Apple, yes, plum, orange

The latest echololia. It took me a bit to realize he was saying "plum" and not "mom." So we'd have these conversations:

K: Apple
Me: You want an apple?
K: Yes. Mom.
Me: Good talking! I'll go get you an apple
K: Orange.

Heh, It took me a bit to realize that they were just a list of words, too. He's got a hand motion that goes with it, like he's packing things. It goes with his absolute love of the letter P and of the Fun With Phonics DVD, from what I can tell. About halfway through, when they pack for the picnic. You'll see what I mean.

And also related to his love of the letter P, he spontaneously picked up Hop on Pop and started reading the words hop and pop. He won't let me open the book. He insists on carrying the book over and trying to prop it up on a computer monitor, where it falls over, but he sounds out the words on it.

Reason #1232 why my son is awesome

Giggles.

Teaching a nonverbal kid to read

Mr K is an interesting boy. Although he's not particularly verbal, he is very interested in letters and numbers.

He can count to at least twenty. I'm sure he can count higher, but we haven't tested him on this. He knows all his letters, and he knows the sounds they make. He can even sign them all. If you show him the alphabet, he gets excited and points and labels all the letters for you.

So the next step, as suggested by his preschool teacher, is to get him to read. If he can read and articulate the letter sounds, eventually he can articulate sounds in verbal speech. It's backwards from the way most kids go about it, but you have to play to a kid's strengths.