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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 571734" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>IC, as SuZir pointed out, this is not always practical. </p><p></p><p>Dona, what you describe does sound fairly normal (in terms of switching languages to find the word she wants). I can relate to it - by the time we came home from our holiday in New Caledonia, husband & I were speaking a sort of pidgin conglomerate of English and French in desperation to be understood at times. We'd gone there partly to extend our French-speaking capabilities, but found by the end of it, we were burning out.</p><p></p><p>Maybe your daughter is feeling a bit burned out at times. The problem here seems to be the frustration and her response to it, rather than the dual language thing itself. If it wasn't language frustrating her, it would be something else. </p><p></p><p>I've mentioned here before - a child we knew well, a former neighbour (they moved away long ago) was bilingual. The family spoke English and Spanish. Their little boy was 2 and spoke both (at a 2 year old level). He then had an accident which left him brain-damaged physically. Doctors tested him and said he was a vegetable, basically, because he did not respond to their simple English commands. But his father insisted the boy knew him, that he reacted with eye movements to him. It took the doctors some time to realise, that due to the accident the boy had lost ALL speech (never got it back, ever) and his English understanding. However, he could respond perfectly well to commands in Spanish.</p><p></p><p>I remember babysitting the boy (after he came out of hospital) and he was tired (cranky, grizzling, but not able to say anything coherent). I sat and talked to him and he continued to complain. I counted his fingers and played with his hands. He was still fretful. So I counted his fingers in Spanish (about all the Spanish I know) and he shut up and looked intently at his hands, really concentrating.</p><p>Over the next few months he regained his English comprehension; I think he had to learn it over again. By the following year he was typing on a computer, recognising basic written words (including his own name) and generally doing well intellectually. </p><p></p><p>He is a classic example of a child who has lost the capacity for speech, but not the capacity for language. At about the same time we were trying to get difficult child 3 diagnosed. He had speech, but not the language or comprehension.</p><p></p><p>There are grades of in-between with all this, as well as a lot of normal too. Kids learning multiple languages can sometimes seem to be language-delayed, simply because their heads are trying to hold twice as much information and it takes time to process and assimilate it.</p><p></p><p>As I said before - the issue here is the way in which your daughter responds to frustration. Does this happen in other frustrating situations?</p><p></p><p>Something that might help, it worked with difficult child 3 and has worked with other kids - label the house. It does mean teaching the child to read perhaps a bit earlier than people like, but it can help clarify word recognition. Do it in both languages, write the labels of things (computers do make this easy) and stick them on. So you label wall, door, window, bench, bed, floor - you get the idea.</p><p></p><p>It can be a fun project.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 571734, member: 1991"] IC, as SuZir pointed out, this is not always practical. Dona, what you describe does sound fairly normal (in terms of switching languages to find the word she wants). I can relate to it - by the time we came home from our holiday in New Caledonia, husband & I were speaking a sort of pidgin conglomerate of English and French in desperation to be understood at times. We'd gone there partly to extend our French-speaking capabilities, but found by the end of it, we were burning out. Maybe your daughter is feeling a bit burned out at times. The problem here seems to be the frustration and her response to it, rather than the dual language thing itself. If it wasn't language frustrating her, it would be something else. I've mentioned here before - a child we knew well, a former neighbour (they moved away long ago) was bilingual. The family spoke English and Spanish. Their little boy was 2 and spoke both (at a 2 year old level). He then had an accident which left him brain-damaged physically. Doctors tested him and said he was a vegetable, basically, because he did not respond to their simple English commands. But his father insisted the boy knew him, that he reacted with eye movements to him. It took the doctors some time to realise, that due to the accident the boy had lost ALL speech (never got it back, ever) and his English understanding. However, he could respond perfectly well to commands in Spanish. I remember babysitting the boy (after he came out of hospital) and he was tired (cranky, grizzling, but not able to say anything coherent). I sat and talked to him and he continued to complain. I counted his fingers and played with his hands. He was still fretful. So I counted his fingers in Spanish (about all the Spanish I know) and he shut up and looked intently at his hands, really concentrating. Over the next few months he regained his English comprehension; I think he had to learn it over again. By the following year he was typing on a computer, recognising basic written words (including his own name) and generally doing well intellectually. He is a classic example of a child who has lost the capacity for speech, but not the capacity for language. At about the same time we were trying to get difficult child 3 diagnosed. He had speech, but not the language or comprehension. There are grades of in-between with all this, as well as a lot of normal too. Kids learning multiple languages can sometimes seem to be language-delayed, simply because their heads are trying to hold twice as much information and it takes time to process and assimilate it. As I said before - the issue here is the way in which your daughter responds to frustration. Does this happen in other frustrating situations? Something that might help, it worked with difficult child 3 and has worked with other kids - label the house. It does mean teaching the child to read perhaps a bit earlier than people like, but it can help clarify word recognition. Do it in both languages, write the labels of things (computers do make this easy) and stick them on. So you label wall, door, window, bench, bed, floor - you get the idea. It can be a fun project. Marg [/QUOTE]
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