Speech Delay? - Brunswick,GA

I have a 3 and a half year old with Apraxia. She barely speaks at all, when she does it mostly comes out gibberish. Every once in a while she will suprise us. This morning, after she went potty she looked in and said "Mommy, there's pee in there!" We were so excited we did a happy dance all over the bathroom. Two minutes later she was back to not being able to ask for milk on her cereal lol.
I would suggest consistancy and a whole lot of patience. Also, if you can learn basic signs for some words to use along with speech, that will probably help some too.
Good luck!!

My son didn't start talking until 3 1/2 yo...He is in a full day vpk w/speech and has speech once a week privately. He is now 4 yo and talks up a storm. Some words are not clear but he's getting much better daily. He actually learns better from other children than any other way. So don't give up...she'll be fine. Sometimes they just need a hand and/or push. Good Luck!!

P.

When my son was 26 months old, he was speaking at a 17 month level. He received early intervention (speech therapy) and within 3 months was speaking at a 36 month old level (even though he was only 29 months old at the time). It was a GODSEND for us. Our situation sounds similar to yours...reading, talking, playing, etc., but he just wasn't catching on. The speech therapists have a whole new way of interacting with your child and will have the patience to force them to talk that we, as parents, just don't seem to have on a daily basis. Trust me when I say that you will be thrilled that you did this for your daughter. The difference you see will be almost immediate and it will be a great jump start for her! :) Good luck!

There are a number of reason why a child may be speech delayed. Having people talk for her instead of allowing her the chance to struggle to find her own words and express herself is one reason. Relying too much on sign language for communication maybe another. Apraxia (oral motor planning) is yet another and can auditory processing disorder (a disruption in the process of hearing what is being said, processing and then acting on it). If your daughter's only issue is speech delay then, chances are that with a little bit of speech therapy, she will be caught up with this milestone in no time flat. The speech therapists that we have worked with have always be very fun and kid friendly, and have great playful ways to ellicit speech and communication from children who are having difficulty in this area. They are also a great source of tips and helpful hints that you can use to help your daughter in your everyday life.

Speech delay does not have to be a forever thing. I've seen plenty of speech delayed children catch up very quickly with their peers with just a little extra help and support from the professionals.

Hope this helps put your concerns to rest. I'm glad that you are stepping up to the plate and getting your daughter the services she needs so that this can all hopefully be a non-issue within the next year or two.

Relax! You're doing the right thing. At 2 years, she is at the age where they can do therapy. There really wasn't much they could do before that (for most types of speech delay). My son is also speech delayed. They only thing his therapist has done so far is to evaluate him and give me specific suggestions. She will see him again at 2 1/2 to evaluate him. She said it's really too young to do much with him in therapy since she spends the first 10 or 15 minutes just helping him to relax and open up to her. She relies on me quite a bit to see what he can/will say at home.

My son's therapist was able to notice that he has low muscle tone around his mouth and jaw and that part of the problem is that his muscles are week and he's having trouble forming them and creating certain sounds. She gave me some ideas of things to try.

You're doing the right thing. Relax, talk to the therapist. Hopefully you'll get a better perspective and some concrete ideas of how to help your daughter. Good luck! It will get better!

Added:
Just wanted to add that many pediatricians will not refer a child to speech therapy before they are 2 years old. I'm sure you have many reasons for wanting to changes peds, but the fact that you just got a referral is not unusual (I would not consider this to be shoddy medical attention).

My twins were slow talkers. Everyone dismissed me when I said there was a problem. One spoke all the time but it was mostly gibberish. I called ECI when they were a little over 2. The gibberish one saw 4 different people before this one man said he had a weak tongue and cheek muscles. (Ask your daughter to stick out her tongue and move it from side to side---my son could not do this). Turns out his mouth could not form certain sounds so he would just substitute sounds---he was actually using real words when he spoke! Anyway, we did mouth and tongue exercises twice a day and he was speaking clearly a few months later.
If I had just trusted my instincts, he could have been talking sooner. I don't know why people discourage parents when there is an obvious problem...
Good luck!

Why did it take over a year to get her evaluated? You can call Early Intervention anytime you want, with or without your doctor. Do you mean she is getting private speech therapy? Listen, your daughter will be just fine. So easy to fall into the "Well, not MY child" trap, isn't it? Oh, yeah, those kids with issues must have crappy parents, right? Well, the truth is, some of them do. But lots of kids have minor issues and with help and most of all, supportive parents, they will be FINE! I did Early Intervention with my son at age 2 because he had about 20 words none of which where yes or no. At 20 months he had almost 10, so he wasn't gaining words as the correct pace. Not only did the help make a world of difference, he currently goes to a preschool where they continue to support his speech and he is now ahead! Please don't worry, and GOOD FOR YOU for pushing for this. You sound like a great mom.

