My Son’s  “O”
(The O is made as if you were imitating a dinosaur, but the dinosaur only chose to say “O”)

By: Lisa Cortez                                                          Contributor to: specialneedsinmycity.org

My 2-year-old son has speech delays. He is trying to learn sounds, but it’s hard for him. When a behavioral interventionist first probed him for sounds, an “O” came out. “Hooray!” They yelled, “Good job!” They reinforced this sound.  As time went by, they caught on that the “O” was not a true sound but a catchall for a variety of items and situations. His therapist reported that this sound would no longer be encouraged since it’s not recognized as language.

But there are a few things that people may not know.  My son’s limited speech is often his only way of communicating with the world. When others say “Hi!” to him, he responds back with an “O”. When asked what kind of food he’d like to eat, he answers “O”. When he isn’t in the mood to practice new sounds or comply with intervention, “O” is what comes out instead. When he is struggling to learn something hard, “O” is always there to fall back on. And what’s most endearing and significant– “O” is his response (repeatedly) when I say “goodnight, I love you” at bedtime.

To most people, the “O” does not count as a form of communication, but in my family, it is the only mutual language we share. We take turns repeating the “O” and sometimes I imagine that “O” is short for, “Hey I like that,” or, “baths are really fun,” or, “I love you too Mommy.” What some see as a delay, I choose to believe that my son loves us so much that he created a new language to talk with us.  I know that it will be a disadvantage if he’s unable to go beyond the  “O”, which is why we continue to help him build new sounds every day.

For now I must say, probably someday the O will be gone. And you know what? I’m going to miss it. So for now we embrace the O.   It’s impossible to hear it without smiling nevertheless.

As parents of children with speech and language delays, we are thankful for any form of communication that emerges even if it’s not wildly understood or accepted. What do you say?

Lisa has a 2-year-old son who is speech delayed and has been identified as high-risk for developing Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)