ask no questions...

You could be like me, and ask the question you've been putting off for months.  You could think that you really want to know the answer; that you can cope with it; that anything's better than not knowing.


You'd be wrong.


I asked the question, and now I have to live with the answer.


It was a one-part question with a two-part answer.


Part one:  The Bear will almost certainly develop functional speech.


Part two:  He is unlikely to develop social speech.


In other words, he'll be able to tell me he's hungry but not that he's sad.  Or certainly, not why he's sad.  No social speech.


I've been lying in bed, unable to sleep, with that phrase running through my head: "No social speech.  No social speech.  No social speech."


And another thing.  Echolalia.  I'd been thinking it was cute, and quirky, if somewhat annoying at times.  But it has just dawned on me that when I say "Hello Bear" and he says "Eh-o Bear", it's because he doesn't know what to say.  It's such a basic instinct, to say hello to someone who says hello to you.  How can you not know what to say?  "Hello Bear".  No social speech.


There's more I want to say about this, but I can't quite sort my thoughts out.  (No social speech.  No social speech.)  


I'll be back soon, with my happy hat back on, I promise.