate teacher!

1 person likes this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

The kidlets deserve no less!

1 person likes this

Fleur

@Fleura (31006)

• United Kingdom

5 Apr 22

I don't know what the textbooks say, but 'delays' seem far more common than we think. So common that perhaps they are normal and not 'delays' at all!

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Fleur

@Fleura (31006)

• United Kingdom

6 Apr 22

@TheHorse Sure do. I only have intimate experience of my own two, but they couldn't have been more different!

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

Good point. I have noticed over the years that kids start talking in different ways.

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April

@thislittlepennyearns (63466)

• Defuniak Springs, Florida

5 Apr 22

I was about to ask if the preschool you worked at was Jewish, because of the short she was wearing.

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

Heh. That photo was taken at the Jewish preschool I worked at. Her mommy, my friend, is actually fro Israel.

Arunima Singh

@arunima25 (88825)

• Bangalore, India

5 Apr 22

She might surprise you being a talker in no time. She has got your acceptance and love and she is willing to converse with you. That's a big thing.

Your friend's daughter is so cute! I mean who is not cute at this age

. Aren't we blessed to work with them?

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

We really are.

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Arunima Singh

@arunima25 (88825)

• Bangalore, India

5 Apr 22

@TheHorse

Jojo

@Sojourn (13835)

• India

5 Apr 22

The incoherent babbling will turn to some cute speech in no time.

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

I agree with you!

1 person likes this

ziyou lee

@garfieldlee (159)

• China

5 Apr 22

If 100 preschool kids gather together,no adults are

along with them, could they develop a new language?

2 people like this

The Horse

@TheHorse (223028)

• Walnut Creek, California

5 Apr 22

That's actually an interesting question!

Heather Echola

@GardenGerty (162111)

• United States

6 Apr 22

My first question would be "Is she hearing impaired?" When my daughter was three I baby sat several three year olds.. One of them had a heart murmur, and could not take any sinus or allergy medications. She constantly had so much fluid in her ears she could not hear. However she would recite nursery rhymes with us. I could only identify the poems by their cadence. Your little one reminds me of someone who has blocked hearing due to colds or allergies.

Four Walls

@FourWalls (71337)

• United States

5 Apr 22

She looks like she’s approaching you, not two.

Has this kid shown any other developmental delay signs? Do you (the psychological world “you” not you specifically) know what causes things like that (where they don’t talk until later in adolescence)?