Talking softly

I noticed something about Nikko today that I never thought much about. When he requests things, such as food or a toy or watching a DVD, his voice is rather soft. He approaches me tentatively most of the time. When he asks for ice cream, he makes his fist wave in front of his chin and mouth, doing the sign for ice cream. He looks at me hopefully while he does this, and when I ask him loudly what he wants, Nikko will squeak Ice Cream in a soft voice as if he knows I'll say no. Which I usually do. While he sat on the toilet waiting for Ronin's bath to finish, I took the three ID tags from his hands that he was fidgeting with. I held each one up to my mouth and said, "Blue tag. Red tag. Purple tag." He repeated what I said each time in a small voice. It made me wonder if Nikko is conscious about how his voice sounds. I wonder if he is really shy, or unsure if he said the right thing when asked. It reminded me all the more to keep encouraging him to talk and give him the vocabulary he needs to make communication successful.