Although he cannot communicate verbally, he understands spoken words. Whether he chooses to follow directions or requests is much less a matter of comprehension than his desire to do the task at hand. Most times, I'm certain he understands us and simply chooses not to do what we're asking. That's proven time and time again when he can follow directions and listen quite well when he's motivated. Just yesterday, in fact, he listened to my request that he go back and shut the door to the house before he took off down the driveway. I was quite impressed.
Teddy's main method of communicating, beyond physically directing you to do his bidding, is modified sign language. I say modified because his signs aren't clear to those who don't know him. They're a bit sloppy at best as he works on his fine motor skills, but he understands he needs to replicate some motion to make requests or communicate.
What I found really cool the other week was that Teddy understands at least some signs when they aren't verbally spoken. Most often, we speak and sign at the same time. However, the other night, Dave simply signed to Teddy to sit when Teddy was waiting at the counter to grab his dinner plate. Teddy immediately went to the table and sat down. It was noteworthy to me because it is clear that he understands both the sign and the spoken word that accompanies it. We can use either with him, or we can use both to reinforce ideas.
It might seem like Teddy isn't as intelligent as others because he cannot express himself verbally. But when you take a minute to think about it, you'll realize how amazing it is that any person can understand spoken words, use sign language and/or use an adaptive communication device. That's far more language skills than the multitude of Americans who only speak a single language.
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