When did your dc finally speak if they had a speech delay

[lemonpops]

I'm so worried about my DS. He's 2 next month and still only says a handful of words. He's babbling a lot but none of it really makes sense. The odd hello, sticker, mama, Dada, baby mixed in.

He does have glue ear and is awaiting for the tests to be redone in a couple of months to see if it's cleared.

I'm worried he's never going to talk. We've upped his nursery to 3 mornings a week now as he's constantly babbling when he comes home.

I've taken him to a private speech therapist and we've got things to work on but not sure what else I can do to help him?

Any advice would be really appreciated. I'm worried he's never going to talk at this rate.

Neither DS nor DD could speak really when they started Nursey aged 3 and 2 months (DS) or 3 and 4 months (DD). DS could speak understandably, but with odd intonation by the time he started school at 4 years and 2 months. DD has just started another round of SALT aged 4 and 6 months, as it's only adults who know her well who can understand more than half of what she says; the words are there, they just don't make sense to most people.

DS's delay was hearing related, where as DD's is a phonological processing disorder.

Neither of them had more than a small handful of words at 2. Definitely under 15, probably under 10.

My DS had one word till he was 3.5 then he just spoke in full sentences. He is now 13 and still barley speaks unless he has to. Just a quiet boy.

My DS didn’t have any words until just a couple of days after his second birthday- suddenly he had loads. Then a year later he suddenly started putting words together to make sentences.
It seems to be the way he learns, really struggled to count then it suddenly came together and the same with reading and spelling too.

When I say word, I also include things like animal sounds, because the health visitor included them as words. DS in particular could do sounds, but not really words.

In my area they wont refer to NHS salt until aged 2, but unless you're planning on staying private with all of it, then start pushing for a referral as soon as you can. It can take quite a while.

Ds1 has bearing loss through glue ear and wasn’t even babbling at two he said nothing at all. He started nursery at almost 4 and although his speech was still quite immature he was easily understood and able to communicate. He’s 12 now and did have some speech therapy at primary school to help his pronunciation if you’d never know there were any delays really by the time he started school. Once it came it came he went from nothing to sentences.
Now I wish he’d shut up occasionally. I try and remind myself I waited so long for him to talk but nah he doesn’t know when to stop now.

Dgs didn't really start to speak properly until 3.5. We were beginning to get worried. He's now 5 and a right little chatterbox!

Your DS is saying a lot more than mine was at that age. DS was 2yrs 9m when he started speaking more than just "mama" and a few mispronounced colours. He's 7 and hasn't shut up since

DS was still babbling at 3, we self referred to SALT and he was given 45 minutes of one on one therapy every 2 weeks till he was 5.5.
He’s 8 now and you can’t tell at all that he’s had any issues.

my DS started talking when he was 3 and has not shut up since. 😂

My DD wasn't saying anything at 2, just babbling still.

We had SALT through the NHS and she started talking between 2.5 and 3. Of course I don't know whether it would have clicked at this time anyway and how much the SALT helped.

Now, at 7 she never stops talking and is incredibly articulate for her age. Nobody can ever believe she needed SALT!

my DC2 didn't babble, ever; and had only a very few poorly articulated words at 2 (eg caaaa for cat). She was referred for hearing tests, which always came back on the very low side of normal IYSWIM, and for speech therapy. By the time she was seen in speech therapy at about 2y9mo she had caught up just enough to be within the bounds of typical development.

She's now in YR3 with no discernable difficulties whatsoever.

DS had glue ear and started to talk properly about a week after his grommets went in when he was 3. The difference was amazing, going from 4 or 5 words to using sentences. It took over a year to get grommets though, probably even harder now.

Glue ear can really hinder a child's speech development as their hearing can be affected. Try to really push for grommets, so so so important a child can hear properly in order to develop proper speech.

My son was a late talker too. He's now 3,5 and still behind, though developing well now, taking into account his speech delay.

5 years old started to hear a definite improvement
And now at 8 he can say everything although his use of words and his tone of voice are quite immature
My other 2 spoke properly at about age 3

In my DS's case, his first word came at 2.5 and he started to put words together at 3.5.

I wasn't worried about his lack of speech at all to begin with and was more than happy to wait for his speech to come in according to his own natural timetable but the speech therapists and early years practitioners were 'concerned' and uniformly negative about his prospects and that did get me worried and somewhat neurotic about his speech development. There was a time when I thought of nothing else and was often in tears about it.

But DS is absolutely fine now! The experts were unduly pessimistic.

My advice is to enjoy your DS. They are only little for such a short time.
Follow the advice of the experts but try not to make speech the only thing you focus on.

