Non verbal cleft palate adopted child

[skoi]

I usually read the board over here, but don't post. Had no reason until recently. But here it is: we recently adopted a 3 1/2 year old boy, unrepaired cleft palate, who is nonverbal besides screaming in frustration, laughing, and vowel sounds. Lately he's added the "l" sound to his repetoire, and he'll say mama when he really wants my attention. Additional problem: he's from China, and though he didn't speak any Chinese, we were told he understood at an age appropriate level. He's catching on to English, able to follow simple directions (it's been almost a month since he's been here). He never received therapy at his orphanage, and is quite stubborn about communicating beyond gestures and noises.

We're waiting for our cleft team to see him, schedule his surgery, etc. And we have to wait three more months to see the IE team through the county/city because they're so backed up. Any advice on what we can do in the meantime?

Thanks!

 

[MandM-Mom]

First, Congratulations on the addition to your family!

How about some simple signs to start, my nephew has a cleft lip and palate and he is 19 months and his speech patholigist has been signing with him for a while, it started as just gestures doing hand over hand with him and now he is able to sign quite a bit already

 

[nelle]

My youngest son was adopted from S. Korea with a bilateral cleft lip and palate. He came home at 6 mos with a repaired lip. You didn't say but has he had his hearing tested?? Clefts and hearing problems go together. Due to doctors failure my sons hearing was never tested until he was 2 and found to have complete loss in both ears which was easily fixed with tubes. The cleft team should check his hearing but if not going soon I would have it done. We started with signing and still at the age of 3 he is very delayed but his speech is coming. He attends our schools early childhood class 4 mornings a week and also a private therapist comes 1x week.
You also need to rember he has been through a lot of trauma in his short life and it is going to take time and patience and lots of love to help him.
In our state the schools are required to offer services on the date of their 3rd b-day you might be able to hurry things along with his ie eval since he is over three.

Signing times make really good sign language videos we started with those. I don't know what the website is but google signing times and you will find it.
Feel free to pm me and I can share any info that I have.
Good luck!

 

[luvsmickeymouse]

Both of my kids came home with unrepaired cleft lip and palate. My oldest was born in South Korea and he didn't know any english at all, and at 13 months old he was understanding english within 2 months of being home. I also suggest having his hearing tested. He will learn alot of english very quickly. My youngest came home from The Phillipines at 11 months, very delayed and weighing only 10lbs. They had been speaking english to him and also using the name we had chosen for him. They didn't start speech therapy until 3 years old and their palates were repaired by then. Your son will pick up alot on his own, and most of the words are understandable. He probably gets frustrated because he has alot to say and can't quite get it to come out. I remember with my kids most words came naturally and with speech therapy helping alot later on.

 

[skoi]

Thanks for the info and encouragement. Our daughter just had a repaired cleft lip and some gum involvement, and her English came quickly after a few months. She was 19 months when we adopted her. We'll look into the signing. The orphanage director flat out said they didn't bother to do therapy because "he didn't want to", and that was before they knew we were adopting him. He does understand a little English, and he's learning more everyday. He's also getting much bigger.

Thanks for the heads up on the hearing issues. We've heard that before, and we really need to advocate for that. It was never suggested for our dd, though the pediatrician found a lot of impacted wax that was removed. After that, her speech really picked up.

The worst of it is, dh is deploying to Afghanistan in late spring. Not totally unexpected, but horrible timing for him to leave for a year. We found out the day after we go home, and I have to admit, after a few days I had a total meltdown about being faced with four kids, a major surgery for one and lots of therapy on my own. It wasn't a pretty scene.

Julie

Julie

 

[alizesmom]

Our foster daughter (hopefully to be adopted by us) is 3 with unrepaired palate and nonverbal as well. We are working with Baby Signing Times. It's fairly easy to follow. Karen