Hi Sylvia. Yes, my mum could understand me, so I could talk to her. The trouble was when she thought she was answering. The sad thing was, it took me about a month to discover why she was refusing to eat, and was pulling her naso-gastric tube out. She managed to get one word out comprehensibly, the name of a rehab unit where my father had been briefly, and which she hated. I managed to reassure her that she wouldn't be going there, whatever happened, and she indicated that she would eat. Too late, she was already too weak, and had pneumonia. Sad, sad, sad.
With John nouns went first, then the rest of language. He stopped understanding more or less simultaneously. Then he lost the ability to read, but could still draw, so he was able to copy anything I wrote for him, though it didn't mean anything. It wasn't words, it was shapes.
Your story of asking Dhiren to get you a glass of water rang bells with me, this happened to us quite early on. It was explained to me that although John was quite capable of getting himself a glass of water when he wanted one, the message that that was what I wanted just wasn't being received by his brain. You need to use a lot of sign language.
Hope you're both feeling better today?
Love,