Concerned about lack of talking - speech therapy?

704bride

I'll apologize now...this is long...Sorry! My questions I have for all of you are in the last paragraph, if you feel like skipping over the rest!

I was a late talker and so was my first son, relatively speaking. I have to look back over my records from DS1, but I'm certain he had a lot more words by now. At this age, he was in the midst of a ton of ear infections and once he got his tubes put in at 22 months, his talking took off within two weeks of his surgery. DS2 is 20 months tomorrow, has had two back-to-back ear infections in his lifetime and that's it, and he is nowhere near where DS1 was at this point.

He says about 2 words regularly: more and hi (and possibly "on"). He has several other words that he has said at least once, like: dada, moo, bye, go, okay...and maybe some others. My pediatrician wasn't too concerned at his 18 mo. check-up because he had SOME words. It wasn't like he wasn't talking at all and he really shows no other signs of autism.

Two things are really concerning me about his talking more than anything. He has been having temper tantrums and I'm convinced a lot of them have to do with not being able to communicate with us. He does a lot of pointing and knows some signs, but mostly does a lot of grunting and "uhh" noises. Another thing is that it's not like he's babbling a lot and "talking" to himself or others in his own way. I can't remember what DS1 did, but I feel like there were a lot of times where he was saying things to me and I wasn't sure what he was saying or if they were actual words at first. I know there is a whole range of "normal," but I just feel like he isn't progressing as quickly as we (or he!) would like.

I don't have his 21 month check-up for another month, so I'm planning on e-mailing his doctor this week to ask her opinion because if we're going to do any speech therapy, it would be a lot easier to manage while I'm home for the summer. 

Finally....my questions for all of you: Have you had a similar experience with your toddler? Have any of you done any speech therapy? Is there anything I can be doing at home besides the obvious....talking, saying words for things he is asking for, reading to him, etc.?

Veittobe

If it were me, I would contact early intervention for my county and ask for an assessment.  They will usually come to your home and do a developmental and speech assessment.  I would also contact an audiologist and request a hearing evaluation to rule out fluid in the ears and/or hearing loss.  If you end up in traditional speech therapy, they will request an audiologic assessment anyway.  

Good luck! 

Lizghannam

I wouldn't worry!! My son is 21 months and he has maybe four words and they're not even full pronunciations. He jabbers all day but nothing is clear. He says dog, ball, the Hulk and bless you lol But like I said it's more, da...baa...hulll, isss u. I got so hung up worrying why he isn't saying more words or counting like other kids but like you always hear, every kid is different. We work with him all the time and he understands, he just can't full vocalize it. Don't sweat it

I've never had issues with ear infections though so I can't offer advice there. If you feel that it has affected his hearing and in tern learning to speak, then I'd ask the doc. But he sounds pretty normal to me!

zaraceligon

Like pp said you should do and. Erly intervention, It doesn't seems normal to me the he gets frustraitated ( the tantrum ) and the grunting.those two things are a sing of something s not right. Toddlers are impressive,and they developed on their own time,but when they show a sign of frustration is not a good sign.

also like every mom,follow your institution if you think something is no ok.

good luck. 

alstumb@gmail.com

I just wanted to say that my 21monthold talks A LOT and has still started having a ridiculous amount of tantrums lately...so that could be totally normal, regardless of how well they can communicate.

Also, I worked in the toddler room at a daycare for 4 years. We had a lot of kids, especially boys, that weren't saying more than a few words when they moved up to the 2 year old room. I wouldn't worry just yet.

mben1119

Ds is like pp's little one. He has a ton of words, and also has bad tantrums. I've also seen, anecdotally, younger siblings taking longer to vocalize due to their older sibling doing much of the speaking for them.

bensmommy518

My son is about 22 months old now and we have been working with early intervention for the past 2 months.  at his 18 month checkup he was still not really saying very many words with any type of consistency and they were concerned.  He had had one ear infection that I knew about and at the 18 month visit he also had a double ear infection that he had had absolutely no symptoms from (no fever, change in appetite, pulling at his ears, anything). 

after that appointment I called EI and scheduled an eval and I also called an ENT and got him assessed.  I was concerned about what the lack of ear infection symptoms meant - had he had more that I had just missed?  The ENT said kids who don't have symptoms are generally kids who have had A LOT of ear infections.  The tested his hearing and estimated about 30% loss just from all the fluid built up in his inner ear.  I tried him on 3 rounds of antibiotics and he still had infections so we went right to tubes.  By this point he had been assess by EI and was working weekly with a special instructor.  

 The EI special instructor (what they call it because he is under age 3) started with teaching us some simple signs to help him express what he wanted.  He picked these up right away and immediately some of his tantrums stopped. What we do when the special instructor is there for sessions is focus on putting verbal routines to play and every day activities.  They have also taught me how to wait for him to responds and to help him focus on what my mouth does and how it moves when i speak (basically just drawing his eyes to your mouth when you talk).  At this age it is all about repetition and providing opportunities for him to speak.  whenever he vocalizes anything I treat it as if he said the word and just correct it to how it should have sounded ("yes, that's right, ball. you said ball!.  ball")

He now, after 2 months and his tube surgery, says mama, dada, gigi (what he calls grandma), ball, more, i want, one, up, empty, dog and probably some others that i am forgetting right now.

704bride

Thanks for all of the advice! Of course, the advice varies, just like the kids do. I'm going to give it a little bit more time and see how I feel in the next few weeks. I feel like, just in the last few days, he is trying to copy me a little more when I am encouraging him to try saying something.

MommySpeechie

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