talking

[Lucysmom]

Hi, Maggie- I like what I've seen so far of your magazine. I'd seen the Animal Planet video of Einstein, but didn't realize that she lives at a zoo. Lucy likes to watch Einstein, & "talks" back to her. My question is, Lucy prefers to go into her cage to talk, which means that she babbles for 1/2 hr. or more, going through her whole repertoire of sounds & words. If I play any kind of music, she often babbles the whole time it plays. But she doesn't use the words in context, & doesn't talk much out of her cage. For example, she recently learned the word "more", & I'll give her a treat or her favorite food, then try to get her to say "more" to get some more, but she gets so excited to see the treat, that all she can say is a chirp that means "eat". But when she babbles, she'll say "more, more, more, more, etc." over & over again, just to hear the sound. We talk to her all the time, saying things like "want cage", "want poop", etc. but she'll just chirp or scream if she wants something. How can we get her to talk to have her needs met? Is she still too young? (not quite 2). Any advice would be appreciated.

[Guest]

You just need to keep at it. Every time you give her something, say "more"

Then every time she says "more" in her cage, bring her "more of something." Then she will begin to associate the power of the word and its association. She is just learning the word but has not yet connected that it is associated with something. You just need to help her better connect with it.

You may want to try model rival with someone else in your home. Have her there as the rival as Dr. P taught Alex. Remember it takes time.

Keep me posted,
Maggie-

PS: I recommend that instead of focusing on "more" now that you teach her to say the name of a favorite treat. Use the above strategy. Once she starts requesting the treat...then you can add in "more." If you do it now, she will associate it as the NAME of the treat.

[Lucysmom]

We talk to Lucy a lot when we're home- Try to get her to say "Want Poop", "want cage, want banana, want to play", etc. I don't just say "more" She picked that up from my saying "more banana, more raisin, etc."- she just likes the sound- also says "Uh Oh", "Are you a good girl", "pretty bird", "hello," imitates the microwave, does raspberries, her latest sound is imitating me chopping on a cutting board, so her repertoire is expanding, but she still sometimes screams when she has to poop, or wants attention. She gets so excited when she sees a treat (yogurt covered raisins) or banana, or grape, that she can't focus on learning the word. But she actually seems to prefer babbling in her cage to talking to us. Sometimes if we approach her cage, she stops talking. But she will occasionally use a word in context- she says "Play" when we're playing, & "eat" when she sees me preparing her dinner. We did try the modeling method but maybe didn't stick with it enough. One time, we were watching a clip on the computer of African Greys in the wild, & she did say "more"- but just once. I think she understands a lot of what we say, but maybe just needs a lot of repetition to make the connection with her speech, kind of like Helen Keller in the Miracle Worker?

[Guest]

Try to see it like a person learning a foreign language. You understand a WHOLE LOT more than you can say. Just keep working with her.

I think the anecdote you just gave that she wanted "MORE" of that film clip shows that she understands the concept. So what if it has only been once so far that it has been in context. The fact is that it was in context.

I was so excited when Sweet Pea did this fabulous thing. I play a game called "Look at that bird...cage..door.." with the birds. They yell "look at that bird," and I run in the room to look at them. Then I used the "Look at" game to teach other objects. One morning we were in the kitchen and a crow flew by. Sweet Pea said, "Aw, aw! Look!" I was blown away. She showed me that she understood what LOOK means! It was only ONCE but that's enough.

In other words, Lucy is using things in context....but you need to keep working at it with her too.

Please keep us ALL informed about this precious little one!
Maggie-