my nearly 4 year old has no idea what I'm saying!!

[armaita]

Hi ladies, advice needed. My son had a speech delay , last Christmas he barely spoke only signalled. After a few months of speech therapy he came on leaps and bounds and can now say 4-5 word sentences. He has now been discharged. He has joined nursery and loves it however he is unable to understand me if I ask him about things (like his time at nursery) . He sometimes becomes agitated and covers my mouth if I pursue conversation. He can understand instructions like "get your shoes" but has no real interactive conversation. If he wants something he is the most persistent child and be relentless until her gets it. I am concerned as is the nursery staff as he has to go to school next August and his application need to be in January 2014. How can he go to school when he doesn't understand adult conversation? I have asked the speech therapy department to assess him again but this may have a long wait. What do you think?

Have you had his hearing checked ? My ds had glue ear and had grommets . He is only 2 and has no speech but his understanding has come on leaps and bound a since he can hear .

I would go to your GP and ask for a referal to a developmental paediatrician. Do you have any other concerns besides his speech.

yes he has had his hearing checked and it is actually better than usual range.
His speech no longer concerns me just his comprehension. I would like to have him see a educational psychologist but don't know if I'm over reacting!

Conversation is a aspect of language that some children can struggle with event if linguistly their language is okay. It could also be that it's not that interesting to him. Try talking to him by using comments instead then use long pauses (5 seconds) For example 'hello sweety, I had a really lovely day a work today, I sore a tractor' (or whatever he is in to). Then pause rather than ask him about his day. If no response say something like 'its was an awesome tractor, it had flash lights' pause pause 'Also today i sore a dog' (or what ever) so you don't put pressure on him, but he can respond if he wants. If you've had SALT they might have told you about this tequineque, it's really simple but it really seems to work.

Oh and definitely get him checked out by salt. They can easily test his comprehension if he is fine then great.

also forgot to mention that he parrots constantly what adults say when they are speaking to him

I have done HANEN but not SALT what is it?

Speech and language therapy .

Hanen uses the comment, pause, short sentence type stuff so your probably doing it.

I think you are right to want further assessment. Your GP would be where I would start.

armaita it must be very worrying but you're doing the right thing in thinking of having it looked at. The "parroting" is called echolalia if it's regular...some kids do it as a natural progression of their language skills and grow out of it fast while others, especially those with language delays tend to do it for longer. It is seen as a good thing in some ways as the child is using the repetition to get their mind around the usefulness of language. Definitely see your GP...write a list of concerns and ask to see a developmental paed.

Perhaps it is more of a sensory issue. He could have over sensitive hearing or not enjoy social interaction?

would use other things too help meantime until you find answers too problem , through play , cards etc., Best you start interventions and strategy's early. one can wait months and years for answer or diagnosis
you know your child best, what he like's , fun things etc. www.Do2learn has lots of ideas down loads and fun things too do.

Thanks guys all this helps, I feel he does need extra support. He does mix well with others however he focuses on strange things for example he carried a potato around for 6 weeks?? would not leave the house without it.

It does sounds as though he needs further investigation. If he can't process what you are saying then please push to see a development paediatrician as they will run specific tests to check his processing ability. Please don't leave it too long - you don't want him to get even further behind his peers.

Agree with everyone, go to the GP and push to see a developmental Paed. Know its not quite related but I'd also get his eyes checked. Our schools recommend doing this before they start anyway so you aren't doing anything out of the ordinary.

When you go to your GP take a list of all your concerns, speech and language, the echolalia (repeating phrases he's heard), any strange behaviours. It's also worth getting a letter from your nursery supporting your concerns as I found it helped push things along to have a number of sources backing me up.