15 Month Old Speech - Georgetown,MA

I thought the same thing about my daughter. I did not follow up on speech therapy and now have a 4.5 year old that still occassionally needs me to 'translate' for her.

Speech therapy is not going to hurt your son. Yes, they all develop at different paces and sometimes in spurts and lulls. Allowing speech therapy is NOT the same as saying your son is autistic, stupid or anything else you might be afraid of. It just (might) mean that he needs a little help with language development..

Personally, I'd do as the doctor recommends. And don't get so defensive. I'm sure the doctor is just looking out for your son's best interests.

My pediatrician thought the same about my son who is also 15 months, he has fewer words than your son but understands everything and has no other delays and is extremely active. My gut feeling told me he was fine but I decided to have him evaluated by ECI, he didn't qualify. Just to be sure I had a second evaluation done by a speech therapist at our hospital, she wasn't concerned and thought he was developing completely normally. I do have the option to bring him in for a few sessions of speech therapy if I want but think I will wait until closer to 18 months to see if things improve. My first son was a late talker as well. From the sounds of it, I think your son sounds perfectly fine but it doesn't hurt to get an eval done by ECI, there is no cost.

Here is another case of a doctor over reacting: My daughter was pigeon toed when she was a baby. They gave me three choices... to put her legs in a cast with a bar across to straighten her legs... wear a removable bar at night or buy orthapedic shoes. I chose the latter. Today she is an actress wtth straight legs and dances her little tushie off. WHAT if I had taken the first year of her life and made her live with casts on her legs?
Boys are slower talkers.
I worked for a Speech and Language Development Center and had a class of Aphasic four year olds for three years under a wonder teacher who gave lectures on the subject and and your son sounds right in the norm. I know the earlier the better when intervening in regard to speech therapy but my daughter could say her ABCs at two but my granddaughter couldn't say them till kindergarten and now she is the best reader in 3rd grade according to her teacher! Kids are all different. There is no norm unless he is way OFF the charts and that doesn't sound like the case.

Well, you're the Mom -- so you decide! I don't really understand why you would be so put-off (and insulted maybe?) by an offer of free assistance for your son...but if you don't want it, don't take it.

Well if he does have a slight delay the earlier he gets help the better. My youngest had a mild delay and had speech from 16 months until he turned 3. At least do the evaluation a team comes to your home and evaluates a few areas and goes over the results with you right there.

I can't imagine the doctor is covering himself... I mean... it's not like he's the one deciding when your child will talk or not. It seems to me that the doctor is trying to be proactive and get you assistance if it might be needed.

Like a couple of other people said - why be offended? If you don't want the free help, don't take it.

My son didn't talk much more than you described until he was 2.5 and we were very worried. We had specialists come to our house and evaluate him, and had his hearing checked. Turns out he just didn't feel like talking! He even tested higher than his age in motor skills and recognition. A few weeks after the evaluation, he started talking in full sentences like a little grownup. Go figure.

Wow, my son's speech didn't really kick in until he was about 19-20 months. He was a lot like your second. He was having sleeping problems and his pediatrician said it probably meant he was about to hit a big developmental milestone, and it happened to be his speech. He's 27 months now and is advanced in speech and communication.
I don't see why your son's pediatrician would recommend speech therapy for that, but I don't know your son. Maybe they're just being extra cautious?

I wonder what your pediatrician expects him to do, hold a conversation? I personally think that 15 months is too early to diagnose him with a delay in speech. It sounds like he is developing just fine from what you have described.

I am a firm believer in early intervention (my 4 yr old gets weekly speech therapy), but if your son's vocabulary continues to grow, I would not worry just yet. Keep a close eye on him and if by 2 he is not progressing much with his speech (most kids have an explosion of speech around then), then you might consider seeking EI.

Best of luck to you!

We went through this same situation with my daughter (child #2). We held off because we just figured, baby #2, our older child was talking for her, she will develop at her own pace. Well we were wrong, she was almost 2 and couldn't speak. We started with early intervention and that was basically a huge waste of time. We went to Speech Therapy and WOW what a difference. They actually diagnosed her with Apraxia. They suggested reading a book "The Late Talker". It really opened my eyes to the world of Speech Delay. She is now in Kindergarten and doing Fabulous!!

Good Luck!

Seriously? That is a joke!

My daughter is in speech therapy right now. She is 22 months and I started the process at 17 months with out the thought of the pediatrician. What is it going to hurt to have early intervention come in and check your son out? They can give you good tips on how to encourage language development even if he doesn't qualify. Good for the doctor though in being pro active for your son.

Kudos to your doctor for being so proactive on your son's behalf! I know plenty of moms who went to their pediatricians repeatedly because their sons were showing classic signs of autism (speech delay, stimming, social deficits, lack of non-verbal communication) and they were all told that he was just a kid and would eventually grow out of it. They didn't. By the time their sons eventually got the autism diagnosis when they were 3 or 4, they lost a lot of time out of their child's life that could have been used for early intervention. So, I'm approaching your situation from a different perspective of thank God that your doctor is more aware and more proactive than a lot of other pediatricians out there.

So your son has a mild language delay. Speech therapy would benefit him and, at this age, the services would be provided to you in your home free of charge. He may grow out of it on his own and it is entirely up to you to choose whether or not you want to pursue getting services for him. It has been my experience that speech therapist are usually very fun and the therapy itself is usually very play-based. It wouldn't hurt your son at all to receive speech therapy -- in fact, he actually might really like it. But that is for you to decide whether or not it is worth pursuing. I just think that you are very lucky to have a doctor who is looking out for your son's best interests and is letting you know what options are available to help your son if necessary.

Just a different perspective on the whole situation.