Sign Language / SID

I've been seeing an increased attempt to communicate from Alex though signs, but I have to slow him down to get him to actually attempt them. He'll come running to me, whining, and I'll have to say something like "slow down Alex... tell Mommy what you need... use your hands if you need to." He'll sign "help" and say it simultaneously which comes out "pel". He told me today he had "big shoes" in sign language and said "bih". Woohoo! That means he put TWO WORDS together using his signs! He also used the sign for "eat" and said "eeeee" when he was hungry. I was so proud, since he's pretty much been imitating the signs I show him and not using them spontaneously! I've tried many signs with Alex that he can already say so he can get use to putting the signs and words together. We started on "thirsty" yesterday which is a word he cannot say. I put off the sign language for so long for several different reasons. His first speech therapist used a couple of signs with him when she started therapy at 18 months old. She wasn't the best at being in contact with me and informing me of the signs he was learning. It was confusing and at the time I didn't think it was of great importance so I didn't pursue it. His second speech therapist said she found Alex very uninterested in signing and felt she needed to be spending that time with him concentrating on articulation drills and oral motor therapies. At that point he was getting two one hour one-on-one speech therapy sessions with a wonderful therapist and had three more hours of classroom time with Early Intervention. I thought with all the therapy he's getting, surely he'll be talking soon and we won't need the signs anyway. I was wrong. I regret that I didn't pursue it from the beginning. Maybe by this point he would be able to communicate better through signs and it would help eliminate so much frustration on both parts. I figure that using sign language would mean I would probably be the ONLY one he would be able to communicate with using his signs and he might become more frustrated with peers, teachers, and family members if left alone with them, and they do not understand his signs. I guess I still am not convinced one way or another about the sign language, but with such little progress that Alex is making, it looks like we're going to need some type of help in communication for him. My husband has little to no interest in signing. My daughter, however, thinks it's the coolest thing and she's trying to "read" the sign language book we have asking "Mama, what does (Sarah doing the sign) mean?" It's really adorable, but after 25 or so signs, it gets quite annoying. Maybe this is a way for her to learn along with us. Someone shared a link with me that has been great for finding signs. I have an old sign language book but it hasn't had several words that I've been searching for, so this has been quite helpful. Free 3-D Sign Language Dictionary

As a side note, I noticed several times today that Alex covered his ears and literally freaked out at something he saw that he didn't like, such as the spider he saw on the computer screen (animated) while playing a game... or when he walked into the dark laundry room. He doesn't close his eyes... just covers his ears. He's done this from time to time anyway, but not with as much anxiety, and I was actually commenting the other day that I hadn't seen Alex do this in a while. I'm very interested in seeing if the doctor's will consider Sensory Integration Dysfunction (SID) during his evaluation soon. I'm not kidding when I say he must have washed his hands half a dozen times or more on his own initiative today.