Another Speech and Development thread

[cori]

as some of you might be aware from past postings i have been concerened about my DS 2 speech for sometime.
He has quite a lot of words but only ever says the first few letters of the word e.g juice is ju, milk -mil etc.Very few words would be understandable to anyone outside the family.
He also seems to lose words sometimes and changes them , bird used to be idgeo ( pigeon) now it is Du du.I dont know what to make of this.

However he does have very good comprehension he can point out any picture in a book you ask him too. anything from an apple to a dog , or even a mushroom. He can also recognise numbers ( he doesnt know what the numerical value is but recognises that it is a number). A teacher friend of mine said this was very advanced. I dont know , what do others think?
Also if DS does need speech therapy , how do i find a private one in London? What do they charge?

My DD is 2y+4m and speaks about as well (I think) as you describe your DS does. Try to translate the following:

Baw dat!?
Ma du it!
Ah wack dat juis
Bah Memen.
Bah Dada.
Ah beh bat dat!
Ah wun Weewee wfast!
Ma dat! Ma dat!!
beebit, weewee

= What's that?!
= Me do it
= I like that juice
= Not Mummy's
= Not Daniel's
= I don't like that!
= I run really fast!
= My that, my that! (pick it up for me!!)
= baby, slippers or wellies

Note how her default sound when she can't get it right for most words is a B? She uses the same word for slippers or wellies. She also likes to end words in T or N (regardless of their actual endings). How does your son compare?

SALTS in London charge around 55 quid an hour. You can find one from here

HOw old is your son?

My ds2 (just 2 last week) has recently had a SALT assessment and she said he did need to go on the wainting list in case it was verbal dyspraxia (although to be honest it's only becuase his brother has verbal dyspraxia as well as autism that people are even considering it so young). She was a bit concerned as he has trouble copying sounds eg I say "ee" and he says "ah". Having said that he's started making a lot more sounds in the last week and I wouldn't be surprised if he's talking pretty well by the time his appointment comes through. In the meantime the private SALT (she's ds1's really) will just be doing 10 mins with him each week.

Wahey! We are off SALT ds1 (6.5) and I are delighted.

Just to encourage some of you - SALT really does work.

As some on here know ds1's speech was first queried at 2, referred to SALT at 2.9, and we've been having (NHS) SALT on and off ever since. The last 18 months have been fab, as he's really got on well with the therapist, and been motivated to do the work and do the practice. He can now speak extremely clearly if he wants to ... but mostly doesn't bother! Just 18 months ago he still had loads and loads of sounds completely missing (s c g j sh ch th ...)

DS will be two in two weeks.
Zebra , you seem to be very good at the translating bit. I wouldnt have a clue if he is putting together sentences like that.
What is a good age to have them assessed?

Probably not yet cori- unless there's signs of a language problem- eg lack of pointing, lack of sharing things of interest no undersntading of what's said. If it's a speech concern they're not keen to se you before 3- although refer at 2 and a hlaf for that. The NHS were not keen to take ds2's referral yet, they only did because he;d been seen by a private SALT who said he needed to be referred- and becuase family history was mentioned.

well done kmg btw

It's hard work translating a 2yo, Cori. My son wasn't speaking in sentences at all at this age (chatters non-stop perfectly clearly 2 yrs later), and DH didn't "talk" until 3yo, says family lore. That's why I think my DD is fantastic and obviously "fine" for language, even if we do have to do a process of elimination with her, sometimes.

Friend in teacher-training says that the number of children being referred for speech therapy is going up every year and one theory is that parents spend less one-to-one time with their kids... I feel skeptical about that. Not to pick on individual cases because obviously some kids do need it, but I rather suspect the upward trend is because we parents are worrying too much and don't know what's normal any more.

It wouldn't hurt your child, I imagine, to have speech therapy, if it will make you feel better.

I'd have thought that if his understanding of language is as good as you describe he doesn't have any serious problems. My friend's little boy was just the same at that age and then suddenly at 2.5 he started speaking like a 3.5 year old! It was amazing.

cori, your ds sounds exactly like mine (nearly 4). He starting having SALT when he started nursery in October and is progressing, albeit not in leaps and bounds though. We have also been told by the speech therapist that his comprehension is excellent. As zebra said, it wouldn't do any harm at all to have his speech professionally assessed, if it gives you peace of mind.

my son is 2.5 and he has quite good verbal skills (didn't really have any words at all a year ago) - he can string together quite complicated sentences.

However, he does what you describe - I call it morphing words - for example tractor a month or two ago has become tabat (he can say tractor just prefers his word), and trailer has become damat - only we know what he means when he uses them. He does this with quite a few words - prefers his own invention. I assume it is part of learning to speak and a developing imagination.

He also likes to end words with t, n, and d as zebra says he DD does - is this typical ?

cori, ds used to miss all the endings of words - e.g. bun, bus would be bu. But when he was about 2 1/4, they all just got their endings. I'm sure I read somewhere that most 2 year olds are incomprehensible to strangers, and that most 3 year olds can be understood. Also, my HV said that as long as progress is happening, not to worry, and that that was what the speech therapists look for, not an absolute of where the child is.

We had a referal to a SALT in Nov and still have not been seen. It is worth being referred because of the waiting lists. However, DD, 2.9, has improved since , not sure if I am putting more effort into "teaching" her, or if it would have improved anyway.
Similar to Throckenholt, she has her own words, eg: goga is tomato, pretty hard to understand unless you already know!!
Zebra, DD also says weewee for slippers!! And sweeties!! And weewee!!!!
My main concern is that other children won't understand her, and she won't make friends, but so far she has managed.
She says such complex things, in long sentences which the family often understand, yet to a stranger she probably makes no sense!!!
She knows her colours and lots of letters, recognises her name and ours, and knows shapes and numbers.
I agree that it is hard to know when to be worried, but go on your instinct.

I don't know, throckenhalt; DS didn't add his own endings.
I just remember from being a child myself, never understanding what little children, esp. under 4s, were saying, so I don't expect to now, either, it's just a process of elimination with my own kids!

My dd2 is 4 and any words with L or R in get completely mispronounced. For example :

Chris - Cis
Clown - Cown
Drive - Dive
Blue - Boo

The list is endless. None of her teachers at nursery have noticed though so maybe it's just me. A favourite word of hers is codiat which is of course catalogue. And fobwipes, which is wet wipes.

Hurrah!!!!!
Our appt has just come through for 3 wks time.
At last!!