Yes, my eyebrows were slightly raised as well, when this came out of Lincoln’s mouth.

I always took it for granted that, as humans, we had the natural ability to learn to speak; to communicate; to use words to express our needs and our wants as simply as we wished.

It is a skill I use often (as my friends and family will attest to); I love to talk. Sometimes, it seems I love to be involved in the conversation so much that I have a tendency, in my excitement, to talk when other people haven’t quite finished and regularly find myself apologising for this.

I really do love hearing other people’s thoughts and ideas; I just love to add my own! and be part of the debate, thought-stream or general chit chat.

So it has been very interesting, and not a small bit challenging, to be Lincoln’s mum in this respect. I have spent 7 years now watching him learn how to develop this essential skill. All small people have to learn to communicate of course but I have been observing, over time, the gap between Lincoln’s and his peers’ learning get ever wider as he has developed from babbling baby to toddler to chatty infant.  

At first, I had (possibly a naïve) hope as he went to nursery with other 1- and 2-year-olds commencing their speaking journey and producing their first words and sentences. Every now and again, Lincoln would produce his own, solitary word. The fact that his first word was “more” when eating wasn’t a surprise! “Great!” I would think. “He is on track!” But as time went on, it became clear that the track he was on was very much his own and had veered away from that of his cohort. Also, steeper, it seemed, and with a few more bumps, as his friends steamed ahead. I still find it fascinating and incredible when I hear a little toddler come out with a full sentence and description of something, we are truly amazing creatures!

But this is the track that we as a family are on and as Lincoln has been learning, so have I. It is quite a stark moment when you are given a report of your child’s development and are told they have “severe speech and language delays”. Wow, what does that mean for his future? How can I help him? What do I need to learn to do? I thought I would just have a kid and this sort of stuff would automatically happen!

Luckily, one of the attributes this kid does have in spades is determination. Yes, that can be a good thing or a tricky thing, depending on the circumstances. But in this instance, determination has made a huge difference. To keep having to say a word over and over to pronounce it correctly, only to forget it a few days later and ask your teacher or parents with questioning eyes “What is it?”.  To try and string a sentence together using flash cards and not always know which order the words go in.

It has given me a greater appreciation for those who teach. How do you explain what “the” means in order for a child to understand its function in a sentence? How do you explain “an” or “but” to a 7-year-old with learning difficulties? Something I had never considered before, but am finding ways to do.

And so, praise is due to the wonderful people who are speech and language therapists in this world! Lincoln attends therapy once a week at the moment and the work they are doing with him is opening up a whole new world to him, what a gift!

Whilst a lot of this is challenging, Lincoln’s learning has produced many a laugh too. And this is how b*tchknickers came about. Believe it or not, if you have difficulty verbalising your “f’s”, the word “fishfingers” comes out quite differently, as we found out one dinner time when giving Lincoln some options.

And so fishfingers have been b*tchknickers in our house for a little while now, as honestly, we find it quite amusing. But of course, it is quite important we set him straight on this one as soon as possible as I am pretty sure they have these breaded covered delights for lunch at school. I don’t want to end up in the Head-Teacher’s office having to explain this one 😊