Support thread for speech and laguage delay toddlers...

[Orangeflower7]

Hi, I have a little boy of 2.5 and we have just today had our first speech and language referral appointment as he is not saying many words yet. I thought maybe other parents might be in the same position and would like to share experiences for support?

It took a few weeks for the appointment, which we were referred to by the health visitor. The therapist told us he has a moderate language delay and has given us ideas of some signs to use with him, she has advised us to keep language clear and simple and we will get a place at a toddler group run by speech and language therapists who will observe and support us. Not sure how long that will take as they only have 6 children in a group but there is an option we can go to the next town if necessary. He also had his hearing tested by the hospital audiologist last week and they said his hearing was fine.

It seems extremely poor to me too schobe. Also it appears to be a new SALT we are seeing today. That will be the third who's assessed DD since last November.
I am expecting the patronising head tilting, the "concern" over my DD's quirks and very little actual PRACTICAL help with her speech issues.
Have ordered "It Takes Two To Talk" as it appears that in the absence of available funds for private therapy, I am going to have to undertake a crash course in SALT myself and attempt to teach DD myself.

arrogantcat. My ds saw a SALT at 3.5, like you I was offered little therapy - just a couple of large group sessions which wouldn't have worked as he didn't have enough concentration.
I wrote back to ask for more and to my surprise she suggested that she could put ds forward to the provision panel for referral to a SALT nursery. He did quite well there I think tho we both missed his lovely local church pre-school.

Is this a possibility for you?

I could be. I will ask today if it could be a possibility. Thank you. How is your DS's speech now?

Ds is now 5.5. His speech is quite clear but stilted and young for his age. As he became older it became clearer that he had more problems with understanding than expressing language. He also has delays in other areas - motor, attention, social. His current dx is global delay but he also has autistic traits.

some examples of speech now:

Ds never shuts up now - going on about his dinosaurs, toy soldiers and diggers. He is very repetitive he will say "look mummy an aeroplane, aunty sue went on an aeroplane to australia, she saw a koala" at least once a day! but we indulge him because he is communicating with us and we remember how long we waited for him to put two words together.

He is quite imaginative - telling us that his peice of toast looks like a dolphin, planting stones and telling me they are beans that will grow into magic beanstalks

He can now sometimes tell me about his day. I asked him if he played with danny at school. First he said yes then he remembered and said "danny wasn't at school. He went on ferry to visit his grandad" (I checked with school and this was true).

he plays very nicely with his 3yo sibling - tea party games and mudpies

He is progressing really well but the gap between him and his peers is still widening as they develop faster. We don't know if or when he will start to close that gap.

LateDeveloper, my DD also has some autistic traits. She is often in her own little world, has no interest in interacting or playing with peers (although she does play with her elder sibling aged 4.5) and can be repetitive in her playing skills although saying that, she does seem to have a good imagination too.
We are not so much interested in labels but more in bringing our daughter on.
It seems such a long slog to get any help and no one seems interested in her language delay but simply in diagnosing her with something.

I guess the reason why we are not interested in any sort of label or diagnosis is that apart from speech delay, DD has no behavioural problems. She is happy, smiley, lively, rarely has tantrums, has no issues with routine and appears to enjoy her life.

I agree that dx doesn't necessarily bring any more help. we spent far too much time waiting to get to the top of waiting lists, dragging ds to appt at inconvenient times only to be told there is now another x wait for treatment or worse "here is a badly photocopied sheet of of blindingly obvious stuff to do at home".

on the other hand dx can open doors for support at school and to meet other parents for support.
getting in "the system" got ds into the SALT nursery and helped with statmenting so he can have 1:1 at his mainstream primary.

ds does not have a dx of ASD - this is not because he doesn't have ASD nor because we are avoiding getting a dx. It is because the waiting list for the team who can do the dx is over 3 years!
Could go private but rather spend the money on other stuff.

I am amazed that assessment and subsequent diagnosis for ASD varies so much depending on where you live.
The paed we saw two weeks ago hinted at a diagnosis during the first half an hour of meeting our daughter and indicated that a couple more visits would result in a diagnosis if we wanted it.

Your experiences of the NHS service are not encouraging! (I work in the NHS, but am well aware that there are very bad and some very good pockets).

I had quite a good experince yesterday, but I am not at the stage you guys are at (yet anyway). I saw the HV, she spent over an hour with us, was very nice and on the ball, and seemed to think that although DS is obviously speech delayed, other aspects of his development seemed good (he was, for a change, not hyperactive or destructive in the room! I put this down to our having put him on a much lower sugar diet). Anyway, she said that she will contact our private SALT and get a written report from her, then talk to the developmental paed and probably make a referral. The wait is about three months.

