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Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Behaviour/development

Speech Delay?

17 replies

SugarnSpice · 29/06/2004 12:01

Hi all.
I have two daughters and a son. My youngest (ds) is 11 months old and happily points at things, waves at people and claps his hands when the rest of us clap our hands. He does not babble at all and still makes vowel sounds. He says Mamamama but usually only when he is impatiently waiting for food. He occasionally says "A-buh". Mostly he is quiet, watching the world go by.
I am worried that he has a speech delay. I would have expected ONE word by now, surely?

OP posts:

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Piffleoffagus · 29/06/2004 12:07

Sounds fine to me sugarnspice... He understands you, interacts adn points and waves, words will come, at their own pace... Try not to worry he is still very young

SugarnSpice · 29/06/2004 12:33

ta piff... I was wondering - I have opted to stay at home after my third. My two daughters still attend nursery two days a week as they love it. They are nearly three and their speech is amazing. I spend a lot of time with ds at home, and out for walks etc. I am wondering whether being a SAHM and not putting him in nursery is adversely affecting his speech development. I am in two minds as to whether to return to work and am thinking two or three days a week in nursery interacting with other 11 month old will bring his speech on. Or do you think this is unlikely to have any effect on speech development?

OP posts:

dinosaur · 29/06/2004 12:36

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

muminlondon · 29/06/2004 16:51

I thought girls usually talk earlier anyway? He sounds lovely if he's pointing and waving and interested in the world. It's great that he's able to get so much attention from you when your other girls are at nursery.

SugarnSpice · 29/06/2004 18:13

Yes, I also understood not to compare boys and girls as girls are quicker in language development. I just would have expected more babble and a word or two by now.
Not sure he is yet pointing to 'point something out', just points aimlessly at things. Does that count?

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muminlondon · 30/06/2004 14:36

I'm sure that counts! He may also be practising other skills at the moment or more interested in non-vocal gestures which is still communication.

jane313 · 03/07/2004 00:37

I have a year old son and know lots of babies (girls and boys) that age and none any have any proper words except mama and dada. According to every book I've read that is completely normal. They also really vary in the amount they babble too and when they do it.

Poppy1978 · 03/07/2004 11:47

My little boy is also rather slow at picking up speech (along with quite a few other things!). He is two now and only has about 20 words. At 11 months he was still completely silent. I think for some children it is just in their personality, my son has always been v laid back. He was assesed and found there was nothing more serious wrong.

As for babbling - neither of my children babbled and although my son doesn't talk, my daughter was talking in proper conversations at 2 years, I think all children are different and not all going to follow a set pattern.

I have never been concerned about my son, he is happy and so I feel no need to try to push him to develop quicker. The only thing that did help was because he preferred non verbal communication, we did work out quite a few signs for communication.

Hope this helps you.

SugarnSpice · 03/07/2004 15:56

Poppy1978 thanks - ds has started babbling away in the last few days... like a switch was thrown. Just mamamama and babababa and a few other sounds (dadada?) but quite a lot of it. I am relieved.
How was your son assessed? My son seems to be a little slow at most things. He is not getting about on his own - no crawling yet and no attempt to stand/walk. He really does just watch the world go by. AT least he isn't entirely silent with it now though!

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Poppy1978 · 04/07/2004 11:11

Thats great to hear SugarnSpice. I was lucky that Surestart operated in my area, and they had a speech therapist there, and she came round and assessed my son.

They did various tests to check understanding and communication skills. They concluded that he could understand fine for his age, and it was just speech delay. His has continued with speech therapy.

They actually said it was likely that my dd was the main cause of his delay, as she rabbits on all the time and doesn't give him chance to get a word in edgeways! You mention you have older children, so it may be some of that for your ds.

If you think that you may want speech therapy for your ds, I would recommend you get him down asap as there is a very long waiting list in a lot of areas, so its best to get him on the list, then if by the time you get to the top he doesn't need it, you can take him off.

and also, my ds didn't walk until he was about 14 months, although he was crawling at about 11 months. Prob won't be long before your ds is getting everywhere!

SugarnSpice · 11/07/2004 18:03

My son has stopped babbling again - very little sound for a few days now. He has however started bottom-shuffling around the house, so at last he is on the move. Could that be the reason he has gone quiet again? He is busy exploring our house.

At what age did you get your son assessed Poppy1978? I am considering getting a referral. I am not convinced he understands very much at all as well as not saying anything. I am also not sure I know how much he should understand at 11 months.

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Ursa · 17/07/2004 13:02

Hi, my son is 23 months old and speech is definitely not his thing. I've spoken to his doctor about it and was told that the Health Visitor would contact me and then only it will get escalated if there is a problem. That was a month ago. Tried to get in touch with the HV but no luck, the doctor has promised to email the HV again, that was last week. What should I do?

SugarnSpice · 17/07/2004 13:12

That's not good enough - a month going by and you are obviously concerned.
Does you HV not run a clinic where you could go and see her? This is precisely the sort of thing your HV should be discussing with you and dealing with. What else is she there for, for crying out loud!!!
Not quite sure why the doctor refers you back to HV. If I have a problem with my son, the HV refers me to the doctor.
Sounds to me like they are BOTH shirking their responsibilities.
I would suggest try once more to get in contact with HV and if that fails, go back to GP, complain and possibly ask to speak to another GP?

How much is your son talking/not talking??

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Jimjams · 17/07/2004 13:34

Well the HV will be pretty useless- they're not good with speech development. You would be better off asking for a referral to SALT. The waiting list down here for an initial assessment at the moment is currently about a year (seriously ds2 has been waiting since january and I have been told it will be at least another 7 months). They're not keen to do much before 3 anyway.

Or you could do what I've ended up doing with both boys and go private. If everything else is in place (pointing, non-verbal communication, etc then I wouldn't worry too much- actual speech often sorts itself out between 2 and 3- if things liem pointing etc are absent then you need to push- but in that case for referral to a paed).

Ursa · 17/07/2004 13:35

Well, he's good at calling me MUM at the top of his lungs. He say things like cat and ready, steady .. gi? But he does not string words together.

Jimjams · 17/07/2004 13:52

Sounds pretty normal speech development to me. Boys are often a bit slower. I don't think you need a referral just yet unless there are other concerns.

lingling · 17/07/2004 14:44

Keep pushing for help, assessments etc, my ds3 is 3 and 3 months and his speech is unintelligible. He is having grommets inserted and his adenoids removed in 2 weeks as he has had bad glue ear, but I don't think that this is his only problem. Next september he will be getting speech therapy at an ican nursery. I visited this last week and was quite impressed by the level of support being offered. So, yes at last he is getting help, but he really needed this help last year. I really feel that I wasn't pushy enough and didn't voice my concerns soon enough. (I first talked to the HV about his problems with speech just after his 2nd birthday and its taken more than a year to get any real help, meanwhile ds3 has been getting more and more frustrated)I wish I had gone private on his ear operation last year and paid for some private SALT but hindsight is a wonderful thing!! Do keep pushing for help

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