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!

My son now four was exactly the same at this age, he now speaks wonderfully and has a wide range vocabulary too. I often get asked how old he is because people say he speaks so well for his age.
He had a huge language boost at three / three and a half ish.
Miss Rachel on YouTube is great. We also watched a little bit of her programmes for tips to give us an extra push.
I lost so much sleep over it and looking back I wish I had not worried so much xx

My daughter was exactly the same at 2. She could only say about two words, but had full understanding of what I was saying. She wasn't chatty at all and didn't babble. At 2 1/2 she hadn't improved and the hv referred her to speech therapy.
She's 3 in two months time and her first appointment is next month but in the last month she's come on leaps and bounds and doesn't shut up now. A lot is still very incomprehensible but it's improved so much.

My other daughter has been bought up exactly the same and at 16 months doesn't shut up.

Talk to your hv and get referred as the waiting list can be very long.

My son is just 3 and has only 5 words. We are on a waiting list for NHS speech therapy after an assessment (he has a significant speech delay, yet everything else seems fine with him... he needs support expressing/producing sounds). At the recommendation of the NHS therapist who did his assessment, we went private while we wait.

2 weeks after visiting the private therapist, he now has 2 new words and is finally making progress with his speech. He can say more sounds than I ever knew, and will need more cajoling to produce the more complex sounds but it seems the therapist is someone he'll pay attention to so we'll keep at it for the foreseeable. I wish we did this much earlier.

My son said nothing by his 2nd birthday - some animal noises and that was it . He is now 2 years 7 months speaks in full sentences clearly. He seemed to skip the stage of saying the odd word and almost went straight to quite clear sentences.

I was really worried as well , but he could also understand everything. We had our HV check at about 2 year 5 months and they said for this reason in our area they do checks closer to 2.5.

I'm not a speech therapist but mine is 2 in April and sounds similar just different words about 5-7?

I'm not worried. My first babe was a bit later to speak (not this late but still). They all get there in their own time. Receptive language is far more important than spoken language at this age.

Ds1 didn't speak at all until past his 2nd birthday. Don't remember when he started but it was shortly after and he never stopped! He did have trouble until he was 4 or 5 with a few sounds, k sounds and strong g sounds mostly. But it ironed itself out and he can now speak clearly in several languages.

Lots of children are like this, they get there in their own time.

2 is young...yes, it COULD be a problem, or your son could just be on his own developmental timeline. It's probably too early to worry, but probably not too early to start conversations and doing research.

My DD is 4 and in speech therapy. We suspected at 2 that she was far behind my son's speech milestones but the doctors weren't concerned. They said every kid is on their own timeline. But here we are 2 years later and she's in speech therapy because she can't speak clearly. Absolutely no cognitive issues, full understands language etc, but has trouble with a handful of sounds. She's making progress though.

I'd say this. You know your kid better than anyone. Get multiple opinions if you think the doctor is wrong. ADVOCATE for your kids. INSIST on more care. We have our yearly assessment coming up for DD and she's been getting 45mins of therapy once a week. It's not enough. Clearly. We're DEMANDING they at least double that for the next school year.



Small Talk by Nicola Lathey was a very useful resource book for us. It has lots of games and things to do together with your child to boost speech and language. You can also do the Jolly Phonics songs with actions to practice sounds you think he is missing. Also read to him a lot.

My dd didn’t speak properly until she was 3. She’s 13 now and won’t shut up! If anyone has any tips, I’d most appreciate it?

We can self refer in our area. Which I did for all of mine as in my gut I knew something was not right. If your worried I always say ask for help especially as lists to be seen are very long. Worst case scenario if you're wrong is someone confirming everything is ok which is great news.

All my children had salt input. Only one has outgrew their delay. One is 12 and his limited speech due to a learning disability the one that outgrew theirs never spoke until four then never stopped. They do have another diagnosis due to this which we would never have found without the delay.
The youngest has mild to moderate hearing loss due to glue ear which was a surprise as we thought he could hear fine. He's awaiting grommets to try help him and starts school this year with very unclear speech. He does understand everything you say to him though.

It's crazy we have three who have struggled with three very different reasons as to why but I always push if I'm worried.

Ah, ok. I just wondered from some of the way you describes things he says eg “iii air” for in there, possibly sounded like speech with a dummy in (no judgement, my kids had dummies), and also as an early year teacher I have referred children to SALT services in the past and been told they won’t get involved until the child is off the dummy (this wasn’t for initial SALT assessment but for further intensive intervention).
Good luck, OP.

He's not two yet, sounds fine to me, similar to my DD st the savage. She's now 2.3 and her speech has come on so much in the last few months. She said a five-word sentence the other day proud

Also, my daughter says 'in air' for 'in there' and it occurred to me recently that, when I'm talking quickly, I do that! The words blend together and I hang on the N a bit longer rather than actually pronouncing the TH. So I expect that's where it comes from lol