Talking in sentences

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When I learned that my son could already read common words from memory, I decided to train him to read sentences, hoping he would acquire language at a much faster rate.  I focused on the "I want . . ." sentences, to complement the single-word manding behavior that he had just acquired.  


Since last week, he has been consistently saying
"I want a bike," "I want a go," "I want a remote,""I want a ice cream," "I want a milk," "I want a juice,""I want a chicken," and "I want a hotdog" when asked what does he want.  Sometimes he says them spontaneously.  He also says "I want a tummy," when he wants to inspect my or his mom's belly.  One time, he told his mom, "I want a take bath."  Last week's most surprising request was "I want a lasagna" when he saw a box of pasta in the cupboard.  I immediately cooked lasagna.


When I joined them in Thailand in October last year, he didn't even know how to mand.  
Now, he can make requests verbally.  He does not pull my hand to give me clues to what he wants anymore, and more importantly the frequency of his tantrums has decreased dramatically.  In the mall this week, he was on the verge of an outburst when his mom asked him what he wanted. He immediately calmed down and said that he wanted a doughnut.  We had just passed by the kiosk selling doughnut and perhaps we did not hear him say his request.


Before turning two, although he could not yet talk, he could already request for his milk by saying "dede," a Filipino baby talk.  After he turned two in late 2007, his "dede" transformed into "day-day."  By early 2008, he would simply lie on the bed and say "umm-umm."  Eventually, going in the kitchen to try to reach his milk, throwing tantrums, or punching me in the legs became his ways of asking for milk.  It all happened before we got his diagnosis.


"I want a milk," he said to me last week when we were about to enter one of the convenience stores in our neighborhood.  It took me a while to realize that that was the first time he said that sentence spontaneously.  And that I had long forgotten how his punches felt like.     


***


This week, he also said: 


I want a ketchup. 
I want a open (request to open a pack of candy or chips).
I want a doughnut.
I want a mouse (request to watch a movie with a rat, which he obviously thought was a mouse).
I want a bread.
I want a chip.
I want a bed.
I want a sleep.