My son speaks Whale.

[Ilsa]

He learned it from watching Dorrie (Ellen Degeneres) in the Finding Nemo video. :silly:

He's autistic. I don't understand Whale and I wish he'd learn English first.

[flakey_foont]

1. My ex wife

was from Wales (and she spoke Welsh)

[skygazer]

2. I love that scene

My 2 year old grandson speaks fluent Chinese. I wonder if Chinese children speak English at that age? :silly:

[NewJeffCT]

16. well, my 2 year old daughter is learning both

though, more English at this time. hopefully, when my in-laws visit later this year, she'll catch up with her Mandarin.

[redqueen]

3. Awwwwww

I loved that part of the movie... well I loved the whole movie, but that part was really good.

Have you tried talking to him in whale? :P

[Ilsa]

4. Yeah, but I must have the wrong dialect.

He doesn't seem to understand me when I do it.

[ET Awful]

7. That movie rocked :)

P Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney!

[sasquatch]

5. English is overrated

George W. Bush can't speak english and look how far he's gotten.
:silly:
Ok that's a bad example, how about you show some spanish cartoons and perhaps he'll learn how to tell Jeb Bush to get fucked.

[Ilsa]

8. Well, we don't need to wait until he learns English...

My son has a hard time saying "Der Weinerschnitzel" but I can make it out.

He's good at echolalia, so I bet I can teach him, "Hey Jebbie, get fucked" pretty easily. :evilgrin:

[Spinzonner]

6. Don't worry about it too much

unless he begins Sounding

[lady lib]

9. Is he in speech therapy?

If so, has his therapist made some suggestions to facilitate communication?

[Ilsa]

10. Oh yeah, since he was two.

He speaks a little, but lots of time it is stream of consciousness stuff, his classmates' names, etc. He gets really frustrated when he wants something and can't find the word for it. He hates using the PECS cards for anything other than scheduling, even though he used them before for other stuff.

[lady lib]

11. How about signing?

[Ilsa]

12. He understands some signing but

doesn't have the motor skills for doing it. He is in a special TEACCH class, gets speech therapy, OT, hippotherapy, and is taking swimming lessons this sumemr. He loves music, computers, dance, etc. Unfortunately, they don't have dance classes for him in the summer.

One summer after school let out when he was four or five, I set up his PECS cards and board and had a schedule devised for him so he'd know what to expect. He literally tore the nailed board off the wall. Twice. I got the message!

I usually can tell after a few minutes what has him bugged. Sometimes, he's just mad that he isn't getting his way. I learned some signing myself to help him out in case he doesn't understand me. The problem is, it is really only the more complicated stuff he has problems receiving, stuff I wouldn't be able to learn for years.

His reading and typing are coming along.

[lady lib]

13. Wow. It sounds like he's getting a lot of help.

Good for you, mom!

(BTW, I hope you're part of a parent support group - for additional ideas on autism treatment and for emotional support.)

Good luck to you and your son :hug:

[bleedingheart]

17. it sounds like you are doing a lot of great things for him

[KamaAina]

14. I once worked with a boy with autism who made whale-like sounds

that was how I ended up swimming with dolphins out here. I remarked on the whale sounds to someone (a fellow Aspie) over the phone. Mom heard me and expressed her desire to have me swim with dolphins. I quickly realized that a good place to do so would be Hawai'i, and -- well, the rest is history.

This might be an important clue. Perhaps people with autism can help unlock the mysteries of cetacean speech, and/or vice versa.

[Ilsa]

18. Autistic kids are getting some dolphin therapy!

But i don't know where. No where around here, I bet. Thanks; we are doing almost everything we can think of that sounds reasonable that we can afford.

[bleedingheart]

15. my son started with a hybridized language of German/Japanese

or at least that is what we thought it sounded like....then one day he just started speaking...

he has Asperger's and now he has the vocabulary of a professor but poor pragmatic skills which we are working on with therapy...