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In Reply to: GC- When do they do ...... posted by Paula on June 15, 2009 at 13:56:31:
: I got my daughter a beautiful GC who was born 3/10/09. He is learning step up, and we are trying to get him "poop" trained. But when do they start to talk or try sounds that they hear? What should we be teaching him now, what is age appropriate for a 3 month old green cheek? He has a big cage and lots of toys and loves our shoulders and hiding under our hair. We learned that he can take out earings, so we take them off before playing with him. Thanks we need direction.
Hi,
Mine started repeating sounds pretty soon after we got him - within a month. He was a little over 7 months when we got him. I started by listening with him to recorded bird songs and music. I wanted auditory things to be a meaningful part of his environment. He picked up a lot of words quickly, before one year. I focused on naming things and activities in the environment, and on set conversations. You can't always "teach" them so much as they pick up what they like and what they seem to find useful. I noticed he rapped on his cage bars, so I would say "Ilike the beat" and rapped back. It was an early exchange we could do even before he knew any words. Now he uses it all the time. A series of raps and "Like the beat?" Take advantage of your bird's need to be in contact when you're out of sight by telling him where you are and what you're doing. Ariel finds "Really" a very useful word. (They seem to find long EEE words easy to say, too.) He uses really/really?/really! to fill in the mniddle of a conversation and answer just about any question, to substitute for "Yes" which he does not say. He also likes the phrases "I like to" and "I want to." "Be with me" He's especially fond of "Time to eat." "Sleep" on the other hand, is not for him the name of an activity, but the name of the cage cover. He knows specific foods by name - I always name things when I give them to him so he can learn what he feels like. "Special" and "Beaufiful," "Sweet" are also words he seems to like using a lot. "Happy" means excited to him. The best way to teach a bird that is going to learn words is to talk to a third party in their presence. In order to get your attention, the bird will pick up language and use it. My third party happened to be my dog, and I only learned in my reading it was an actual proven technique after I stumbled upon it in expereince, but it works. REALLY.
Good luck and enjoy your GCC.