by Lucysmom » Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:31 am
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?