About a year and a half ago, Abby and I were sitting in Starbucks while Matthew was at Social Skills on a Saturday morning. I noticed a group gathering at the table behind us and couldn’t help but steal glances every so often. It appeared to be a sign language class happening right there in Starbucks! After the class ended, I introduced myself to the instructor and let her know that I (and possibly my family) would be interested in learning more signs. Several weeks later we had it arranged that she and her co-teacher would meet with us weekly in our home. We were not able to get all the way through all of the lessons due to extenuating circumstances, but we “learned” at least 600 signs! Now, I can’t say that Matthew knows all 600 signs, but it definitely increased his vocabulary. I thought I would tell you about the signs that he uses almost daily.
WEEKEND - Matthew is very schedule oriented and likes to know exactly what day of the week it is and where that day of the week fits into the scheme of the whole week. So, no matter what day we are currently on...it can be Monday or it can be Thursday - we have to go through all the days of the week until we hit Friday where we immediately sign WEEKEND. If I let him he would go through the next week all the way until Friday again!
WORK - Matthew uses this sign constantly, not because he loves to work, but he wants you to know that he is working. He will sign working if he does a direction that I have given:
Get dressed - WORK
Brush your teeth - WORK
Put away your playdough - WORK
Sometimes he will sign WORK and then sign seatbelt because he is hoping to earn a seatbelt for his wagon, even though he is technically too big for the wagon. Which might be why both seatbelts are broken!
SORRY - I have to say this is one of his most sincere signs. When he says he is sorry, he knows that you are not happy with him and he wants to fix that. He will sign sorry over and over and look at you to see if you accept his apology. If he is worried that you might still be upset with him, he will even add in a hug and rub your back to win you over.
THANK YOU - This sign often has to be prompted with a “what do you say?” when someone offers the help he has asked for or if someone has given him something special or when trick or treating. The one time I notice that he signs THANK YOU unprompted is when he asks me to enter a word into the search button of YouTube. He will go to his photographs, show me a picture, and then get me set up in the right spot of YouTube. He always thanks me for this, unprompted.
WAIT - this word is definitely used daily, and sometimes hourly. We have to WAIT to go in the car, WAIT to get things on our wish list, WAIT to see out of town guests again, WAIT to eat dinner, WAIT to ride in people’s car, etc. On Christmas Day we had to WAIT for cousins to come. Now, we are WAITING for his birthday to see if he gets the things on his wish list that he didn’t get for Christmas!
Matthew has always been very motivated to communicate and knowing more signs allows him to get his message across without being frustrated. Although I have to be honest, that even though they are not universally understood, I do love it when he creates his own sign for a word that he doesn’t have. For example for ROOT BEER, he signs BEARD, because obviously they sound the same! His sign for BIRTHDAY is blowing on his finger, like blowing out a candle. His sign for DOCTOR (even though we have learned the correct one) has switched over time. It used to be he would point to his ear, but now he pretends to do a shot in your shoulder. Often when I put on my coat, he asks if I am going to the doctor by putting a shot in my shoulder and giving me a quizzical look. I will tell him, I’m not going to the DOCTOR, I’m going to WORK. When he wants the dentist or doctor to blow up a glove and tie it like a balloon, he will put his fingers up to his mouth and blow. I’m sure that as he grows and needs more words he will create even more new ones, but for now I will just have to WAIT.
