Freezing during Frozen songs

It might be starting to get cold outside by that's not why I'm freezing.  Nor am I upset by a scratched disc acting up or poor streaming of what must be the favourite song collection of many young girls. I'm not upset at all.  I'm having fun whilst repeatedly freezing my body during a Disney's Frozen song because it's making my son talk.

As you may know, David was diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in 2013. He is now five years old and has made good progress. He communicates using a mix of verbal sounds, PECS and Makaton. We have found that Makaton allows us to communicate in different environments or in new things where we might not have our PECS set up. 'Gap filling' is one of the classic ways to help kids with speech delay talk. 'Twinkle twinkle little.......' and then hopefully your child fills in the gap/blank and says 'star'.

Before David started school we used to attend Singing Hands classes. The organisation uses Makaton as a communication aid for young children. David often found it difficult to focus during the session but afterwards we found he would be very interested in the same rhymes and songs and we now use Makaton sign language everyday. His attention has improved and he can now watch some full length movies including Disney's Frozen. He loves the songs, but I was pretty sure he was just enjoying the music. I'm not allowed to sing along as I think it's too distracting for him.

But, yesterday when we'd finished with the television I started singing one of the song's 'Love is an open door'.  My Makaton is not bad, and when I saw David's interest I was able to sign my way through most of the song.  David stood watching.  We came to the chorus and I stopped just before the word 'door', and David spoke.  It wasn't clear, it was more a 'du' than 'door'.  But it was definitely an effort. And then he did the biggest grin.

Honestly, nearly every time there is this type of connection I get the same joy as when his younger sister, Jane, said 'mummy' for the first time. I'm still not allowed to sing when we have Frozen on the television, but I'm allowed to sign and I hope that it might be giving him more understanding and a greater connection with it and therefore the world around him.

External Links
See the sign for door - Singing Hands sign Wheels on the Bus on YouTube