3 years old not talking.

[ninaishat]

My son is going to be three in four weeks and he is still not talking, it is very frustrating. I think he knows a lot of words and he understands quite well and he is potty trained. He will start pre school on his third birthday so I'm hoping that will help, I took him to speech therapy but they didn't make any further appointments with us neither the referred us to get any other help. I don't know what to do, sometimes he repeats words after me but he wont talk :( does any one else have similar problems? I would love to hear from other mums.

I had exactly the same problem with DD. At three she could barely say any words but managed to get whatever she wanted. She had her hearing tested and it was fine and she could follow instructions too. She just struggled to actually speak.

Speech therapist saw us and said we weren't to get or do what she wanted until she made an attempt to say whatever it was. Also when asking her questions she had to be given a choice so she had to say which one rather that a nod or shake of head.

The speech therapist was not concerned as it was relatively common.
She started nursery at three and that helped. By four she was fully caught up with everyone else. She is now 11 and very articulate and well spoken and an avid reader.
It was a real worry at the time - but she didn't 'need' to speak.

I recomend that you buy "It Takes Two to Talk" published by Hanen, available cheaper from Winslow publications. It will teach you better techniques to bring his language along.

My son wasn't talking at that age either. It took lots of hard work but he got there in the end. The "It Takes Two" book was a godsend. It is very expensive but please try to think of it as the price of one pair of boots or two pairs of shoes. Failing that, order it from your library!

I would definitely insist on a hearing test at this stage too. you'll be taken more seriously once that's done (because otherwise they tend to assume it's glue ear).

post again if you want some help figuring out his understanding levels.

Sounds exactly like my DS at that age. I would definitely insist on seeing another SALT as it is not normal that at the age of 3 and they are not talking. There is a problem somewhere and it is the job of a SALT to find out why. It took me ages to get the local authority to take me seriously about DS's speech, but once I'd hassled them enough, ie, cried, shouted, threatened to go to the head of children's services, etc, they finally took me seriously. Turns out he had mild form of verbal dyspraxia which took two years of intensive speech therapy to catch up with his peers. The good news is that now, at the age of 6, he is talking virtually the same as his peers, but early intervention is key in helping speech and language problems. If they are behind with their talking, for whatever reason, it stands to reason that they will struggle with literacy at school. The earlier they get the help they need the better their chances of not being left behind in other areas such as reading and writing.

You'll find a support thread for parents of toddlers with speech disorder / delay here - lots of useful info on there. Best of luck. SALT can work wonders.