But, my favorite part of language acquisition is the words she does not quite process correctly. There are a few that are sweeter or more humorous than others, but by far my favorite came out of a conversation The Baby had with Princess Commando last week. The Baby was looking over Princess Commando's shoulder while she was reading her National Geographic magazine. "What's that?" The Baby asked, pointing to the canine creature on the page. "That's a coyote," Princess Commando answered. "Oh, yeah, COYDOODIE! Yay!" The Baby repeated, dancing in victory at the acquisition of a new word. My immature inclination to giggle at bathroom humor, a gene I inherited from my father and have now passed down to my own children, keeps me from trying too hard to correct her now.
In the back of my mind- I do harbor a little concern as reversing or swapping out one sound for another is an early sign of Central Auditory Processing Disorder. We did not know this when First Born Son consistently mispronounced words- swapping them for a similarly sounding word or phrase. Prior to his diagnosis in 6th grade, it caused undue difficulty in school. But, it also left us with some memorable lines. In 1st grade he announced that he wanted to marry a lovely little girl in his class. When we asked him why, he answered with dreamy eyes, "Because she is a hot stick." He meant, of course, hot chick. It probably should have been more concerning that at 6 years old he knew the term hot chick and that he was already objectifying the female sex- rather than worrying over his swapping sounds to create a new phrase.
We have a few more years before we can know for certain if all of her ear infections and chronic fluid has caused damage to The Baby's auditory nerves. Until then, coyotes will be coydoodies. And we'll still immaturely laugh about it.
so beautiful - even the 'hot stick'.
ReplyDeleteI used to love hearing my toddlers work out words and 'read' upside down books. I could have whacked my husband when he turned it up the right way. Confidence is more important than correctness - but correcting husbands is okay.
LOL @ "Confidence is more important than correctness- but correcting husbands is okay." I do subscribe to that belief- all of it :-)
DeleteI had no idea about Central Auditory Processing Disorder. I worked with kids for years and always thought mispronouncing and swapping words was pretty typical for children. I've heard a boy complain about his "ellie-bake" (bellyache), another tell me his favorite football team was the Green Bean Packers, and several talk about their trips to New Hamster. Oh, and my brother once said someone was "biosexual."
ReplyDeleteStacey, lol @ Biosexual:-) I should clarify that is is totally normal for kids to mispronounce words and swap out sounds- especially younger kids. CAPD didn't really present itself until he reached the stage in school where there was more emphasis on writing (essays, reports, and especially note taking from a lecture). He could 'hear' fine but the sounds would get jumbled as they made it to the auditory nerve and we noticed in his writing he would come up with these made up words. When asked to explain- he would give the definition of a word and by the context of the definition we were able to figure out what he heard or what he was trying to convey. For my son, CAPD was like trying to tune in a radio station that is thick with static. He would get bits and pieces of the conversation or the class lecture. It was tiring to try to stay on top of listening so he would just tune out and start talking to whomever was sitting next to him or just stare blankly at the wall. I felt that something was not quite right and decided to have him tested at a hearing and speech clinic and then we had him evaluated thoroughly through a behavioral psychologist. Both doctors determined that he did have a moderate degree of CAPD. It was a relief to know that we could now work with the school to provide him the support he needed- teachers would provide a copy of the notes (as needed), check periodically for understanding, provide proximity seating (seating away from extra noise and close to the speaker) and a few other supports that he still uses today. Now that he is 15, he is able to advocate for himself and he has adapted and flourished. I just wish that we hadn't waited so long to have him tested. That is also why I am being very watchful with The Baby.
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