I know how hard it is.

Shortly after DS’s third birthday he just spluttered hundreds of words out at once, I couldn’t believe it! Before this he only said five words, mummy wasn’t even one so the first time he said that I cried. He’s eight now and never shuts up .

Two of mine had glue ear, both had grommets put in and one also had adenoids out. They both came on leaps and bounds once had op

I've read all of these replies with interest OP - my DS will be 2 in February and he really has no words that he says. He used to say mummy, daddy, duck and quack but he seems to have forgotten them and just babbles away now. I got his hearing tested and have been in touch with the speech therapist at my doctors surgery (I'm in Scotland) and she spoke to me over the phone and sent me out some information and said if i'm still worried when he turns 2 to get in touch. Everyone one keeps telling me "they all come along at their own pace" but that dosen't help my worries at all.

2 out of 3 of mine have speech issues, 1 mild, 1 severe.

Dd (mild) was about 90% clear at age 5.
I noticed all was not what it should be at age 2 & 3, when I heard other toddlers speak.

DS (now age 5, severe) had language delay (only a few words at age 2) finally spoke in sentences at age 3 albeit very unclear speech - a stranger wouldn't have been able to understand most of what he was saying.

Age 4, improvement... strangers would have understood about 50% of what he said.
Language by then was where it should be (vocabulary, Grammar etc)

Now age 5, still a lot of missing sounds (e.g. One of the words from SALT is cargo, he says ardo) so he's missing the 'c' and substituting 'd' for 'g'
Strangers can probably understand 70% of what he says?
He has imo a long way to go

Sorry for the essay.
I'm also interested in replies. There's really no way of predicting the future. It can change very suddenly, or be extremely slow... e.g. DS took months of practising the 'F' sound at age 3 to 'get it'. 's' came overnight at exactly age 4, with no SALT intervention for that one.

I know some 2 year olds who were pretty much non verbal and then suddenly were speaking in full sentences and 100% clear at 3

DSD almost 7 was quite severely delayed with her speech. She barely said a few words aged 3. She finally began engaging with her Speech and Language Therapist around 4 and a half. I still found her really difficult to understand for a while, not helped by the fact I have a hearing loss. It's only really the last year or so we've been able to have proper conversations with her and she's really come along in leaps and bounds. She's recently been discharged from her SALT with the view of reviewing her again after Christmas.

We just kept talking to her, trying to engage her etc but honestly I think she just started engaging when she decided she wanted to. I don't think we could've made her go any faster or slower, as frustrating as that was for us and her SALT.

She's still really far behind compared to her peers but people can now understand about 80% of what she says. She still says things like lellow instead of yellow but now you can figure out what she's trying to say most of the time even if it doesn't come out quite right.

Mine wasn’t speech delayed as such.

However she wasn’t talking at 2. She understood and followed instructions, but barely spoke. No babbling, not even hi and bye.

By 3.5 she’d caught up fine. I’d not really thought much of it as she was very physical so i’d just thought that area was developing first. I remember dh mentioning something though, he had more experience with children than me.

Dc2 wasn’t fluent at 4. Had quite a significant lisp. By 6 was talking perfectly clearly and had caught up no problem with no intervention.

DS is 2 years 11 months. He isn't there yet, but since getting his glasses he has come on in leaps and bounds. He said my friend's name yesterday, he makes animal noises, he is learning new letter sounds all the time now he can see the shape our mouths make. He can say bus (well, sort of duff, is how it comes out). I nearly cried. He hasn't said Mummy yet but he signs it. He signs '[his name] and Mummy are friends' whe he wants to say I love you. All this has come since getting glasses - his hearing is perfect, but nobody noticed he was squinting until his 2.5 year check. They have changed his life. I know he will say Mummy one day (and I will cry, I know it. I'm feeling emotional just imagining it ).

So we aren't done yet, but anyone reading this - don't stop at checking their hearing. Check their eyesight too!

Hi SLT here! Please do not worry too much before 2:6- your childs speech sounds just fine for a not quite two year old. Lots of talking, stories, nursery rhymes will help- and keep your language simple ie instead of 'do
you want juice?' just say 'juice' we always say to add one word. So if your child can already say 'juice' you could add another word eg 'apple juice'. If not improved by 2:6, referral may to SLT may be appropriate. Do not ask your child to repeat after you - take the pressure off!

Thank you all so much for your replies. I've found them really helpful.

I'm going to push for the grommets sooner if we have to wait until he's over 3 because its glaringly obvious he often can't hear us.

The ear infections are a nightmare too.