Special Needs

Speech...what is concerning?

HI All,

I have a nearly 22 mo DS that has very little expressive language.  At his 18 mo appointment we got put on the wait list for a speech evaluation but I don't know when that is going to happen as the list is quite long I've been told.  He does say mom, dad, tries the dogs name, yes, no and a few other things but he has decided that he can gesture to get what he wants.  His receptive language is really good and he can follow 2 step commands no problem but he just seems to not want to talk.  I know my neice (who is 6 months older than DS) talks up a storm and was doing so at this age.  I guess I think he does have a speech delay (Obviously) but if it's a part of something larger I don't know.  Sometimes I feel like he just doesn't want to talk so he doesn't...

So please, if any of you have experience with this or things to share I'd sure appreciate that. 

Thanks!

Re: Speech...what is concerning?

  • Sorry...provincial government speech therapist evaluation
  • At that young an age, it's really hard to weed out what's a symptom of an underlying neurological/language disorder and what's a child that's just a late talker.

    FWIW, at 22 months my son had around 10-15 words. At three, he never.shuts.up. LOL. He didn't really start talking until 2.5 but then he came out with 6 word sentences seemingly overnight. He still has speech therapy to work out some articulation errors but his SLP thinks this with the rate he's progressing it will be his last year of speech.

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • Loading the player...
  • imagealgalphys:
    Sorry...provincial government speech therapist evaluation

    I engaged private therapy for my kids as the wait locally was too long, IMO.  Sessions were not horribly expensive and my group plan at work covered some of it.

    My boys were late talkers.  Speech therapy was a god send.  They benefitted greatly and I learned so much in the process as well.  Totally worth the expense.

    promised myself I'd retire when I turned gold, and yet here I am
  • I guess I never considered private therapy...we would certainly have to go out of town to get it but maybe I'll look into it. FWIW, I haven't been waiting 6 months yet but I haven't been given any indication of when he would be seen.

    I guess I'm wondering what things I should be looking for that are good indicators that he may speak eventually or what are things to look for that may be missing or an indication of a larger issue, just not a late talker...

    Thanks for the responses so far ladies!!
  • I live in a town of less than 20000.  You might be surprised what options you have.
    promised myself I'd retire when I turned gold, and yet here I am
  • imagealgalphys:
    I guess I never considered private therapy...we would certainly have to go out of town to get it but maybe I'll look into it. FWIW, I haven't been waiting 6 months yet but I haven't been given any indication of when he would be seen. I guess I'm wondering what things I should be looking for that are good indicators that he may speak eventually or what are things to look for that may be missing or an indication of a larger issue, just not a late talker... Thanks for the responses so far ladies!!

    Really, that's impossible to do as an untrained person. It's even difficult for a SLP to tell what's a language disorder and what's a late talker.

    When my son at your child's age was thought to have a language disorder called apraxia. He had issues with motor planning for speech as well as gross motor activities. In reading notes from his sessions I'm shocked no one asked me to evaluate for autism--he had zero eye contact and would hyperfocus on repetitive activities with no attention span for anything else. All that went away with time and therapy. by 2.5 he was seriously a totally different child.

    Some kids are diagnosed with autism as children who had zero signs of the disorder at 2. You're not going to be able to know for quite a while unfortunately.

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • imagealgalphys:

    HI All,

    I have a nearly 22 mo DS that has very little expressive language.  At his 18 mo appointment we got put on the wait list for a speech evaluation but I don't know when that is going to happen as the list is quite long I've been told.  He does say mom, dad, tries the dogs name, yes, no and a few other things but he has decided that he can gesture to get what he wants.  His receptive language is really good and he can follow 2 step commands no problem but he just seems to not want to talk.  I know my neice (who is 6 months older than DS) talks up a storm and was doing so at this age.  I guess I think he does have a speech delay (Obviously) but if it's a part of something larger I don't know.  Sometimes I feel like he just doesn't want to talk so he doesn't...

    So please, if any of you have experience with this or things to share I'd sure appreciate that. 

    Thanks!

