DS had almost no words at 19 months...just a few signs and animal sounds. Of course we heard from everyone that one day he would have a "word explosion" and begin talking overnight.
That said, we had him evaluated and he qualified. He started ST the next month and has had about 8 sessions.
Meanwhile, no word explosion, and very little improvement since starting ST. He does make more noise/babbles, signs a few more words, and makes wordlike sounds during a few songs.
No other delays or developmental problems. He was not premature. Has been tested for hearing issues. No family history of problems. Even loosely evaluated for autism.
I need some reassurance that he might still catch up. I'm just feeling a little discouraged about it.
Re: Can you share your late talker success stories?
My DS had no words at 2 (also except for a few animal sounds and signs), when he started ST (he was evaluated at 22 months and was deemed almost a full year delayed). He also had no other delays or issues. By 2.5 he had over 100 words in his vocabulary and now he's only continuing ST in preschool this coming year for a few lingering articulation issues. Otherwise, he's like living with the cast of The View--never stops talking, has an amazing vocabulary, and is now actually ahead in expressive language.
Hope that gives you hope!
Wow that is so comforting. We were also scored at about a full year behind. Thank you!
Thats awesome, thank you!
DS had 5 words and a few animal sounds at 2. He was evaluated and started receiving ST at 26 months.
In March, we took him to get a hearing test, because he wasn't improving as fast as we would have liked. We had no concerns over his hearing because his receptive language was great. Lo and behold, he had fluid in his ears which caused moderate low frequency hearing loss. This is the kid who has never (knock on wood) had an ear infection. We couldn't believe that there was fluid in his ears.
He had tubes placed in April. We thought his speech would explode over night. Just in the past couple of weeks have we really noticed a difference. Today was actually the first time he participated in ST.
There is still hope!
DS was a late talker. At 25 months he was only saying dada, mama and baby. We had his hearing tested and that came back fine. I had so many people tell me not to worry but it was hard. Around the time when he was 26 months we were ready to get him some help...
Then, I started to notice he was trying to say more words and copy me. No one could understand him, but just from being around him, I knew what he was saying and would 'translate'. He progressed really fast with the number of words that he was saying and his pronunciation of the words as well. Now, the other day he said a 6 word 'sentence'.
It's hard when you see other kids doing things at such a young age and having people tell you not to worry...follow your instinct. I have no concerns about DS's speech now.
DS had 25 words at 2 years old. He was evaluated (was found to be almost 11 months behind) and started speech at 26 months old. At about 28 months he started having more words and stringing two word sentences together. At around 30 months things just clicked and he's saying 3-4 word sentences. It's amazing and it just kinda clicked (I never thought I'd be the one saying this).
While the weekly half hour kinda helped it isn't what did it. I mean, seriously, at 2 yrs old a half hour is not enough to zero in and get fast results. What I do attribute it to is how we changed things at home. Our speech therapist was great at teaching us (the parents) how to change the way we talk to DS. We really implemented the techniques she taught us. What also helped is that we had to take him out of daycare because DH lost his job so he now had one on one all day long with a parent. I'm not knocking daycare but for this type of problem daycare can't ignore everyone else and practice with my kid, kwim?
Hang in there.
we had one of my dd's evaluated at 22 months...she has been getting ST since then and all of a sudden just in the past week has been adding more and more words to her vocabulary...she has also gotten pretty good at asking for things (while before she would just get frustrated and throw a fit)....she has just recently started using a 2 word phrases...I try not to worry b/c every child develops differently and at their own pace...but it is tough when her twin is speaking in full on sentences (which is part of the problem - milina answers for both she and ava all the time...so av doesn't have to speak up...which is one of the things we are working on)
I agree with the other poster too who mentioned that the tips you get from the ST on ways to communicate and work on speech at home are well worth it...ava gets 1 hour of speech a week...but the tips we get on ways to work with her are what make all the difference I think...GL! I am sure he will get there! Altho I know it is hard not to worry...
DS was behind in speech at 18 months. He said a few words here and there, but not consistently and not up to par with where he should have been. His pedi recommended that we take him to a pediatric neurologist, an audiologist, ST, and have him evaluated for autism. She had me freaked out over the whole thing. But I understood that the earlier a problem gets noticed, the better it is all around.
It turns out my MIL who watched him wasn't working with him on his words at all. She basically sat him in front of the TV the whole time. DH and I work full time and what we did when we were home just wasn't enough. We switched to a nanny who also had a boy about 6 months older than DS and immediately we saw an improvement. Not only does the nanny work with him, but DS emulates her son and picks it up so fast.
I also have a co-worker whose granddaughter was not good with her speech at 3 years old. Once she got into ST and got used to it, she got much better. You can't shut her up now, according to my co-worker.
I agree about using the tips from the ST. We learned a lot about communicating on DD's level and "modeling."
DD started ST at 15 months and now she's about to be phased out of the program at 25 months because she's progressed so much. We're hearing lots of different words and 2-word phrases now. But she didn't say "mommy" until 19 months.
I worried when our doctor suggested therapy- both my husband and I are very talkative and even work in communication industries. I always thought my kid would talk my ear off
Turns out maybe we were talking too much "for her" and she didn't have a need to express herself through words.
We're seeing lots of progress but there have been plateaus. I would also get frustrated that she would say things at daycare or for the ST but not for me. My ST told me, "You're part of the wallpaper. She sees you all the time and she's going to give you the least effort." It made me focus more on *my* efforts and that made a difference.
Good luck! It's hard not to worry but it will happen!
-Lisa