I should have been more specific.

When I said I wanted the boys to be more verbal, I should have been more specific.

I should have said, I want them to be able to express their thoughts and feelings and desires to me, in first simple, then more complex terms and phrases.

They are verbal. Oh, they definitely talk. They talk all the time. But they don't tell me much. Mostly, they use their verbal skills for scripting. Starting at 4AM, sometimes.

This morning Zack woke up and started talking immediately. I could hear him from our bedroom. I could tell from the tone he used, the dramatic inflections and the ups and downs, that he was talking about Dora, or it could have been Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He was reciting parts of his favorite shows.

Scripting and self talk is something a lot of Fragile X kids do. It's a self-calming technique.

The vocabulary is excellent. It's just that it's only used to repeat things. When communicating, they still often use only one word.

They are verbal, but they can't tell me when they are hurt, or sad, or nervous, or excited. They can tell me they want "chips" or "chicken" but they can't say they are hungry. AJ can tell me when he's hurt, actually. Whatever the hurt, he'll look sorrowful and say "bandaid?" Bruises need bandaids. A sore tushy needs a bandaid.

So they are verbal. It's not that they can't talk. They just don't use words for much meaningful purpose, yet.

I guess I'll take what I can get. Yesterday AJ peed in the potty, and he looked up at the aide who was helping him at the time and declared, "it works!" It does indeed, AJ... It works at home, too, kiddo!