Aibu to think that I can work with Ds (25 m/o) to improve his "severe expressive language delay"

[FurCoatNoKnix]

DS has been assessed as having a significant expressive language delay with attention issues and paediatrician has rated him as being less than 12 months on language age. He babbles constantly but she couldn't get his attention often during the assessment. And he's barely talking. She wants to see him again in six months. Aibu to think I can do something and work with him intensively in that time to improve him? Surely there must be personal interventions I can carry out and some extra support may bring him up?

The funny thing was even though Dd had finally started talking, she point blank refused to talk to our GP. Its like she had swore to never speak to her!
It's only the audiologists at her regular hearing tests noting how good her speech was that convinced our GP that she didn't need SALT.

I've just finished a six wk course with my 2 yo twins, at the Childrens Centre. It's called 'Talk and Play' and we were booked onto it following a 'Well Comm' assessment they did.

It might be worth getting your DH to drop into your Children's Centre and see if they offer the assessment / course, or anything similar.

The course has been great for my two and there were lots of handouts with info about helping their speech.

In the sort term, one thing that really helped mine was to speak slowly and clearly, in short sentences.

So instead of me waffling at them,

'Come on, it's time to get Ds 1 and 2 from school now. Lets go and get our shoes and coats on, it's a bit cold outside, looks like it might rain', blah blah

Just say,

'Time for school. Where are your shoes? Coat on.'

That kind of thing. Let him hear the words that matter and try and try and cut out the waffle around it.

The hearing test is useful even if it comes back as fine. Our audiologist wrote a very good report for the paed pointing out her concerns regarding ds's attention issues etc which helped us get him the right support

I would definatley get his hearing checked my son is nearly four and does not really speak he is autistic however,but,I insisted on a hearing test first to rule hearing out my son does appear to have good unde standing of everything we say to him .

Agree with jojay it's so tempting to bombard them with a running commentary but actually saying less is actually better.

What area are you in? I could direct you towards someone who could recommend a speech therapist if you're in the SE.

What classes does your DH take him to at the moment? Switching the tv off when you're talking can help, the background noise makes it very tricky for toddlers to pick up on words and the variety of sounds.

Is DS still using a dummy? Is that inhibiting his speech? Does he enjoy singing/music?

Can I second the Hanen, It takes Two to Talk, recommendation. Easy to read, easy to ge into the habit of and recommended by my DS's lovely SALT. It seems expensive but it really worth it.

www.winslowresources.com/hanen-it-takes-two-to-talk.html

FurCoat, I have this which is produced by the ICAN charity mentioned up thread. I bought it when I was worried about DS' s speech but never used it as he suddenly started talking! I found it today in a box of books (moved house recently) and wondered what to do with it. I would be happy to pop it in the post to you if you would like it? It would be good to see it put to use!

When ds2 was at this stage and had similar problems - though his diffs were more 'global' - I was breadwinner and dh at home. Something I had to point out was that he needed to talk to the child - and switch off the radio. It was frustrating at the time. I ddi get a S &LT to back me up and explain things to dh. I know this may not be part of your problem, but just saying.night!

We learnt Makaton quite early - that helped a bit as ds2 got very frustrated as he got older. But he liked signing to ask for certain items and it was fun!

When with him, I talked constantly - lots of chatting about what I was doing, simple requests, rephrasing if he didn't understand, lots of praising, looking at pictures in books etc. I think it all helps.
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Very tired and must shut down for the night, so sorry if any of this not clear.

The early SLT advice we had , which was invaluable, focused on having regular short play sessions with my dd where I completely followed her lead on what and how to play, brought my language down to the one to two word level and waited for her to make eye contact before I would say anything. This seems to ensure that you are using words your dc is interested in, exactly when they are interested and that their focus is on what you are saying, at a number of wordsvthey are capable of processing.
good luck with it all.

Talking Point adn

iCan

both have Speech and Language Therapists you can phone for advice.
Also lots of information and resources on both sites - certainly worth a look through.

Sorry, just came back to this. I think I just went through a website to find. I paid around 60-80 for the assessment then around 40 per session. It varied from fortnightly to monthly. It never took more than 10-20 mins a day so you could do it even with working. I would really advise recording your child as you go along as it takes time and is gradual so you often don't realise the difference. Dd3 took 18 mths to move from a stammer and severe speech delay to no stammer and being understandable. My only regret is that I wasted from 3-4 on NHS provision

I just lost a long post.

We found the nhs speech therapy didn't work well for us, but know a wonderful private speech therapist in Oxford, if you are in that area.