Development Delay

[sophie230390]

Has anybody been told their toddler may have development delay?

Yes, I have my toddler is 22 Mths and they say he is at a 12 mth olds level. He has left hemiparesis and a speech and language delay. He bearly speaks and has had several hearing tests which he always fails so has had grommets fitted but still doesn't say more than 4 words which are bearly recognisable. He attends a child development centre at our hospital once a week where he recieves salt and Physio. Hope this helps answer your question.

thankyou for your reply, my toddler is 19 months and we were worried that his development was delayed, we went to see our health visitor and she advised us that our son was delayed in many different areas, my son also doesnt say many words, infact he only says mummy and daddy, he also cannot fed himself, and doesnt listen or interact with others very well. he was assesed by the health visitor and she has referred him to the child development team, i was just wondering what happens now, and if there was anything i can do to help, i feel asthough im not doing enough.

They sound like similar children. Once we were referred to paeds the first thing they did was send him to audiology for a hearing test and orthoptics for an eye test. Once they were completed we went back to see the paed and she referred him to the child development centre nursery for assessment which he is in the middle of now. We have already been told that his speech and language is considered non- verbal it's that bad. They have suggested his behaviour is caused by frustration at not being able to vocalise and not understanding what's happening around him cause of his hearing. They are completing a form called the griffen test and out of the 4 component tests he hasn't completed any of them. But to everyone else he seems completely normal !! Because he's so young people don't expect to much of him but as he gets older it will be much more apparent.

Hi my friends worried about her little one as he says little, doesn't make eye contact, does not say or make gestures for bye bye and plays on his own and screeches at the top of his voice. She is worried he might autistic but she is working with the health visitor to help with speech etc. now she is not sure if it's autism. Not sure if anyone has any suggestions?

tazmo can you post your query in special needs children section of Mumsnet... You might be able to get some answers there..

Hi Tamzo how old is the child very young children can have Autistic traits but
not be on the autistic spectrum however the sooner there is a diagnosis the sooner the child can be helped and yes these are autistic spectrum traits

Thankyou @paramaribo0 you have been very very helpful.

My DS1 who is 3.8 has general developmental delay. He was referred to see a paediatrician at 9 months as he was not babbling and didn't crawl. Although he was delayed it took until he was two before any real action was taken because he remained on the late side of "normal". He walked at 23 months and has only just started to say the odd word he uses loads of makaton signs to communicate though. So I thoroughly recommend you start signing asap, use Something Special to learn from or see if your local SALT provision does a course you can both go along to. I don't know where we'd be without signing to be honest, so I can't rate it highly enough.

Also try to get some portage (when a trained play worker comes to your house and does weekly play development therapy). If you google it you can often find self refer to you're local portage service. I would do this as soon as you can as most areas won't provide the service after the child reaches age 3. Our portage worker was fantastic and it made a big difference to my DS1s progress.

I second the recommendation above to pop over to the Special Needs children board. There are lots of us there who've been through these worries and there's a real fount of support, advice and recommendations that will help you find the best services and help for your child.

Thanks Sophie it nice to know your not on your own sometimes, especially when they are so young and people can be dismissive. We are going to start signing soon do hopefully he can communicate with us more and relieve some frustration.