New mindee with very limited language skills

[Tan1959]

I am about to start minding a lovely 2.7 year old little boy who has an extremely limited vocabulary. Mum of mindee says he will end up being Special Needs! Having met him today, I have decided to take him on (had to make sure that I would be able to give him the extra attention that he may need). I played and observed him for three hours with mum present. He basically communicates by squealing and pointing and screams alot - I heard him say 7 words only. Can anybody give me some advice on specific activities that would encourage verbal communication - I use puppets quite alot with my other mindee generally and thought that this could encourage his communication. Is there a book I could read which would help me to help him? Any advice would be much appreciated by anyone who has any relevant experience of this.

[QueenOfQuotes]

bump for the morning crown.

[mumtosomeone]

Cant help at all, but came across a child that sounds similar and he had verbal dyspraxia. We made sure he looked at us when we spoke to him etc. Just normal stuff really! He did have speech therapy and stuff. Its a while ago now so I dont remember much more!

[mumtosomeone]

mighthelp

[QueenOfQuotes]

another bump for the morning crew

[mumtosomeone]

Was the link any help? although is Tan1959 here?

[QueenOfQuotes]

don't know if she's around atm, but thought I'd bump in case any of the other SN posters have any more ideas.

[Tan1959]

Thanks everyone for your input and advice;
mumtosomeone: thanks for the link - I have had a brief look and will read later as expecting my current mindee soon - at first glance, I think the link will be helpful.

Having spoke to the mum of mindee yesterday, all she said was that her son didn't say very much and didn't mention whether he had seen a Therapist - I suspect not. She has given me the name of her Health Visitor and invited me to give her a ring if I wanted to ask anything about mindee. Mum of mindee has given me lots of general info about her son but not about his 'special needs' as such. I am also wondering if he is Dyspraxic as he is apparently very 'clumsy' although I did not observe to the extent of him bumping into things - he is also very 'heavy handed' but does make good eye contact. I may use the mirror technique when trying to encourage him to say words - not sure if I'm going along the correct path though. I will give mum a ring and ask whether he see's a Therapist etc. then maybe ring the Health Visitor.

[Davros]

How about looking at Signing (not baby signing, prob Makaton) and visual materials? Lots of pix and gestures!

[amynnixmum]

Your mindee sounds a lot like a little boy I used to mind. He was finally diagnosed with dyspraxia and his verbal dyspraxia was so profound that I don't think he said any recognisable words before about 3 1/2.

I looked after him from about 18 months until he started school f/t at the beginning of this year. His Mum didn't try to get him speech therapy until he was about 2 1/2 and then I think the difference between his speech and my ds (who is the same age) was so marked that she knew he needed help.

We used to use Sign Along with him which is a bit like makaton and he responded well to that. This was done as part of the treatment plan that his therapist devised to help him communicate and she organised for me and his preschool to have a Sign Along course.

It really sounds as though he needs to be assessed by a speech therapist if he isn't seeing one already. Last time I spoke to the mum of my mindee he was doing really well and holding conversations. I know that he wouldn't have been able to do that without the support of his speech therapist.

One thing that I was recommended when he was first assessed is to sing repetative nusery rhymes that have actions and also to try and get him to make onomatopoeic noises such as woof woof or pitter patter.

Not sure about any books but I can email his mum if you want and ask her.

[amynnixmum]

Your mindee sounds a lot like a little boy I used to mind. He was finally diagnosed with dyspraxia and his verbal dyspraxia was so profound that I don't think he said any recognisable words before about 3 1/2.

I looked after him from about 18 months until he started school f/t at the beginning of this year. His Mum didn't try to get him speech therapy until he was about 2 1/2 and then I think the difference between his speech and my ds (who is the same age) was so marked that she knew he needed help.

We used to use Sign Along with him which is a bit like makaton and he responded well to that. This was done as part of the treatment plan that his therapist devised to help him communicate and she organised for me and his preschool to have a Sign Along course.

It really sounds as though he needs to be assessed by a speech therapist if he isn't seeing one already. Last time I spoke to the mum of my mindee he was doing really well and holding conversations. I know that he wouldn't have been able to do that without the support of his speech therapist.

One thing that I was recommended when he was first assessed is to sing repetative nusery rhymes that have actions and also to try and get him to make onomatopoeic noises such as woof woof or pitter patter.

Not sure about any books but I can email his mum if you want and ask her.

[Tan1959]

Davros - I'll speak to the mum about Makaton

Amynnixmum - I am glad that you gave a example of onomatopoeic noises as I was just about to reach for my dictionary! yes please, if you could ask her that would be great

[Davros]

You could do Makaton in a fairly unobvious way by using the CBeebies show Something Special which kids of all sorts seem to enjoy. You can get it on DVD now, although its relatively pricey, but maybe you could get one set between you and his mum? For visual stuff you could just use a digital camera or polaroid and take lots of pix of your home, places you go etc, picture of you for him to take home, doesn't have to be too formal to start. I wonder if the mum would be resistant to any formal intervention which is why I have suggested doing it this way to start.

[Tan1959]

Davros, well funny you should say that as I trialled him all day today and spoke to his mum about Speech Therapy - she mentioned that the Health Visitor commented that he will develop his speech when he is ready! that was when he was two. I probed a little further with regard to his speech and the mum did become a little defensive in that she said he says alot more when he is at home! that wasn't what she said before though so not sure really how to go forward with this - obviously she knows her child best!

[amynnixmum]

Its difficult isn't it. I was in a similar position with the mum of my mindee. It was obvious to me that something was 'wrong' from the first week I had him but she didn't see it. When I first started looking after him his communication difficulties extended to dislike of being touched or making eye contact.

I really thought at the time that he might have autism or something similar but i didn't know how to approach his mum about my concerns as at the time she would have panicked. She came to realise herself that it was more than just slower than average development and started trying to get him help.

Do you have any other children in the house of a similar age. I am sure that it was seeing my ds with her son that made her realise that he needed help.

[Tan1959]

Amynnixmum: Invited the little one for another trialling all day session on Wednesday and when mum arrived she told me that she had been thinking about what I had said and is going to contact her Health Visitor - I think she now realises that he does need help. Funnily enough she did comment on how my other mindee (same age) has such good verbal skills and is a real chatterbox. She is really sweet as she tells him to take his dum dum out so he can talk to her and removes it from his mouth!

[Davros]

Well done Tan, she probably had doubts but needed a kind shove in the right direction! Let's hope the HV doesn't fob her off.