I have never been a fan of babytalk. I actually find it pretty funny that when children are developing their linguistic skills, we find it perfectly appropriate to address them with horribly incorrect grammar spoken with poor articulation. And then, we wonder why kids speak in 3rd person (perhaps it's because you ask him if he wants to go to the store with mommy as though mommy is a totally different person) or why they use pronouns incorrectly (could it be because you asked him, "Is him not feeling well?").
Well, I have a new parapro in my class. She is extremely sweet: has a heart of gold. But, her background is in the primary and elementary settings, so the switch to high school has been an interesting one. She talks babytalk...all day long...to my students who are all in speech therapy. (Personally, I feel like it's setting them up for failure, but that may be a little dramatic). I have been trying to discourage her use of babytalk by explaining that while my students may be cognitively lower, they are still in their teens and twenties, and should be spoken to accordingly. It's truly all I can do to keep it out of instructional time, at least. Today, however, there was a moment of personal victory...
One of my students was scooting around on the floor and her pants got twisted, so the parapro said something to her (quite loudly I might add) about her "britches". Well, she was speaking in her normal babytalk fashion and left out the R. That's right!! She screamed the B-word across the room!!! She was mortified, of course, and I felt sorry for her embarrassment for a moment until I realized that it was the very thing that I've practically been begging her not to do that caused the issue!
Lesson learned? Only time will tell!
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