Say What?: On Navigating a Speech Disorder

This morning, Auggie asked me if we could “pay oh eh.” Even though I’m typically his most proficient interpreter, I was a bit stumped. I said, “Oh, you want to dye more eggs. Well, we already did that this weekend.” He stared at me and vehemently shook his head no and repeated, “pay oh eh.”

Okay, okay, I thought. He wants to do something with an egg. Got it: “I understand. You would like to play with the plastic eggs the Easter bunny hid.” Auggie looked at me with what now appeared to be a hint of frustration in his eyes (probably mixed with consternation) and replied “No! Pay oh eh.”

Aha! I suddenly realized what he wanted and triumphantly asked, “Hey buddy, do you want to play with the playdough eggs that were in your Easter basket?” He appeared thrilled and said, “Yes, Mommy. That’s exactly what I said the first two times.” Ha! Not quite. But he did look at me excitedly and shout “pay oh eh pay oh eh”! And thus we happily made a mess with playdough for the next half hour.

This exchange is somewhat typical of what goes on all day in our household. While there are many words and phrases that my 29-month-old can now say successfully, there are also lots of times when I feel like we’re speaking different languages.

Keep reading here: Patch blog #9