4 Year Old - Speech delay and behavior concerns - advice needed!

[Toomuchhistory1]

Hello,

Looking for a bit of advice for my 4yo DS. Since he was around 2 i flagged with our health visitor and doctor my concerns regarding his delayed speech development. He made noises but no real words. We went through hearing appointments to rule this out, seen a pediatrician and had some speech therapy.

He is now 4 and in pre school (starts reception in September), his vocabulary has got better although he is still struggling with some words. I tend to understand him a lot more than other people do although i can see he is getting there. Unfortunately we've moved house in the past 9 months and different NHS areas so have been transferred over but seem to have been shunted to the back of the queue so further speech therapy only available in January.

In addition he was supposed to have a further pediatric appointment to review his development, his last was in June, however after contacting the new local NHS to check where this was up to they said he had 'only' been on the waiting list for 13 weeks and there is a 33 week wait! WTF!

My concerns are obviously with regard to his speech, but also that he is consequently falling behind in his development and i'm so worried about him starting school in September and being so far behind. Additionally he does have some behaviour issues - in most every day situations he is a happy sociable little boy however he struggles to understand some scenarios. For example when I drop him off AND pick him up from pre school he becomes quite teary and upset (upsetting for me more so when im picking him up as it looks like he doesnt want to come home with me!). He soon settles but then his key worker tells me whenever they move onto a new task such as snack time, lunch or other activities he becomes upset, but soon settles and continues like the other children. Even sometimes when he sees people and they say hello and ask him how he is he becomes teary and upset. He quite often settles again after a few minutes but initially he doesnt want to engage. I ask him what he has done at school and he says 'i dont know' every day, but i wonder if he just cant tell me.

After discussing with my DH we do wonder if it is all stemmed to his speech and potentially some self confidence that goes with it and not being able to say what he wants, or does anyone have any experience with something similar and how was this resolved? I'm just getting myself so worked up and worried particularly with him starting school in September any advice is appreciated!!

[user1477282676]

So sorry you're going through this wait.

Have you heard of the Hanen programme?

www.hanen.org/Programs/For-Parents/It-Takes-Two-to-Talk.aspx

There's some excellent advice on the site.