X

[lauralou]

X

 

[Maria1977]

Hi hun

Sorry I can't offer any advice other than to say my cousin didn't utter a word until he was 3 and a 1/2! That was a long long time ago, but it does happen. If you're worried maybe you could get referred just for reassurance?

Sorry I can't actually help xxxx

 

[isobel84]

I.don't know either but I know a friend of oh, his little boy is 3-4 and last time we saw them -a year ago, the little boy had never said a word x

 

[Amy_J]

ive been concerned about my 1 year old not really saying many words, however he is being brought up with 2 different languages. i would probably speak to the hv or gp, just to get some professional advice. there is a toddler at my playgroup who is 18months and doesnt say words yet, she just kind of screams and points and what she wants yet understands everything. her parents are also concerned slightly!!!

good luck xoo

 

[lisey27]

Hi Lauralou

My son had and still has very delayed speech, I work with young children and there are often lots with speech delays or difficulties, some for reasons and some just don't speak until later on. I think its best to contact your health visitor or GP to get a referral. Early help with these things is key. Is your LO at a playgroup or nursery? if so, they can help with referrals.
Speech therapists are fantastic and have great stratgies, I see great improvement with children at work after they have been seeing a speech and language therapist. xx

 

[lauralou]

X

 

[Amy_J]

hey ladies thanks so much for your replies. he has already been referred and are awaiting our 2nd visit, sorry should have been a bit clearer.

They said last time it could have been to do with him having a dummy in all the time, like hes learnt how to "talk" with his mouth closed.... because he says the right syllables most of the time, and at the right kind of pitch. but just doesnt actually say the word. He even sings wheels on the bus, but just without words, instead he uses sounds.
(he stopped having a dummy at 2 and a half which i wouldnt consider as late really??)

The therapist is back next friday so il see how it goes. Just curious if anyone else has seen how they work.
xxx

let us know how you go on! and as for the dummy i didnt think 2 and a half was that bad at all!! im aiming to get my lo off it by the age of 2ish! xoxo

 

[titch]

Speech therapists are fantastic

Im a speech & language therapist




Its great that theyre involved at this stage, the earlier the better, its much easier to resolve things now than risk leaving it too late. Speech & language delay is really common, about 1 in 5 now, and its on the increase. Dummies can really impact on their speech development, so really, anytime after 1, when they start learning to say actual words, the dummy needs to be out of their mouth as often as possible. my LO has a dummy, but only for sleep times.

having said that there are LOADS of things which can cause language delay and most of the time we never find out exactly why, but we dont need to know why its happend to be able to sort it out IYSWIM?

hope Ive helped :/ Im not in the best mindset at the moment, feel free to PM me with any questions or if you want to double check anything your therapist has said. x

 

[lisey27]

People can be a little OTT about dummies. 2 and a half isnt bad at all.
My son has had lots of input from speech therapists and I found they used things that interested him most to try to get him to repeat single and simple language. I remember them saying to me to copy the sound he made, whatever he did, repeat it. Its called 'intensive interaction'. In the end it works out that you can make sounds for him to copy and eventually single words. Its a fun kind of way to engage them.
Its great that he is making all the right sounds etc, I am sure it won't be long before he's chatting away x

 

[lauralou]

X

 

[lisey27]

Thanku so much for ur help. We started with the "narrating" of everything he does, so when he's playing with a car we say "pushing the car" and thing like that. And I'm constantly reading to him, getting him to show me the characters etc. I just don't feel like he's making any progress. If I push him or catch him off guard I can sometimes get him to say "dad" or "nana" or "T" but that's about it. He's really clever and knows numbers, shapes, colours and can write "TJ"- his initials. The speech therapist said he's actually picked up alot of thins early, he great at sharing but not so keen on socialising. He's my only child and only been going to nursery for about 3months, so a lot of people say its because he's not had enough interaction with other kids. But we go to playgroups and play centres regularly so how can it be that? He's never been amazingly confident when surrounded by other kids he doesn't know, but surely that's personality and not development as such? I get told its because he's been at home with me since day one and so I've just done everything for him without him needing to actually say what he wants.
I'm just so fed up of that comment because I chose not to go back to work so that I could stay at home n be his main career, as opposed to going back to work to pay for someone else to look after him.
I get so upset sometimes because people have so many opinions and I'm made to feel like I've done a bad job, I work so hard trying to encourage him, by 1 he was saying mama, dada and a few other words but he's just not interested in using words to communicate. He's getting an awful temper now and I can't control him half the time. He doesn't listen to me and I just dont see it changing??

