Speech Delay - please share your experiences

[dappleton]

DS is 31months - he chats away and sings, speaks in sentences etc but only a very small percentage of his words are clear. He has seen a speech therapist who has said they can't find and pathological/physiological cause but has confirmed speech delay and we have an appointment to return in 1 month.
What outcomes, experiences have you had in similar situations? What activities/exercises have you found help?
All advice and stories (good and bad) welcome
Thanks

My DS is 32 months, so very close in age to yours. He's had hearing test - fine. Understands well so no 'reason' why he doesn't speak well. He communicates with words, noises and small phrases (2/3 words) but most words are really unclear. OTOH he is advanced in other ways - loves letters and numbers, likes counting and pointing out words for me to read - walks for miles and climbs like a monkey.

I really think with toddlers like ours that it's just time that's needed.

I'm sure that you, like me, talk to our little ones, allow them time to respond, repeat words correctly without correcting them, give them lots of experiential play opportunities etc. I get fed up with the implicit assumption that I'm not 'doing enough' with my DS, or that indeed I'm doing 'too much', or that there is some magic activity I'm not doing that will unlock his words for him.

The main thing is that he is chatting away and singing and can understand what you say. I am not a speech therapist but I work as a speech and drama teacher and I would say give it a bit more time and try not to worry. Have fun with him and his speech, sing lots of songs and rhymes and play fun games with words. Make things light hearted and playful, when working with this age group I use puppets, songs and music and movement e.g what sound does a balloon make? Pop, bang - put a movement or a clap to the word.

Other things include, blowing bubbles for breath and using your facial muscles and making sounds e.g what noise does a lion make? Roooaarr!
What sound a snake? Act out stories with repetitive sounds like We 're going on a bear hunt' get him to have fun and be confident in his voice, I hope this helps!

My son is just turned 5 and has speech disorder. He chats all the time and understands very well but his speech is very difficult to understand. We noticed a problem when he was two but where told to wait, at three we were still concerned but we were moving areas and so didn't manage to get anything done before our move (waiting list was too long), at which point we referred through pre school straight away but we waited 4 months before he was seen and another month after that before starting therapy. He had some group therapy which helped a little but the biggest difference has been since he started to have individual therapy, NHS along side private therapy sessions weekly as really the NHS blocks are so scattered that he would start to make progress then was back on the waiting list again after 5 weeks, waiting for 3/6 weeks before getting another 5 week block and so on! Blowing bubbles, blowing through straws, playing recorders etc are all good for strengthening the muscles needed for speech. And then I do quite a lot with him at home and find the website www.mommyspeechtherapy.com great for this (however this is because my son is quite a bit older than yours and there is probably no need to start doing this at the moment, but there is a lot of info on the site too that could be useful).
My DS is making really good progress now but I do wish we could have got going with this a lot sooner.

My Ds2 is 31 months (April baby). He has a fairly severe speech delay - currently has about 20 words which are clear to us & 1 2-word phrase ('no more'). His understanding is probably a little behind, too, as he won't point things out in books much, although he will follow pretty much any instruction, if he feels like it!

He has seen a salt for a block of 5 sessions, in October & we are awaiting a date for reassessment, in case he needs to be referred to the community paed. He has also had 3 heating tests in 7 months, all showing glue ear. We now have an appointment with ent for January.

Salt thinks it might be significant that ds was on the slow side to do everything, as that is clearly his character. In the sessions we saw her for, she said that few children progress as quickly as he did, which is very pleasing. Since then, he has doubled his word count and increased his understanding, which I find encouraging. He also babbles like crazy & has started to take a real interest in numbers - we can't walk past a lamp post without him pointing to the number on it & trying to say it!

We have been awarded 2-year funding for ds to attend nursery because of his speech delay & they are fantastic, have borrowed all sorts of activities from Childrens centre to help him. It is also a welcome rest for me as I am due ds3 in Feb!

He loves to watch something special & I try to play with him lots, narrating as I go. We also go to rhyme time & toddler group once a week each, which salt had said should help.

Hi All,

Thanks so much for sharing your stories.

Jelly and Jam thanks for the link to the website, will definitely have a look for some ideas.

DS is going to be very happy that blowing bubbles is now going to be an educational activity in our house - he would be happy to do that for hours -

Interesting that all our boys love numbers also, perhaps words just take a little longer for some children. All the singing and rhyming definitely helps, DS learnt the tune to 'twinkle twinkle little star' about 6months ago at nursery, just in time for Christmas the actual words 'twinkle twinkle little star' and 'sky' are now almost understandable, so progressing.

We live abroad now so unfortunately no NHS courses available to us but we are seeing a private speech therapist so will update you all if I get anymore info that might help/re-assure us all.

That's interesting about learning the tune too as my DS has a really good ability for remembering a tune. He can hear something once and sing (well hum) it weeks/months later exactly right!

Good luck to you and your DS xxx.

Just wanted to tell you about my DS2. He was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia at just over two. He really was unintelligible to just about everyone at the age. He had SALT from then until age 6. He's now 9 and his speech is great. With good SALT input and games/exercises at home, your DS will be fine.

It's so great to hear people's success stories. Sometimes it feels like we will never get there so it's good to hear from someone who has been there and come out of the other side.

I agree jelly that's why I wanted to post. I think the hardest time for DS ( and us) was when he started school and the other children couldn't understand him. They weren't unkind but he did struggle to make friends initially. When I see him now, in the midst of a group of boys, it really makes me happy.

Yes my DS has just started school and I am finding it hard, worrying about him. He has friends as he has know some of the children since pre school but some of the older children find it difficult to understand him. Today they have the Christmas fair in school time and the reception children have to go around with their buddies from Year 6. This is making me quite anxious today as DS's buddy is not that interested in being a buddy and I'm worried that he will not understand what DS wants to do at the fair!
So pleased that your son is doing so well now