First Words

Errol is on his way. Today he passed through a huge hurdle. He said his first word. “Hi!” and he is as proud as I am. It’s easy to hear things you want to hear, but I think anyone would have understood Errol’s “hi!” I’m trying not to get too carried away (I’m floating on air), but spoken language will dramatically open Errol’s life.

We’ve all been working hard with Errol’s language. He gets constant help from his speech therapist, his teachers, both his parents, his brother, and the many, many people that hold him and talk to him. Everyone wants him to do well, and I can’t help but think that Errol knows and feels that.

I’ve been working hard to get Errol to talk, mostly by imitating Errol. I’ll call it imitation therapy. Every time Errol squeaks, I squeak. Every time Errol hoots, I hoot. I repeat everything he says as closely as I can, and the more I repeat, the more he talks. I think that Errol feels like we are having a conversation, and we are. After a while of repeating Errol’s words, I start to talk in my own short words, mostly salutations (Errol is probably one of the most greeted children in the history of the world), “hi” I say, in a high pitch, then “hi” down to a middle range, then deep down to “hi” in a big bass, then back up to a high, “hi”, always trying to find a pitch he likes and can repeat. I think one of the most important things we can do for Errol is to treat him like us, and to act like him; which is a hard balance, but one that seems to be working. Of course, you never know why something works, and it’s been lots of me squawking like a fool (what must the neighbors think?), and wondering if it was going to work, for months on end, but today, I think, we hit the jackpot.

We’ve entered a world that I wasn’t sure we would ever know. We are thrilled, and so is Errol. Errol’s life is like a book, and every achievement (crawling, talking, eating solid food, water skiing) is a new chapter. For so long it seemed like his would be a very short story, but now the words just keep flowing!