When my now-adult boys were little, I happily sent them off to school each day. In the afternoon they would come home, chattering away about all the things they'd done while they were away from me; what they ate for lunch, who they played with at recess, who had a birthday or that they'd had Art or Music that day. We had conversations about their day.
Now I have three kids with limited communication skills. Angela is able to tell me what is important to her, like who she at lunch with, or that she saw a favorite teacher in the hall. There are other things she tries to tell me but she is very difficult to understand, even for me, so unless someone has told me ahead of time or I know the context, much is lost in translation.
Axel, he is completely unable to tell me about his day. Sometimes he might come home and sign "birthday" along with the name sign of one of his classmates. Assuming I know the name signs I'm able to put together that so-and-so had a birthday. He is not able to tell me anything else. He can't tell me about his favorite song they're doing in music, what they did in phy ed, or who he played with at recess.
And then there is Asher, who has NO school-based language at all. The signs he knows are limited to the 50 or so he's learned from me in the 9 months since we adopted him. He can't tell me even the smallest detail about his day. Nothing. I send him to school silent and stoic and he returns to me the same way. I open his lunch box to see that he ate lunch...or did he? I have no idea. I use other clues: the dust on his shoes tells me he was on the playground, the marker on his hands tells me he attempted to color.
I don't think that teachers, unless they themselves are parenting a child with limited language skills, understand how difficult it is to send our children out into the world and expect that all is good and well. None of my kids can tell me they got 100% - or an F - on a spelling or math test, that they made a cool project in art or that their schedule is confusing to them. Those same kids who can't tell me about the fun things they've done all day? They're also unable to tell me about anything unpleasant that has happened to them. They can't tell me if they've had a problem on the bus with someone. They can't tell me if anyone is harassing them in the halls. They can't tell me about problems in the locker room, the cafeteria, that they don't like a staff person at school - or why.
If you're a teacher and you're reading this....please...please understand why we parents of kids who are language impaired NEED you to communicate with us. Its not that we're trying to create more work for you, but because we're trying to encourage our kids to communicate with us but we need the information from you in order to prompt our kids and teach them HOW to communicate.
But its more than that. We NEED to know what our children are doing each and every day while they're away from us. We need to know who they play with, who they choose to eat with, that they struggled to keep up in phy. ed, that they really enjoyed the craft activity you did today, or even that they DID a craft activity today!
We have entrusted our babies to you, please respect our trust.
Now I have three kids with limited communication skills. Angela is able to tell me what is important to her, like who she at lunch with, or that she saw a favorite teacher in the hall. There are other things she tries to tell me but she is very difficult to understand, even for me, so unless someone has told me ahead of time or I know the context, much is lost in translation.
Axel, he is completely unable to tell me about his day. Sometimes he might come home and sign "birthday" along with the name sign of one of his classmates. Assuming I know the name signs I'm able to put together that so-and-so had a birthday. He is not able to tell me anything else. He can't tell me about his favorite song they're doing in music, what they did in phy ed, or who he played with at recess.
And then there is Asher, who has NO school-based language at all. The signs he knows are limited to the 50 or so he's learned from me in the 9 months since we adopted him. He can't tell me even the smallest detail about his day. Nothing. I send him to school silent and stoic and he returns to me the same way. I open his lunch box to see that he ate lunch...or did he? I have no idea. I use other clues: the dust on his shoes tells me he was on the playground, the marker on his hands tells me he attempted to color.
I don't think that teachers, unless they themselves are parenting a child with limited language skills, understand how difficult it is to send our children out into the world and expect that all is good and well. None of my kids can tell me they got 100% - or an F - on a spelling or math test, that they made a cool project in art or that their schedule is confusing to them. Those same kids who can't tell me about the fun things they've done all day? They're also unable to tell me about anything unpleasant that has happened to them. They can't tell me if they've had a problem on the bus with someone. They can't tell me if anyone is harassing them in the halls. They can't tell me about problems in the locker room, the cafeteria, that they don't like a staff person at school - or why.
If you're a teacher and you're reading this....please...please understand why we parents of kids who are language impaired NEED you to communicate with us. Its not that we're trying to create more work for you, but because we're trying to encourage our kids to communicate with us but we need the information from you in order to prompt our kids and teach them HOW to communicate.
But its more than that. We NEED to know what our children are doing each and every day while they're away from us. We need to know who they play with, who they choose to eat with, that they struggled to keep up in phy. ed, that they really enjoyed the craft activity you did today, or even that they DID a craft activity today!
We have entrusted our babies to you, please respect our trust.
