Discussions are important, to be able to voice your ideas to another coherently.
To have a voice, to be heard.
I have always encouraged my children to communicate, voice your feelings / ideas, do not stuff them, because they are important. I want to know what they are thinking, what they are feeling, it is important to be validated.
Two of my girlfriends have been praying for Jewel for years, for her to have a voice, for her to be able to speak, talk, express her self. This is such a selfless and deep way of showing love, I did not ask for these prayers, both these women felt it on their hearts to pray specifically for Jewel this way. What a calling and commitment of love towards my daughter, thank you Doris and Kathleen!
This is where the speech and language pathologist comes in. This therapist is most critical to start working with consistently as soon as possible. They work with the child on communication, asking questions, pointing - if your child can, teaching and using sign language - if your child can use her arms and hands / fingers to communicate. They use eye gazes as well and this is what we used with Jewel to communicate with, Jewel's facial expression, especially her eye gazes is how she communicated during these sessions, how she picked her answers.
The Oral Beckman exercises are the golden key people, do them with your child faithfully and you will see results. Even if it is just seeing the drooling stop! These Oral Beckman exercises will help to teach you how to manually exercise your child's mouth, there by strengthening, stretching, and stimulating all the muscles. The games are fun and all purpose full, they aim to aid in control in drinking so as not to aspirate, aid in chewing and swallow control, nursing helps this as well. The games aid in helping to eliminate drooling and controlling the suck, swallow, breathing technique that is imperative to master. I can not say enough about this, work with a speech and language pathologist forever if you have to, it is worth it!
Then they also aid in sounding and shaping the lips for speech and communication.
Jewel has come along way with the help from her speech pathologists that have come alongside her. Thank you speech pathologists, especially Beth that has worked with her for years now!
Now the endless crying and frustration both from Jewel and us has drastically diminished because we are now better equipped to understand Jewel and figure out what she wants or needs, where it hurts and what she does not want to do. It was such a powerful moment when Jewel learnt to say "NO"! xx
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