Behavioral issue or job skill? For a couple of weeks, we found that Li-Li would clam up her usually chatty self and selectively use ASL in her speech classes with Christine and Laurie. And then, with Anna, her ASL teacher, she would only use spoken words instead of her familiar signs! Anna would look at us baffled when Li-Li appeared to be non-responsive, and we’d shake our heads and sign back that Li-Li was, in fact, neighing and woofing and meowing loudly. Just not responding with her hands, as she knows well to do.
I think she clearly takes after my Oma, who would “translate” between the German-speaking and English-speaking family members by repeating to the English speaker in German what was originally said in German, but very loudly, rather than interpreting into English to the perplexed listener. And she would then turn to the German speaker and repeat in English what had been said in English, loudly and slowly. Think Garrett Morris’s role as interpreter for the hard of hearing on SNL’s Weekend Update. No matter how serious the conversation topic, we generally ended up miming what we wanted to say, and usually found ourselves on the floor, paralyzed by laughter. Phone conversations were very difficult, though.
We were language-challenged then and continue to be today. Try this with toddler-level ASL: “Li-Li, where’s the missing boiled egg? Deep inside the woofer (speaker) again or fed on the sly to the dog?”