Parrot Teaches 4 Year Old Autistic Boy To Talk

[matcom]

<snip>

AN autistic boy who could not speak has learned his first words — with the help of his family’s pet PARROT.

Dylan Hargreaves, four, has severe learning difficulties and had never uttered a single word.

But after listening to macaw Barney, he can now say “Night, night”, “Dad”, “Mum”, “Ta”, “Hello” and “Bye”.

And experts think he is close to his first two-syllable word.

Mum Michelle, 33, said: “Barney has changed our lives. Before he arrived, Dylan would try to speak, but the sound came out as a noise.

“Then we got Barney and, a few months later, Dylan began to talk. It was only the odd word, but I could clearly understand what he said.

“Every time I gave the bird something to say, Dylan started trying to say the same thing. I think it’s because the bird says things slower than me, which helps Dylan understand.

"Now when I put him to bed he says, ‘Night, night, mum’. It means the world to me.”

Michelle, of Blackburn, was given three-year-old Barney by partner Rob Hargreaves, 33, last January.

Delighted Rob said: “There is no doubt that Dylan copies the bird.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007180324,00.html

[WritingIsMyReligion]

1. Parrots are interesting like that.

It's even more interesting that he learned from a macaw--beautiful bird, but not the best talker. Macaws like to scream more than talk, generally.

[Kajsa]

2. That parrot is priceless.

What a great story!

;-)

[Parche]

3. Parrot

Send that Parrot to the WhiteHouse or Crawford Texas, I hear someone there needs a lot of help.......

[Orrex]

4. That's cool--and now he's all set for crackers, too

Of course I jest because that's the kind of screamingly funny guy that I am.

But after listening to macaw Barney, he can now say “Night, night”, “Dad”, “Mum”, “Ta”, “Hello” and “Bye”.

And experts think he is close to his first two-syllable word.

How many syllables is "hello," exactly?


Still this is pretty neat. One wonders if the parrot serves as some sort of "live tape recorder" is appealing to Dylan in a way that a simple machine wouldn't be...

Cool!

[skygazer]

5. From what I understand, a lot of autistic kids relate well to animals

For whatever reason. Cool story.