the 2 word stage of Down syndrome,in tarek speed

We had been working in the two word stage for a few months. When tarek was little he was very verbal, made a lot of noises, copy a lot of words, but the big issue was he didn't want to talk; just a few words for so Manny years, and a lot of signs . My biggest concern had been The word "non verbal" I do not want tarek feeling locked inside himself, I know there is a possibility but once in a while I have this amazing dreams where tarek is talking with me and it feel so amazing that lately I have the feeling that Tarek will talk one day.

He is 8 years old, he receive 1/2 hour a week of speech therapy for the last 8 years of his life, so I decided I have 2 options,continue dreaming or DO SOMETHING.

So I started researching about speech and DS and I bought the book " early communication skills for children with ds' from libby kumin. after I read the book I new that I was in deep trouble because by the "loyola" study if the child is older the 5 years old and is unable to put 2 words together there is something interfering with speech and language process ,like oral motor skills,apraxia,hearing,cognitive impairment or autism. I also learned that to be able to put 2 words together, tarek has to know and verbalize a certain number of words. So I print the pictures from the SEE AND LEARN SITE www.seeandlearn.org and we started.

Everyday I expand the words that tarek said, for example if he said "GO" I will said "GO OUT" if he said "CAR" I will said "WHITE CAR". Is a very long process but every 2 o 3 days there is a new word that come up or a new combination " go out" "move pillow" " " please more milk" " I saw a car" " just one" and more and more.

This week we had been working with "Where" questions. He will invite me to his room and he will say" go - please- sleep" so I will ask WHERE, and he will repeat Where and we will be with the WHERE question foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Until Today :) he asked me to go sleep with him, I said WHERE he repeat the sentence and I said Where? and after a long pause he said PILLOW/ ROOM :)

I'm so happy, I'm so proud of him.

So please, if you have a child with Down syndrome or developmental delays or Autism and He or She is Older and still "non verbal" DO NOT GIVE UP/Do your homework, research and PRACTICE with them. 1/2 hour of speech therapy is NOT ENOUGH to keep up with the need, they need to use their "communication" to be able to interact, to reach out and to stop been locked inside themselves.

Tarek putting 2 words together are Small steps, baby steps for some, BUT THE BEST STEPS OF MY LIFE.