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

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

Behaviour/development

Could there be a medical reason why my almost 5 year old still can hardly talk? :(

36 replies

Jenk99216 · 30/03/2017 13:05

My son turns 5 in June he's the 3rd child out of 4, and his talking is still really bad, I can't even understand some things he says.
He has been in speech therapy since January but there has been no Improvement, he hardly opens his mouth when talking, he can open it wide he just doesnt, I'm wondering if there could be a medical reason which is delaying his talking like giant tonsils for example or something wrong with his jaw? I have a dr app next week but.juat thought I'd ask here :)

OP posts:

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Jenk99216 · 30/03/2017 14:39

OP posts:

Jenk99216 · 31/03/2017 14:07

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OP posts:

RedBugMug · 31/03/2017 14:10

obvious one - has hearing been checked?

endofthelinefinally · 31/03/2017 14:10

A dentist might be a good idea. They are probably more experieced with jaw issues than gps.
What does the speech therapist say?

Heratnumber7 · 31/03/2017 14:15

We had a little girl at Brownies who had apparently not started talking until she was 6. By the time we had her she was still quiet, but happy to chat if you engaged directly with her.
Some kids are just late developers.

LouKout · 31/03/2017 14:19

Yes..what does speech therapist say?

LouKout · 31/03/2017 14:19

6 is very very unusual

Jenk99216 · 31/03/2017 14:21

He is having a full hearing test this week, no problem with his baby hearing tests.
Speech therapist wants us to work on him opening And closing his mouth when talking

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LouKout · 31/03/2017 14:21

That was to herat.

Im glad you are getting speech therapy for your son OP. Hopefully your GP can helo more. Was wondering if the SLT had thought it was apraxia of speech or verbal dyspraxia.

HeyRoly · 31/03/2017 14:23

How is his vision?

I know one late-ish talker (only three, mind) who was recently discovered to have poor vision. Her speech issues were partly attributed to not being able to see other people's mouths moving as they spoke.

The fact you say he hardly opens his mouth when talking suggests there's definitely something going on. Has he always been like that? What about facial expressions in general?

Hope you eventually get some answers.

Heratnumber7 · 31/03/2017 14:25

6 is very very unusual
Apparently so, but true nevertheless

LouKout · 31/03/2017 14:28

Yes i wasnt doubting you, sorry. I just meant it probably wasnt that relevant to OP. But a nice story. My DD has said a few words since age 9, but she has autism.

user1490981241 · 31/03/2017 18:55

Could be autism but dscuss with your GP hun as it can be several things. Does your little one have a pacifier?

MissAdaSmith · 01/04/2017 05:09

is is 'only' the talking and not the understanding? any issues.

If the problem relates to mainly talking, I'd read up on verbal dyspraxia and see if that sounds like a fit?

is the Salt any good and specialised in this area?

Atenco · 01/04/2017 05:38

Yes a dentist would be able to identify and help if there is a jaw problem

imjessie · 01/04/2017 10:27

My son is 6 in June and cant really talk . He has special needs . I would have thought at 5 and not talking should be investigated ? How does he communicate ?

Jenk99216 · 03/04/2017 16:44

Hi, little update he had his hearing tested today and that is perfectly fine. I can understand most of what he says and he understands everything people say to him. He just can't pronounce a lot of words correctly
He was trying to tell me he wanted his older brothers Lego car and it sounded like lelow car and I thought he was saying yellow car and he was getting fruatrated when I didn't understand so he went and found some Lego instructions and showed them pointing at them saying lelow car and I realised he meant Lego car.

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imjessie · 03/04/2017 17:37

That's how my son communicates , he will use gestures and signing and if all else fails he will re intact what he is trying to tell me .

imjessie · 03/04/2017 17:38

How does he cope at school?

Jenk99216 · 03/04/2017 18:05

He loves school and wants to go every day, he only just started in Feb this year as we are in Australia so he's in kindy and does 3 days a week. His teacher says he's great with everything and on track for his age apart from talking and sometimes she cant understand him at all :(
He is finding examples of what he means more and more now when we don't understand him

OP posts:

imjessie · 03/04/2017 23:08

There is a thing called verbal dyspraxia , maybe look into that ?

Littlefish · 03/04/2017 23:10

I was thinking of oral/verbal dyspraxia too.

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Cakescakescakes · 03/04/2017 23:17

I was going to post verbal dyspraxia too. Sounds very similar to my friends little boy. Speak to your speech therapist about it - although a regular SALT won't have much experience of this and may need to refer you to a specialist.

As a heartening note my friends son has gone from virtually non verbal to being bel to make himself understood by strangers within 6 month of specialist treatment. Incredible progress.

ShortyShortLegs · 04/04/2017 01:02

Sounds like my son - he is 13 now and still doesn't have clear speech.
He has been diagnosed with a Severe Phonological Speech Disorder, also has traits of Verbal Dyspraxia, nasal speech and slurred speech. His understanding and language is not affected at all. His speech therapists thinks he also has Auditory Processing Disorder - perfect hearing is a red herring, APD means he hears everything but cannot pick out an individual voice, meaning following conversations or instructions is near impossible - he sounds deaf.

Intensive private and NHS speech therapy has made improvements, but people outside the family still can't understand him, once people get to know him it is easier. I now understand 75% of what he says first time. He also is very good at using alternative words/repeating until he is understood. He will miss the beginnings/middles/ends of words, but different ones each time and substitute letters so "Can I have a glass of juice please" would be "an I ah a dah a dus bees"...probably. Not always this combo!

He went through a stage where he hated his speech and would not say a single word out of the house, but now he is older he is much more confident and will speak when spoken too, but won't go and ask a stranger for anything.

Considering how his speech is, he actually manages very well, he did have an iPad with a speech app, but refused to use it (probably would have been brilliant when he was younger though)

Jeezypeepers · 04/04/2017 01:20

If it is verbal dyspraxia a good thing to do may be to teach him sign? It's worked really well for my neice

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