The New York Times has an article on how parents should put down the blackberries and talk with their kids. You should babble even around babies in order to increase their ability to speak. The article implied that technology was leading to rampant muteness in children. There is no evidence of that. But they do have handy tips for talking with your children and increasing their verbal skills.We were aware pretty early on that Ian had a speech delay. The doctor wrote a note of concern about his speech in the file during his one year check up. At first, I blamed myself. Of course. My multi-tasking was responsible for his speech delay, I thought.

It wasn't my fault. But I had to double my efforts in order to get the Mute Kid talking. 

I talked all the time or as much as I could without going insane. I narrated everything I did. "I'm cooking green beans. I love green beans. You hate green beans. Jonah hates green beans. Daddy loves green beans."

Since he learned to read before he could talk (somewhere around 2-1/2), I talked and wrote down my sentences. We made signs of words and posted them on the refrigerator.

Car time was talking time. He couldn't run away because he was strapped in. He had to listen to me. "What color is the light? What does that mean?"

I offered him options. "Do you want milk or orange juice?" I waited for him to answer before I gave him the thing.

We learned sign language.

If he wanted to play with the trains, I would lie down next to him on the floor and say, "Here comes Thomas. He is going up the hill. He is hitting Percy. Is Percy or James gay?" Whatever. It didn't really matter.

I talked for two years straight with very little response. Then things gradually improved at around age 4. We haven't been able to stop talking. Though the Mute Kid talks now, he still needs work. I show him pictures in books and he has to tell me what is going on. During dinner, he has to tell me one thing that happened at school that day. We do "why" questions as much as we can.

I observed a lot of speech therapy sessions over the years. Speech therapy is useful, because the therapists give you a break, and they can inspire you for new ways to talk to your kid, but they don't have any magic tricks. They basically just do those things. Play with the kid and talk, talk, talk.

We've seen another big leap this past month. He using new words and new sentences. It still makes us happy. I'll call Steve at work and say, "Guess what Ian said today?"