Any speech therapists out there? AIBU about my DS?

[Nearlyamumoftwo]

My first born DS in 2 next month and I’m concerned about his speech. Hoping to hear from
Others who were in similar positions and what happened, and if any speech therapists are out there, what do you think?

• he understands absolutely everything. He’s extremely observant and emotionally intelligent (I would say in all these cases he’s advanced, nursery have commented)
• only these words are recogniseable and said in context, including: mama, dada, no, , taddy (as part of ready steady go), myyyyyyyyy (mine), un-esssssss (downstairs). iiiiii—air (in there). No others.
• we can have a conversation - I will ask him a question and he will respond in utter gobbledee-gook but he is still listening to me and we take it in turns to talk (in his head he makes total sense).
• follows all commands
• can only do three animal noises
• I understand how he’s feeling and what he’s expressing using instinct, watching his body language and listening to his gobbledee-gook
• very well behaved
• babbles constantly

ive mentioned to nursery and whilst they agree he’s behind his peers they don’t seem overly concerned but they do agree that his understanding of commands, emotional intelligence and his observations are advanced and they have suggested his brain is busy doing this and not forming words. What are people’s thoughts on that?

would be great to hear from parents who have / had children in similar situations and what the outcomes were - thank you!

Bump 😀

Has he had his two year check yet? You could flag it at that for peace of mind.

He'll probs just catch up though. Are you reading with him every day?

Have you had his hearing checked?

ive mentioned to nursery and whilst they agree he’s behind his peers they don’t seem overly concerned but they do agree that his understanding of commands, emotional intelligence and his observations are advanced and they have suggested his brain is busy doing this and not forming words. What are people’s thoughts on that?

I think this part is bunkum. Plenty of kids are advanced in comprehension but still speak. Maybe he's just a late developer in speech, some kids just are. What I did notice with my daughter was that an explosion of gobbledygook meant an advance in speech was just coming. 2 is early for SLT unless there is an underlying reason to suspect there could be issues. Just keep talking and encouraging him, he'll likely get there.

What do you mean by emotionally intelligent?

I think you're putting a lot of meaning on what a toddler does or says if I'm honest - but I would raise this at his 2 year health check. Or your HV will.

I'm not a speech therapist but I had twins who both attended a SALT special unit in infant school as their speech was very far behind. One had glue ear and wore a hearing aid for a bit. No other issues, although they are both dyslexic. It's better to raise it now and get him on the list.

This doesn’t sound like normal speech development to me. You should certainly have his hearing checked. Go with your instincts. It can take ages to get initial appointments, never mind an assessment. We had a gut feeling that ds1’s speech wasn’t right but so many people ‘reassured’ us, we didn’t seek help as early as we should have. However, he did end up seeing a wonderful speech therapist and it was the best thing that could have happened to him.

My 2 year old had speech delay caused by glue ear and pronounced wordm as sounds rather than each letters, he had grommets and picked up speaking straight away

I found this useful

speechandlanguage.org.uk/talking-point/parents/ages-and-stages/

I agree with getting a hearing test and asking for a referral to the SLT

I'm a speech therapist and I would say it's far too early to be concerned. I'd imagine he'll be on the brink of a language boom pretty soon. His communication sounds great.

Also, I would slightly disagree with an above poster. In terms of development, children don't develop in all areas all at once. It's quite common to see them being 'advanced' in one area and 'behind' in another - they are just averages.

Make sure he's hearing is ok, and keep modelling simple language for him. Don't ask loads of questions, "what's this, what's that?" Name things, expand on things he says (yes, mama's here, it's mama's turn, let's go downstairs, etc. Add a word or two to what he says). Do lots of singing and rhymes and turn taking games. I'm sure he'll be fine, he's really young still.

if he’s not yet two, he may not have a lot of speech? My daughter talked a lot of gobbledygook and it was her way of forming speech - she was premature though so fell behind on milestones and then caught up - no problems with speech aged 12 😂 She also had glue ear and hearing loss as a baby.
My advice is go to a speech therapist and get them to test him - they’ll tell you if he’s in normal range.
I had to devote myself to developing her speech - constant talking, reading, singing, repeating - it really was intense but it worked.