I have actually made contact with the private developmental paed Daphne Keen (on advice of others on MN, on special needs thread), and have the phone number to make an appt (will cost £750! Medical insurance might pay but I have not checeked this yet).

I think however I might wait a few months for that as well, as at this stage (2.3 with expressive language delay but rest of development apparantly not bad, can be quirky but also has good eye contact, sociable with adults, loves a game and a joke etc) any paed will probably say its too early to tell anything for definite, and you need lots of SALT, which is what we are already doing (along with Two to Talk and starting Makaton). Whatever the "diagnosis" or not, the HV implied to me, there is not a lot extra that we can be putting in right now.

My daughter can name around 400 odd objects but she doesn't really make many sentences out of them. This is coming though, very slowly.

She has a significant speech delay according to her paediatric development report. Her pronunciation is not very good and I have to translate what she is saying to most people (even the speech therapist).

When she is with her friends of the same age you can tell she is delayed. For example she will come up to me and say 'flower!' while one of her peers will say 'look mummy a rose'. She speaks more like a 2 year old than a 3 year old. I am hoping the glue ear really was the cause of her speech delay and there is nothing else underlying.

I just read that back and I sound really negative and cold! Although has a speech delay she is a funny, loving and caring little girl and I just want to help her get on.

Of course you do Sammy. We all understand how you feel here. The SALT was quite encouraging today. She feels DD has a lot of positives in her favour and that she is a lovely, happy little girl.

I am hopeful DD will get where she needs to be in the end.

Don't know if this has already been mentioned, but you may be able to get some funding for private SALT here. They have quite strict criteria but worth looking at if your child has a neurological condition and isn't getting much in the way of NHS therapy.

Saw HV have been referred to a SALT (8 month waiting list) and for a hearing test.

Got very excited when DS (aged 2) pointed to a sheep and said BAAA!

Got a bit depressed watching Fry's planet word last night - ten words a day? DS has a total of three words, if you include BAAA.

He is understanding now though, and I know that most of the time he chooses to ignore me just because he can- not because he is deaf/doesn't understand. I know this because if I say something he wants to hear its amazing how fast he can respond :)

Actually in the past two weeks I have been feeling a lot more positive about his progress.

Windatmytail - you're not the only one who got depressed watching Fry's planet word last night :( Glad you're feeling generally positive though. Like you we're waiting, waiting, waiting to get a SALT evaluation....

That would certainly have depressed me! I used to have a great interest in all things to do with language (lots of books about history of languages, development of human speech, evolutionary linguistics etc), now I don't want to know, I hate thinking about what DS is SUPPOSED to be doing and what he is not doing. Very depressing.

I now concentrate on what he can do and that is actually lots and lots! for example I realised this morning that he recognises numbers that are written down, as opposed to letters, and can match them too. He cannot put them in order and he will not say them but I'm so proud of him for this little achievement :)

He has not repeated the word BAA yet so we are back to a lot of incomprehensible babbles.

I have recently enrolled him in a new nursery that is closer to my work and they employ a private SALT who is going to asses him in the next few weeks and put together a IPP for him - this is completely coincidental, I had no idea that they offered this service, but I wondered is this the only Nursery franchise that has this service? It seems like such a brilliant idea.

TheDudesmummy - I too have books on the evolution of language etc. I have always found words fascinating if extremely difficult- being severely dyslexic (thank god for spellcheck!) I now have to seriously consider weather I'm prepared to give Fry another go this Sunday. I probably will though

My DS2 had speech delay discovered at nursery, and later was diagnosed with a speech and language disorder - he had difficulty processing language, no automatic filing system for new words. It was a problem with his receptive and expressive language. It was really noticeable when he was little when you asked him a question and he could tell it was a question from the way you spoke but didn't know which question, so would answer randomly. EG 'what's your favourite colour?' 'teddy bear'.

He got through primary school ok, we paid through the nose for private weekly speech therapy which really helped and taught him strategies to get round his problems, which were not severe, but had started to have a big effect on his self esteem and behaviour.

In year 4 a friend of a friend suggested The Listening Centre in Lewes. I looked into it and although I was skeptical - it looked strange quite frankly, and it cost quite a bit of money - I gave it a go as I was really worried about him at the time. Anyway, it was the best thing I could have done, and I really recommend it to anyone concerned on this thread. It may not be for everyone, but it is definitely worth looking into.

My DS2 is now a happy, confident 15 yr old, who is in GCSE year and doing pretty well, he is not exceptionally academic, but is doing well at the top of the middle sets for most things. I would never have thought this possible in primary school and am so happy to have an average child!