Sorry to ramble on and on, just gets me really down and i Don't like talking about it with family because all they say is "he will talk when he wants to"..... When's that?!!!!!!

I know exactly where you are coming from. I got all of those comments "you give him what he wants before he needs to ask, he is not around other children enough" etc.
Please dont feel like a bad mum or that you have failed (thats how I felt) you are doing a great job, you have devoted your time to him and you are doing all you can do at the moment and all the things you are doing sound like great steps in helping him.
If you are really concerned then push for more help from speech therapy or health visitor-in my experience, you have to be quite pushy and peristant to get any kind of help. xxx

 

[titch]

its so ridiculous that everyone has their opinions, when they dont even know anything about child language development! It is NOT your fault! Even if it were just you and him in the house (which it hasnt been as youve been going to groups etc...) then that wouldnt mean he wouldnt talk, why wouldnt he learn to talk from being around you if he could. Are you getting much support from your SLT? Have you had the chance to have a good chat about what part of his communication skills is causing him difficulty? There are loads of different types of problems at different stages which can make it difficult for a child to learn to talk. Im assuming hes had hearing tests and every SLT should ensure that is checked before starting any input.

Its hard for me to help without actually seeing a child, as it could be so many things. have you had a report from the speech therapist?

 

[titch]

We started with the "narrating" of everything he does, so when he's playing with a car we say "pushing the car" and thing like that.

thats a really good thing to do. The biggest part of language development is being able to take in and understand the language, although as parents we're all keen to hear them using it, as long as hes taking it in , he's 90% of the way there.

 

[lauralou]

X

 

[titch]

honestly hun neglect has to be pretty severe, almost isolation for a child not to develop language. I've come accrossa handful of cases like that in 6 years and they were all in foster care or adopted. Also if it was caused by anything you've done his understanding of language would be affected too.

It sounds to me like either he's got difficulties coordinating his speech sounds or a phonological disorder. That's just a guess though. Both these things require therapy but can be fixed. Make sure you ask the therapist to suggest activities you can do at home to help, do them daily and nag his nursery to do them too. Things can change pretty fast once they're doing the right therapy

 

[LouiseB]

My brother didn't speak properly until he was about 4, maybe 5.

He was always playing catchup in school because of it so his grades weren't great for his age but he just got a 1st degree after also being diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia and with hindsight i wonder if his lack of speech was an indication of these things.

Dyslexia is the poor fluency with words and dyspraxia is immurity how the brain processes information.

Just something to keep your eye on when he starts school maybe?

 

[titch]

yes dyspraxia of speech is the term for difficulties coordinating speech. Body dyspraxia would be poor coordination of movement, so typically they would have trouble learning to ride a bike, sports, generally 'clumsy'. a child can have isolated dyspraxia of speech or general dyspraxia which may or may not affect speech. Dyspraxia requires intensive speech therapy but gets brilliant results.

 

[lauralou]

X

 

[titch]

that sounds really appropriate to me

with speech sounds thereare some problems which are 'developmental'; its normal not to be able to say certain sounds at certain ages. some children carrry this on longer, so a delay, which doesnt neccessarily need therapy cos it will eventually resolve. If hes got a speech disorder (which backing is) then it will need therapy cos hes kind of gone off the track of developing sounds properly.

Its great that youre going to have weekly therapy, thats exactly whats needed, and make sure you ask for stuff to do with him in between appointments, he'll come on much quicker if you can do it a couple of minutes every day.

Also, it might be worth looking at other ways of communicating for him while he's learning to use sounds. he obviously has a good vocabulary if he got through that assessment so well, so its such a shame he cant express himself. At work I often recommend using a picture book or signing (like Mr Tumble does) just to reduce frustration and help his self esteem. It doesnt slow down their progress with speech so its well worth doing. He'll naturally stop using them when he can speak more confidently

Im always here if you have any questions but the best person to ask is your therapist, as she knows his speech profile, I wouldnt want to give you the wrong advice. Be open and honest, and ask lots of questions.

 

[benjis mum]

Glad you've had a good session with the therapist. I'm a reception teacher and lots of children have speech issues, but regular support from SLT, home and nursery/school its amazing how things can improve. Keep positive and working with your little man - he'll get there!!