Please try not to worry, you have done the best thing for her. My youngest son has a speech delay. He was always on the bottom of the scales with how many words he would say. He has great hearing, so I was so worried, especially having two older children that were talking by the age of 1 1/2. He didn't have to speak either, and figured that out early, he's very smart... I talked for him a lot, when I should have been having him tell me what he wanted, plus having older siblings. Around 3 1/2 he just took off speaking, he's 4 1/2 now, been in preschool this year and is doing much better, but it was when he was ready too. He does get frustrated sometimes when we don't understand what he's saying.

Please try not to worry, you daughter will be fine. Actually my son's dentist told me he had the same problems as my son and he was in speech and you would never know he had problems speaking... She may want to speak later, around 3-4 and that is okay and there is nothing wrong with her...

One thing you can do, is repeat the word. If you know she wants juice, say, What do you want? Then have her attempt to say something. Then get the juice out, say something like "you want Juice?" "Here is the Juice" or something like that...The therapist will have steps for you to do too... don't worry, I think you are an incredible mother who loves her baby!

I am probably the 100th person to tell you this, but there should be programs available in your area that will provide speech therapy until they are three, and then will transition them right into Pre-K..This is all provided at no cost, including the two years of Pre-K. Look into it..I live in Fl and the program I used for my son was called "Early Steps"..I found the info by contacting my county school system...He still wasn't talking, at all, at age 2 1/2..It worked out great, he is talking really well now and is 5 1/2..

I had a child that my wife and I just thought didn't speak because he got everything he wanted by pointing and crying or squeeling. He was around 4 before we insisted he speak and refused to respond to his pointing and squeeling or screaming. I personally think he would have graduated Validictorian in his high school, but we moved from a non-advanced placement school to a school with advanced placement classes and he never got a chance to catch up.

He graduated with a 3.97 average. So his not speaking wasn't because he was mentally challenged. It took about 3 to 6 months to go from pointing to normal speech.

I wouldn't even begin to worry about your child's speech development until they reached 3 years old. If she responds to your oral commands, and isn't hard of hearing I would just insist she begin to ask for things with words not pointing and squeeling or screaming or crying.

Good luck to you and yours.

I was in your same shoes at close to 2 yrs old. A few words would spit out here and there, but there just wasnt much. I mentioned my concern about why my child wasn't as talkative as others and what I got was to get him into speech therapy. Then I read some information and realized that Einstein didn't talk until he was 3 or 4. I just figured by the time my child is 3, I'll get him checked. He was able to point out shapes, colors, objects, etc. but not much talking. My child, for some reason, after the age of 2, will not stop talking now. He talks himself to sleep most of the time, lol! Had no speech therapy, not worried. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you as well. Kids go at THEIR OWN PACE, not at medical textbook pace.

Another example, a boy I babysit, started spitting out a few words a little before 1 1/2 years old, he's low on the percentile chart for height and weight, but he's a smart cookie.

I think of it as a child is absorbing everything in their environment and when they want to say something, they will. Analyzers before speakers -- something most adults don't do!!!lol!. Don't worry mom!

None of my kids have been early talkers. I think she will be fine and you will see a dramatic improvement. My son who is 3 1/2 might need speech down the road as he has a lisp...We'll see. Good for you for addressing it.

Congrats to your ped for finally doing the referral-Early Intervention is really amazing! My son at 2 would use like 15 words and grunt basically-I thought he would catch up and that boys were just slower in talking-I tried flash cards, videos, working with him etc and just could not make progress and we were both frustrated! Thankfully my ped said to get a speech eval, and a year later after speech 2x week my son is talking and confident in his speech and really is a huge difference! I am so thankful of the progress and I dont think he would be doing this good unless it was with the help of our speech therapist and ped. He used to be like 45% intelligible (where you could understand what he is saying) and now he is like 85-92% intelligible-So you see it really is a long road but it pays off! Good Luck!

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my son has a speech problem. he is going into kindergarden next fall. my peds always put me off unti lmy son was 3. then they said if by 4 he wasn't talking any better he would have to have speech. my son's problem is when he speeks in sentences it's hard to understand him. he says single words fine. that used to not be the case, though. i can tell you that he has improved almost 100% in 2 yrs. without speech therapy, so imagine what your daughter will do with it!

Not to make light of not talking and say you shouldn't have him evaluated , but my daughter who is 9 now and gifted , didnt say more than a hand full of words anyone could understand before age 2 , after 2 she started speaking in complete sentences. its like she was waiting until she had it exactly down pat before she started.

My daughter was only saying a handful of words till she was two and a half. We took her get evaluated and because she did try to say some words and was very advanced in understanding, they told us she didn't qualify for early intervention. A couple months later she just decided she wanted to talk. She is still a little behind but making progress all the time. We made her ask for things instead of letting her get them herself or just pointing. It worked a little, she did start saying those words but we had to initiate she never did. Finally one day she started showing interest in repeating everything we said. So I would make her ask for things and have her repeat one word at a time. IE. Can I Have Some More Juice Please. Once she repeated every word, I say "Yes, Raven you can have some more juice." It really helped. Just the repetition seems to be getting us somewhere. Good luck!