I remember when Christopher would go to the kitchen and cry. Thus began the kitchen guessing game. I would take a cup out of the cabinet and he would either cry louder or whine softer, depending on what he wanted. A soft whine when I held the cup meant "I'm thirsty." A loud scream when I held the cup meant "That is not what I want!!!"
I became very good at the kitchen guessing game. This was my son's first attempts at communication. The way to eliminate this "trigger" was to increase other, more appropriate, means of communication.
The kitchen game gradually ended as he learned to communicate in other ways. Instead of screaming about the cup, he learned to take my hand and point to the cup or get the cup and bring it to me. Then I would go into the kitchen and pour him a drink.
Sometimes he would try to pour the drink himself, because that was easier than trying to tell me what he wanted. The old saying "No use crying over spilled milk" has a very literal meaning at our house! Now that he is older and thanks to several years of communication lessons, he is able to verbally tell me what it is that he wants.
We also have Boardmaker Boards posted throughout the house to help him find the words that he needs to communicate to us. The boards help him with word recall and sentence structure.
* * * RETURN TO HOME * * *
* * * GO TO NEXT PAGE * * *
