DD speech delay - not glue ear, so what else?

[TootaLaFruit]

My DD is 2.4 and has very few words. I've always felt a niggle that something might be up but didn't want to be an overly anxious parent, especially as everyone always says "kids develop at different rates/one day she'll wake up speaking whole sentences etc"

But, her nursery (which she goes to 3 morning a week) spoke to me and suggested we have her tested for glue ear as they felt her speech was very behind where it should be. By that I mean it's not that she's not trying to speak, it just all comes out completely babbled. She really, really tries but is pretty much incomprehensible. My DH and I are pretty much the only ones who get what she's saying, and a lot of the time I have no idea. She doesn't make sentences either, or use verbs. It's all 'more, eese (please), nanoo (thank you), mummy, dada, no, inder (in there), dees (this)'. That really is about it. A few animal noises and grunting sounds to convey pretty much everything else.

Anyway, sorry for going on, I will get to the point! Her hearing test came back perfectly fine, no glue ear or liquid at all and everything normal. I'm taking her to see a paediatrician to rule out anything else, but can anyone give me any advice on what it could be. I'm worried that if I don't push for her to be tested for the right things then they'll miss something and she'll end up even more delayed.

Sorry for the length of post and thanks if you're still reading! She also drools a lot - painting a gorgeous picture, aren't I?

[TootaLaFruit]

Thanks, will have a look now

[CarGirl]

I agree Leonie especially with the dribbling thing it could very well just be verbal dyspraxia rather than an auditory processing thing.

I'm not sure whether a private test would have picked up a APD issue. Dds was done by someone who treats APD as well as other issues. Her hearing was passable it just didn't reflect normal hearing - so everything would sound distorted to her.

Did you get a copy of her hearing test - if not ask for one. I also think at such a young age it is harder for them to pick up at exactly what level they can hear individual noise levels. The practioner I used works out of windsor twice a week - he treats neuro developmental delay as well.

I was told by the SALT that dd needed to be 3.5 before she started therapy for her kind of speech problem ie old enough to understand that what she was saying wasn't the same as what she said - presumably before that she was thinking "but that's what I said - Yes?" whereas she actually said "neh"

Long waiting lists and be prepared speech therapy is all about you learning how to help your child day in day out to develop their speech and listening skills and learning when they've had enough.

Easiest thing to do is modelling - repeat back what they've said paraphrasing but pronouncing correctly and when I bit older/more able to try and say the correct sounds "do you mean gog or dog???" It's all about little and often.

[ragged]

The SALT thatI am doing with DS (just 3yo) is all about him listening (developing better listening skills) and me talking a lot to him, as clearly as possible. I can see what CarGirl means about more structured SALT not being that effective before 3.5yo.

tbh, OP, I think a lot of this talk about various conditions is premature. The only alarm bell for me in your description is the drooling. The rest sounds like pretty bog standard speech delay.

[TootaLaFruit]

I'm definitely going to ask the dr to check out her tonsils and whether the drooling could be down to enlarged adenoids - I guess these might affect her speech?

Other than that I guess get a SALT referral, speak to nursery and see where it goes from there. Her speech doesn't sound as delayed as others on here (children, not posters!) and she's been trying to speak loads more in the last few days.

[HayleyK]

Can you get your GP to refer you to Nuffield centre www.ndp3.org/dyspraxia-referral-guidelines.html - can then get on the waiting list to be assessed to see if verbal dyspraxia.

Kingston meant to be very good for verbal dyspraxia, so their therapists should know also.

Also possible to go to someone privately who worked at the nuffield to get assessment without waiting - mail me separately if you want details.

On another note for you or anyone else who has a confirmed diagnosis, there is a big NHS review going on at the moment into services for kids with verbal dysrpaxia, the deadline for responding is 25 March and there has been very low response rate. Verbal dyspraxia children need intensive therapy and since the speech unit specifically for this run by the Nuffield but which was in Ealing, was closed, there is very limited services available in most boroughs. Please can anyone interested make sure that they respond to the consultation by 25 March.


This is the link to the consultation document:
//www.ealingpct.nhs.uk/nuffield_consultation.asp
You can fill it in quickly and easily online here: //www.ealingpct.nhs.uk/Nuffield-Questionnaire.asp or sending in your response by mail.

Additionally, if you have any contacts who also have children with verbal dyspraxia, or speech therapists, drs etc. with an interest or experience, it would be great if you could forward this on to them.

There is also a 'conversation cafe' from
12 - 2 pm on the 9th March at the Royal National Nose Throat and Ear Hospital. Refreshments will be provided and you are invited to drop in at any point during the advertised times to discuss the consultation with one of the facilitators. It would be helpful to know if you were coming for planning purposes but also please turn up on the day.

There are also the focus group sessions planned for 16th March from 2 - 4pm in Ealing Town Hall W5. This is not a drop in session as they would like you to be there for the whole meeting Please would you let Fiona Harcombe know if you are intending to attend this event [email protected]

[nailak]

my dd2 is 2.5 and she says few words she has only just started talking, before she only used prelearned phrases, i think this can be a sign of autism?

my nearly 4 yr old talks a lot, her language is perfect but her speech is very unclear, took her to chatterbox, they sent her to speech therapist who said she couldnt do anything until after she is 4..

[Sarah286]

HI, i am new here,
My 2.5 year old boy only says daddy and mummy and no, and his new thing is dadda do and do dadda, he is very good with eye contact, attention span, social, understands what we say and what we ask him to do, and his hearing is good, now i know kids are meant to say 50 words atleast by 2 yrs, i have recently read a great book called "the late talker" and it is very informative, i would recommend reading it, besides having a speech pathologist help your child, there is an alternative, which is giving your child omega 3, and the parents who did trials with it had good to brilliant results, I know it is not a miracle cure or anything however what can it hurt?, so my partner and i are going to give our son omega 3 as well as a speech pathologist and see how it goes.

I will post the results on here :)