Please or to access all these features

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Need advice regarding my 3.5yo DD

12 replies

febes · 17/04/2011 03:48

She is a really difficult character and her language is delayed. I'm not sure if I should be worried about her or just enjoy her for what she is- a free spirit.
A brief background. She is the eldest child we also have DS who is nearly 2yo. She was a very good baby sleeping through early, very content, BF till 12 months, easy to wean, always happy etc.
I went back to work quite early she was 4.5 months but it was just 3 days a week and DH had her for the first little while and then she went to a fantastic childminder. I had Ds when she was 18 months so have been home with her since except the odd day supply teaching when she was with my SIL or my Sister.
We lived in the UK when she and Ds was born but moved back to my home (NZ) 5 months ago and had a 3 month holiday in SA (DHs home) on the way.
Most of her difficult behaviours are normal toddler stuff but she does stand out to most people as being more annoying. She breaks stuff and annoys other kids. She doesn't listen which is very frustrating. Her language is very delayed. She started talking at about 2.5 and now at 3.5 she knows lots of words and can say simple sentences but when she tries to tell you something she makes no sense. She seems way behind other of her age. The inability to communicate seems to be stopping her making friends. We spend loads of time with my sister who has a nearly 4yo DS and twin DSs 18months. She goes to Kindy (like nursery) 3 afternoons a week which she loves but the teachers there have talked to me about all the things I have mentioned here. At Kindy she mostly plays with her cousin. She also has just started ballet lessons as my sister is a dance teacher- she loves ballet and is really good at it.
She is awesome and has so many amazing qualities I just don't want people to think she is just annoying/ naughty etc.

What can I do to help her? Should I be worried or will she find her place in life?

OP posts:
febes · 17/04/2011 03:59

I am looking for a full time job at the moment as we need to be working to get a mortgage and its way harder to find part time teaching work. I'm worried about that too and how it will affect her. DS is an advanced talker and quite an easy character (although is nearly 2 so he has his moments!). They get on really well together.
DD really winds DH up. They are quite similar characters.
One of the things she does is 'steal' food and hides and eats it even though she has a really healthy appetite and eats well -we sit at the table eating together. She is not denied any food and has snacks offered regularly. She's tall and slim 16kgs (2st 7) and 107cm tall.

OP posts:
Parietal · 17/04/2011 06:12

Talk to gp or health visitor about language delay - they can reassure you or refer for more testing. Does DD communicate in other ways (pointing etc)? Does she understand what you say?

febes · 17/04/2011 08:43

Thanks for getting back to me. I have talked to the GP about it. He asked if she has her own 'language' and talks with intonation which she does. He said not to worry. I understand her and she can communicate her feelings to me but as she is now at Kindy I worry that she will be left behind her peers.

OP posts:
strandednomore · 17/04/2011 08:54

A lot of her "difficult" behaviour at the moment could be down to your move, especially as you spent 3 months in SA on the way. That is a lot of change for someone her age and she probably won't understand why she is suddenly living somewhere new. I have done major overseas moves when my dd's have both just turned 3 and it was pretty disturbing for both of them. Dd1's behaviour, in particular, was terrible for quite a while until she settled - so give her a bit of time.

febes · 17/04/2011 09:09

I thought about that but she has had these behaviours before, during and after!! I think she just might be one to watch. I just don't want to be missing something big.

OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie · 17/04/2011 09:12

febes has she had a hearing test? Some of what you describe could simply be because she can't hear as well as she should.

jetgirl · 17/04/2011 09:26

hey febes Smile pur nursery has a load of stuff about 'every child a talker', an initiative designed to help parents and carers improve communication with their toddlers, I could ask for info and pm you if you like. I learnt masses from the info session they ran last year.

Hope you're well.

lljkk · 17/04/2011 09:37

Did the worst of her annoying behaviours begin before or after the start of your travels?

lljkk · 17/04/2011 09:39

ps: speech development at this point is mostly about listening skills, anything you can do to help her listen better (not merely follow your instructions, but understand the key words in conversation) may help her communicate overall.

febes · 17/04/2011 10:41

That would be great thanks Jetgirl!
I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a hearing problem but maybe I should get her tested to rule it out.

OP posts:
lingle · 18/04/2011 16:53

Hi febes,

How lovely that she enjoys ballet so much.

I had two children with language delay, one sorted himself out in his third year (though I now realise that I had worked out quite a few techniques to help him that I now see in language books), the other required intensive help from me and I could have not worked full time whilst providing the level of help he needed. The chances are that if her language is such that you call it "very delayed" at 3.5, then you and your DH are going to be getting even more busy than you no doubt already are helping her! This is no bad thing - it will probably be much more fun for your DH to get a real handle on how to help her than to just get wound up....

You've put your finger on the true problem already - her communication problems are preventing her from doing some of the things that 3-year-olds need to be doing. So even if the biological language-development-thing (it doesn't matter what we call it) just sorts itself out (as it did eventually in both my kids - and perhaps in your DH too by any chance? ) she isn't having all the beginning-to-socialise experiences that you want her to be having at this age and that you observe the other kids having ....

In terms of health professionals, first of all, eliminate hearing problems (if only because health professionals won't consider anything else until glue ear is eliminated). Please don't take no for an answer.

Then, in terms of you and your DH using the best techniques you can, the simplest, best-written and most guaranteed non-scary, jargon-free book you can buy is "It Takes To to Talk". This is published by a charity called Hanen. They sell it on their website at hanen.org for a lot of money, but people on this forum usually buy it from a publisher called Winslow for about £32. Someone will link for you if you can't find it. I recommend this from the library of books in my head because you and your DH can both use it and you can show it to anyone - including the Kindy staff - without triggering arguments/defensiveness/panic. If you are going back to work full time, she is going to need help from both of you and the staff, working as a team and starting right now. This book will show you and DH appropriate techniques to bring on her language. It will help you become confident - she will have the advantages that the child of a speech therapist would have.

You mentioned that she doesn't listen. Consider also buying the poorly-named but very good DVD set "Teach me to listen and obey" from the www.teachmetotalk.com site. I recommend this because there are many many materials on helping children talk (almost too many) but astonishingly few materials that attempt systematically to show you how to help them listen.

Meanwhile, keep in mind that she may have some sensory problems and she may have more problems understanding and processing language than she does speaking it. She may also find it easier to make sense of the world if she has lots and lots of unchanging visual markers in her life like photographs of the places she goes to, a calendar by her bed that you use to tick off the days and mark special events, perhaps her own camera, etc,etc.

Think about whether you want to take her to a speech and language therapist once you have the hearing test results. They will assess her. If you know her communication is behind, you are likely to end up with a report saying exactly that. If that will galvanise you and DH further, so much the better - if it might depress/paralyse either of you, then think carefuly about how to stay in control of the process: you two are the star players in her team, and you need to stay on top form. But speech therpists are the ones who are really really good at working out if this is a problem with hearing, listening, processing what she hears, formulating a response, moving her mouth muscles to make the response, understanding the social rules behind to-and-fro conversations, or a combination of these. if it wasn't any of them, she'd be communicating as her peers do.

Come back if you want to talk more but no one can take in everything at once. As for worrying - just get too busy to worry. You'll soon have mustered all your teaching skills to work out clever ballet-themed games to help her communicate better. good luck.

febes · 18/04/2011 21:25

Wow thanks so much lingle I need to reread and process but thanks for taking the time to write this. I'm off to google the books you suggested Smile

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page