I would definitely recommend asking your GP for a referral for a hearing test.

Then I would ask at Nursery if they can get any access to advice.
In the LA I am in, Nurseries can access advice from SaLTs both before a child is referred and also whilst a child is on a waiting list.

Very similar situation here, almost identical in fact with the situation you explain.

We have the HV finally this week after pushing for it and I've been waiting for a hearing referral though I don't think I'm too concerned about hearing.

She's totally able to understand everything we say and ask of her, just cannot express herself back to us and gets very frustrated.

I'm desperate to help her - please do keep this thread updated OP.

Get in the queue for Speech Therapy and by the time you get your appointment, you can see whether there is still a problem.
Mine started talking at 2,5 years. I was worried sick, in hindsight there was no reason to stress, but obviously it’s not how it works when you’re a parent.

I had a SALT initial appointment for my 2.5 year old recently and they gave me some exercises to do and told me to come back in 4 months time if she hasn't improved. I was told they don't really work directly with children until they're 3/3.5.
DD has more words than your DC but a lot of them are really unintelligible because she drops the start, end or both. Since her appointment she's come on loads though, I think some children just take a bit longer but it is very worrying and frustrating especially when you see other kids chatting away at the same age. Still worth keeping an eye on and getting hearing tested I reckon.

My DD was exactly like this at 2. I pushed and pushed for SLT and they referred her for a hearing test at 3.5 ‘for completeness’. We found she had significant hearing loss, even the consultant was surprised. Anyway, it wasn’t permanent and has improved as she has grown. Now age 7 and her hearing is in the normal range, though if she has a cold/congestion it can dip. Knowing there was a problem helped us model pronunciation and repeat words back etc. it has never held her back. Definitely push for a test, there may be nothing wrong but best to make sure. Good luck OP!

I personally would follow this up and push for hearing checks and speech assessment.

As an SLT myself- I am a bit surprised that you are telling the op to wait and see when the waiting lists are atrocious. Having no words at 2 is not the norm- we would expect at 2 for children to put two words together. Now- although there are some variations in child language development, we have numerous studies on typical language acquisition to support our notion that x child should be using/understanding such and such at this age.

We don't use the term language delay anymore as there's no research to back this up. Most of these children "catch up" by 5 years. This could be the OP's case but I will not adopt a wait and see approach.

OP I will get a referral to speech and language and ask the GP to refer for a hearing assessment- which you can get done relatively quickly (depending on the borough). The waiting lists are about 6-12 months for language and I would get myself on the list pronto.

Except in some Authorities SaLT won't accept referrals from under 2s. Some won't accept referrals without intervention evidenced first. (This is to make their waiting lists appear shorter). You won't get an appointment for any therapy within 12 months in my authority.

Does he use a dummy?

Hi @Bernadinetta no never a used a dummy

It sounds very much like all the foundations are there he just hasn’t met the milestones. As far as I understand there’s a concern when they’re not babbling, listening, following instructions. My DS was very similar. We had an appt with a private speech therapist who gave us some great tips - which really did made the world of difference and he soon caught up.

Hi everyone - thanks for all your replies. Will read them all now and come back! X

This sounds like my son, happy, bright and chatty but speech clarity etc was slow. As he had distinguishable words that he used in the right context by age 2, I dismissed it. (HV did refer for hearing test at my request, which he passed.)

I now know he's neurodiverse - which can be v wide ranging and includes things dyslexia. Didnt want to concern - you but although my son was poor meeting his milestones I dismissed things as he was clearly very bright kid. Dont know what I'd do differently but I'd pay more attention to the whole overall picture and seek expert advice.

His speech was well within normal range by preschool.