I just think people should know about this as an option, there are more places that do this therapy now and it's becoming better known. It was definitely the thing that changed my DS2s life, and helped with confidence, behaviour, ability to learn and coordination to name a few. Take a look at the website and decide for yourself. www.listeningcentre.co.uk. and don't be put off by the weird photo on the front page (if its still there)! Or just google listening therapy.
I just wanted to share. Good luck.

dudesmummy,

sometimes I used to summarise stuff I found about language development on the SN board with all the dates ("by 2 years"), etc, removed so that people could use the stuff without lapsing into depression! Tis a hard one.

Hi all - haven't posted on this thread for a while but it makes me feel better to read back through various posts and realise I'm not alone. My daughter is 3 next month but her speech is still far behind where everyone says she should be and her 18 month old brother probably speaks more clearly and says more words than her which makes me sad.

We are still on the waiting list for an NHS SALT assessment - though the therapist I spoke to said my DD should definitely be referred. I spoke to the nursery she goes to once a week on Friday and was told by my DD's keyworker than she is only making progress very slowly, sometimes doesn't seem to understand what is said to her, doesn't have any special friends at nursery, is very very shy and usually plays on her own - all of which has worried me no end (and made me wonder why they haven't been in touch previously!). She is very shy when in groups or unfamilar environments (I saw a friend with children younger than her a couple of days ago and my DD literally did not make one sound while they were chatting away!) but at home and with some of her playdate friends she will play and attempt to talk.

Anyway, the above aside (which I just wanted to get off my chest really), I was just wondering what the symptons of glue ear were - would I know if my dd was affected by it? I have never had her hearing checked out because she seems to hear things at home and sometimes says "whassat?" when she hears a sound. But others have mentioned that their dc did have glue ear despite them thinking otherwise. Would a gp be able to check it out or is it something the SALT will check when they eventuallly see my dd?

Thanks for listening to my off-loading. Like others on this thread, it sometimes seems that the various worries that I have about my dd take up all of my time and make me feel very down.

My DS had glue ear (apparantly) and had grommets put in in July. I didn't notice any symptoms (he had had a few colds I suppose) and he seemed to be able to hear (when he chose to) but at a hearing test they found his tympanic membranes (eardrums) were hardly moving at all. So we got the grommets. It has not made a noticable difference to his lack of speech however, which is disappointing.

We've just had grommet too. DS is just 3 and has speech and language delay, but it's slowly improving with lots of SALT. Not sure if the grommets have made any difference yet at it's only day 7, and he's had an awful ear infection ever since. So his ears are currently so full of pus that he can't hear even with the grommets. The doctor can't even see into his ear properly... Seems to be getting marginally better with lots of antibiotics, but off to hospital tomorrow. Will report back when we know if they are making a big difference. Strait after the operation he did seem more responsive, but he only had clear hearing for a day or two.

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie, just joined. My 2.2 yr old grandson is not talking, he says a couple of words but not clearly such as' bye' (eye) and' all done', babbles a lot but doesn't point at anything when asked or understands when we say 'get your shoes /coat' or 'get your book' etc. He is a happy little boy and tends to play happily on his own, mainly with his cars which he takes great care running them along every surface. He is very loving, giving kisses (although he does say bye after every kiss, even if we are not going anywhere!) and likes sitting on our laps with a book, although he doesn't point at any pics when asked. Health visitor came to do 2 year check today and wants to refer him to paeditrician as she has concerns about his cognitive behaviour and delayed speech. He is the child of my son and his partner and they had him when they were quite young. They get a lot of support from me and my husband, but his mum was very upset today when hv mentioned referring him. I am a bit worried myself (even though my son was a late talker, he did understand everything). Can anyone please give me any info of what we can do to help him! Thankyou.

Welcome to the thread babs. My daughter sounds a lot like your grandson only she's just turned 3. I have been concerned about her lack of speech since around the age of about 2. We have had her hearing checked out and all is well there.

A few weeks we finally saw the community paed who felt our DD has some traits suggesting ASD. We are not keen to proceed with a diagnosis so early as she still has time to develop.
DD goes to nursery (does your GS?) and although she enjoys it, always plays on her own and the staff struggle to engage her in group activities.
My DD has been assessed 3 times now by Speech therapy (SALT) and we are still waiting for some practical advice, as are the nursery.
The SALT support here in London is pretty poor. We are awaiting the report carried out from when DD first started at this nursery at the beginning of September so feel as if we've been abandoned. DD will not see SALT again for another 6 weeks.
I totally, totally understand his mum's upset. It is awful when someone suggests there's something wrong. I hope you don't have to wait long for him to access some help.
I have ordered "It Takes Two To Talk", a book highly recommended on this thread so am hoping to become my DD's speech therapist. We can't afford to go private.
I wish you and your family all the best. Sorry I can't be more help.