Speech concerns

MaggieF516

Hi everyone, I've posted on this a few times, but several months ago.  My son (just turned 2 last week) was seen at his last pedi visit and the pedi decided he was not talking enough or paying attention to directions (sit down, bring me the toy, etc.).  He also was not putting 2 words together at that point.  She recommended an evaluation by Early Intervention (I guess it's a state program and they bill our health insurance) and they found that he qualified for services for speech delays and cognitive issues (again, primarily not following commands, listening, etc) as he was more than 30% delayed.  A person from the program comes for about 45 minutes every week and does puzzles, books, blocks, etc. with him.  A lot of time he won't sit for that amount of time and walks away, but I think this might be typical of a 2 year old.

Well he says a lot of single words (maybe 40 or so?), but he rarely says 2 words together except for "Here you go" and he will say things like "Mama, paci" if he wants his paci. We saw a little girl at the park last night that was only a month older and was saying sentences "The birds flying" etc.  I'm really worried that he remains WAY behind for his age.  He also spends days with his grandma while I work and she speaks Turkish.  He says maybe 10 words in Turkish.  I know there can be cases when bilingual children talk slower as they are learning 2 languages, but I'm getting worried.

What more can I do to help him with speech?  I try to talk as much as possible (describe what I'm doing, etc.) with him.  I try to read him books, but he gets up and leaves within about a minute.  He's a VERY active little boy LOL.Should I send him to daycare a few days a week versus being with his grandma to help improve his speech?

Any suggestions or help is appreciated! Thanks!!

 

 

Cherryblossoms07

How long has he been in speech therapy? I don't recall you saying how long. It can take a little while for the therapist to get a relationship built with your child and then things should go more smoothly as the therapist will learn how hard they can push the child before they shut down and how to draw their attention back in. If he has been with this therapist for a while and he still doesn't want to interact with them then I would ask EI if you can try a different therapist. DD started EI in one state, then we moved to another and her speech improved greatly because she had an instant connection with her new therapist. The coordinators are usually aware of the importance of a good therapist/child relationship and should be willing to try another if therapy is not going well.

You could try day care or a Mom's Day Out program (early preschool). An early preschool program helped DD a lot because she was forced to interact with people who didn't understand her needs and wants without communication.

ashiscute

With DD our speech therapist gave us things to work on each week and then at the beginning of our next session that is usually what we discussed first.  Is she giving you suggestions each week?  Without knowing what is causing issues for your LO it's hard to suggest specific things to do but I'll give you an idea of what DD struggled with and what we did.  

DD has been diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech which means her brains does not properly transmit messages to her mouth on how to produce sounds.  So she knows what she wants to say but it is very difficult for her to actually do so.  One thing that helped her was playing silly faces in the mirror and turning that into imitating words and short phrases.  To try to entice 2 words we would play ball and encourage her to say "my ball" for her turn and take turns.  She actually did well at this and started saying my ball without ever having said ball independently.  I also do not think you need to limit TV more so than you would with any other 2 yo.  Just make sure you are watching shows that move slowly and are interactive and participate with him.  

My DD stayed at home with till she turned 3 and then she started preschool 4 days a week through our county (the transition from EI).  Being at preschool has helped her hugely.  Being around others and having to work harder to make her needs met has really made a difference in her speech.  If you could swing doing a preschool program for 2 yo or daycare 2 days per week it might be very helpful.  Good luck!

TeacherVicky

When DS saw a speech therapist, she said to do the following:

- when he said a word, repeat it and then repeat it again in a sentence (do this for clear words and words he's working on)

- get down to his level when talking

- don't say to him "Say ________" (no prompting)

- explain what he's doing when he's doing something

- the obvious: lots of praise when he does say something

- when he says a word, add an adjective or a verb to compliment (i.e., if he says "car", say "the blue car" or "the car is moving"

traveltheworld

What does your speech therapist say?  Is she concerned about him not catching up?  I think there is a huge variation of what kids can or cannot say at age 2.  We have a close group of friends with 5 kids all around 2 years old, and they vary from speaking in full, grammatically correct sentences, to one child who only has about 30 words.  I'd defer to a professional on what should be of concern.

I think a few days a DC would help.  FWIW - DS spends 3 days with my parents and ILs and 2 days a DC.  My parents and ILs speak Chinese to him.  His sentence structure is terrible and he often mixes the two languages, but overall his speech development is normal.  I've known a lot of parents who delay getting help because they think the reason their child's language is delayed is due to bilingualism, so I'm glad you've decided to get help.

As to reading, we used to close the bedroom door, DS would run around in the room or play with a toy and DH and I would still keep reading.  We'd also read in the car a lot - he's strapped in so he is "forced" to listen.  

Pleione

As others have said, there is a large range of "normal" at this age. 200 words is what's commonly expected, although anywhere from 50-300 works, depends on your source. As important is putting two or more words together. What I do with DD who also turned 2 a few days ago is:

- try to model language as part of everyday conversation - "Can I go to the park, mama?" so she know how pronouns/ grammar should sound if she's saying it.
- expand on/ describe things she already knows/ is interested in. Works with books, everyday objects, photographs of her with other people, etc etc. They're all great opportunities for interaction.
- sing songs and read books. Mind you, we also have lots of screen time over here. (LO's a chatterbox now but a year ago I was worried too).

Daycare or just interacting with other kids would help too. Also check out some of the blogs out there by speech/ language development folk like this one (https://thelittlestories.com/a-magical-interaction/) But he's also a bilingual boy - two things that buy him a bit more time.