    Lurking, but while you are waiting for your evaluation, you could try to manipulate his environment to encourage him to use sounds/words rather than gestures. Try putting the items he wants out of reach (up on a shelf, etc.), but within eye sight. When he uses gesture to indicate he wants the item, acknowledge his intent, but don't give him the item until he has made a vocal/speech response (start with sounds, not words - when he makes a vocal attempt rather than just gesture, give him the item). You MUST give him the item when he makes a vocal/verbal request or this won't work, so don't use cookies as a stimulus if you don't want him to have cookies. You can work your way up to words and then phrases from there. Always model through your own speech and language what you expect him to do, and talk through everything while you do it.

    E.g. - Child gestures he wants his toy car (which is out of reach). You say something along the lines of: That's your car! Tell me "kuh." As soon as your child makes ANY vocal attempt, give him the car and praise - You said you wanted the car! Here's your car - vroom, vroom!, etc.

     Good Luck!

     All of this is assuming you already give him what he wants when he gestures to indicate he wants something (reinforcing his gestures as communication and communicative intent). If this is not true, you would start with reinforcing his gestures as communicative intent, before moving up to sounds.

    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
  • imageedilo:
    imagealgalphys:

    HI All,

    I have a nearly 22 mo DS that has very little expressive language.  At his 18 mo appointment we got put on the wait list for a speech evaluation but I don't know when that is going to happen as the list is quite long I've been told.  He does say mom, dad, tries the dogs name, yes, no and a few other things but he has decided that he can gesture to get what he wants.  His receptive language is really good and he can follow 2 step commands no problem but he just seems to not want to talk.  I know my neice (who is 6 months older than DS) talks up a storm and was doing so at this age.  I guess I think he does have a speech delay (Obviously) but if it's a part of something larger I don't know.  Sometimes I feel like he just doesn't want to talk so he doesn't...

    So please, if any of you have experience with this or things to share I'd sure appreciate that. 

    Thanks!

    Lurking, but while you are waiting for your evaluation, you could try to manipulate his environment to encourage him to use sounds/words rather than gestures. Try putting the items he wants out of reach (up on a shelf, etc.), but within eye sight. When he uses gesture to indicate he wants the item, acknowledge his intent, but don't give him the item until he has made a vocal/speech response (start with sounds, not words - when he makes a vocal attempt rather than just gesture, give him the item). You MUST give him the item when he makes a vocal/verbal request or this won't work, so don't use cookies as a stimulus if you don't want him to have cookies. You can work your way up to words and then phrases from there. Always model through your own speech and language what you expect him to do, and talk through everything while you do it.

    E.g. - Child gestures he wants his toy car (which is out of reach). You say something along the lines of: That's your car! Tell me "kuh." As soon as your child makes ANY vocal attempt, give him the car and praise - You said you wanted the car! Here's your car - vroom, vroom!, etc.

     Good Luck!

     All of this is assuming you already give him what he wants when he gestures to indicate he wants something (reinforcing his gestures as communication and communicative intent). If this is not true, you would start with reinforcing his gestures as communicative intent, before moving up to sounds.

    This. And be sure to model one-word or short phrases. Say, "cookie! kuh! cookie!" "eat cookie!" or "want cookie!" depending on his level. If you add in a bunch of words: "Do you want a cookie! Yummy! Oh, you love cookies! Crunch crunch crunch!" it could be difficult for a young child to parse out which of those words he needs to use to get the cookie (even with excellent receptive language).

  • My son had a language delay and was able to get into preschool for free via the Help Me Grow program. He had significant enough delays to qualify him as having a "disability." He got an evaluation and had awesome receptive language, but pretty bad expressive language. He now gets speech therapy at preschool and has comes leaps and bounds.

     

    Now my daughter, 23 months also had a speech delay. And way more 'severe' than my son's was :-(

    I hate doing this all over again, but because we are going through it a little sooner than we did with my son, and she has a more significant delay, I'm not sure what will happen just yet.

    The same govt. program, Help Me Grow evaluated her, and passed her paperwork on to our County Board of Developmental Disabilities. They think her language problems, coupled with other issues she has could qualify her to actually go to their facility for the handicapped (also free of charge). The problem is, that ever annoying waiting list like you mentioned. If they approve her, the list is currently 29 people long! And HMG said it could be 6 months before she gets in :-(

    That being said, we just looked into a private facility covered by our insurance that does pediatric occupational, physical and speech therapy. We haven't made the appt yet, but I am planning on it this week.

    I hate to say it, but I am hoping she does just have a serious speech delay, because like you said, sometimes I worry there may be larger problems at hand that we haven't realized or diagnosed yet.

     

     

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"