Support thread for speech and language delay.......

[jaybirdsinginginthedeadofnight]

I know this has been done before on here, but I couldn't find anything recent and am sure there is someone out there going through similar worries to us. So if you want to share your experiences/worries come join me

DD turns 2 in 2 weeks and has no words, not one! She babbles constantly and has added new 'c' 's' and 'th' sounds to her babbling in the last week. Her understanding seems good and she has her own way of letting us know what she wants (point & whinge a lot). She will have her 2 year assessment next week, I intend on broaching the subject of SALT.

I am sooooo anxious about all of this. DD's cousin is 6months older, and as her speech has developed well she seems leaps and bounds ahead of DD

skuntoo the HV asked about DD's vision. I said how could I possible gauge that she said sometimes children who need glasses will get a turn/go cross eyed, and that can all add to the bigger picture. I completely forgot (DH reminded me today) that HV said she was referring DD for hearing check, so at least we can rule that out/in.

Yes my Ds has had a hearing test done as my Dd is deaf in one ear and everything came back fine.

Feel really bad as my teenage Dd noticed first about 2 wks ago took him to Dr and she said to leave it rang specsavers and they told me he needs to definitely be seen by the hospital so going back to Drs on Monday for second opinion.

We had an horrific labour and birth and my partner thinks its played a part in how he is, but that just could be us clutching at straws looking for answers

Hey can I join this?
So glad I have found this my friend gave me the link!
My eldest has just turned 2 in march but when I had my 2nd child in may last year th hv picked up that my eldest wasn't walking or talking so after a few months of monitoring him had past he got referred for both not walking or talking (apparently if both then referred quicker before turning 2) thankfully he started walking In november! He still doesn't talk he has had his hearing test & passed he was referred to a speech therapist who have agreed they'll work with him but up to 6 months waiting list ?? he doesn't point or gesture to what he wants we just assume we know as in a routine of breakfast lunch & dinner etc! He also has a dummy....whereas my youngest doesn't! I have never heard him say mummy either so can totally relate to an earlier post as it's hard hearing other kids of same age talk away & call mummy!
When we went to speech therapy for initial assessment we got told to take dummy off him & point to things & emphasise what we saw or played with also read to him which we have always done so felt quite patronised as we do all this anyway! No further forward with anymore appointments either!
One thing I will say when my son was about 8 months - 14 months he always had the cold,viral infection had sickness bug a few times so felt like we always had to go back to basics with weaning etc as we were told by doc to concentrate of fluids rather than food so only now with second son I see the comparison between the two whereas with 1st I was told ' it will build up immune system' if i had a pound for every time I got told this I'd be rich its only now in hindsight I realise that this may have caused a problem! Also he was in nursery for 5 months & I didn't find this helped although it was a couple of full days a week then down to one morning I found this did not help his development at all!
It's so hard not to blame yourself which I do ?? xx

Hello Yummummyof2
Its always hard not to blame yourself I often do it too I think its because I need answers as to why this has happen to Ds.
My son has no words at all and will be 28 months at end of this month its nice to be able to speak to others in my situation. I get the "Einstein didnt talk to he was 4" line all the time or "does he make a noise when he cries" I think some people think hes mute

Hello skuntoo
It is hard not to blame yourself I fell pregnant with my second when he was 6 months old so gave myself a really hard time cause I felt like I couldn't do all the things that my friends were doing with their kids! My son does babble alot but not any words & he has only started babbling more since he turned 2 in march I think this was brought on by my youngest babbling! He does make sound when he cries & usually just makes noise so isn't mute in that way! I've heard so many sayings 'boys are lazy' 'they'll speak when they're ready' etc ur none if that really offers any comfort!
Just reading previous comments my when my son turned 1 (march 2013) up until just new year (2014) he used to get hysterical when we went to visit friends or when friends visited us with the exception of people he seem more regularly I used to have to sit him on my lap until he settled down sometimes this would take up to 30 mins the longest was almost an hour & a half not good when u have another baby with u luckily my friends understood! I used to find this situation very distressing as he would get himself into such a state since new year he's been like a different person he interacts more with our youngest & now goes up up people he knows to give them cuddles & is fine when visiting people! If only we knew what went through their wee heads & only if they could speak! I can't wait to hear him say mummy at this rate our youngest will get there first ??

Hi yummummy welcome, I know what you mean about thinking the younger one will speak first, DS is 7 months and babbling up a storm. I said to DH was DD as vocal at that age (she's only 2, you'd think I'd remember!), but we couldn't think. So I looked back at old videos and she did babble away always has, still does, funny how the potential of something can cloud your memories IYSWIM!

DD is doing great pointing left right and centre and tried to feed her toy frog a pretend apple, and pretended to eat it herself with an owwwwp noise for sound effect - no imagination my ass!! She's still aaa-shooooing for sneezes and lots of uh-ohs, every day I'm exhausted just willing and willing her to say a word............

My Ds is like that too can be very clingy and takes him a long to warm up to people wont look at them. He sometimes wont even acknowledge Nanny.
I went on a Makaton course in October and found it very helpful!! By January he started to pick up the signs really well and his confidence has improved he now knows about 40 signs!!
My friend's a childminder and the 1yr she looks after says more than Ds

Jaybird that sounds good thats all the stuff my Ds did in his paed appt which is what they look for problems in.
The extra work I put in is huge compared to the Dd's and it is exhausting but the progress we've made is rewarding even though its baby steps so know how u feel !!

skuntoo I know, it will be rewarding when she says her first word, I'm like a child (and an adult coz I never grew out of it) waiting for Christmas

Had a very reassuring conversation with a friend last night who has 4 LO's, 2 of which had S&L delay, and one of those eventually diagnosed ASD. Talking through DD's behaviour with her reassured me immensely that it may just be a S&L delay that we are dealing with, so that was great to hear. I also said to her that I had ordered Hanen book (bloody slow post around here& Easter = no book yet), and she exclaimed yes!! That she was going to recommend it, it did wonders for both her DC's. So all in all I'm much more positive for things to come.......

Glad you are feeling more positive jay

My book arrived! It's excellent so far, dunno when I'm going to get the time to do all the exercises with DD, with 7 month old DS around but we'll figure something out! Interesting to read that LO's have to be at a certain stage in their communication to engage in pretend play! Would've thought the HV would've know that? Perhaps not........

My book wasn't much good to be honest. Might order the expensive Hanen one now. Glad things are a bit brighter Jay. I have just posted on special needs boards as I am also worried about other issues with my son. The constant worrying never seems to end!

milli Hanen book is good though I'm only a third of the way through it, it helps you to figure out how much your LO understands as well as what level they are on with expressive language, then gives you exercises & suggestion on what to do with them. One thing I've definitely learnt is I talk too much I nearly don't give DD a chance to speak so I'm learning to observe her more and wait.......Still no words yet though

Just curious but what's with all the threads about the alphabet on here at the mo???

Thanks for this thread as I wonder sometimes about my daughter's speech delay. She is 2 years and one month and the only words she can clearly say are 'no', 'daddy', 'farfar' (grandad in Swedish) and 'go!' (to the dog, usually)

Staff at her daycare were concerned about her lack of speech and asked us to get her ears checked out. She failed the hearing test purely because she couldn't understand what the technician wanted her to do. A lot of wax was discovered in one of her ears and it was removed. Since then the staff at her daycare haven't mentioned her speech again, other than to say she's 'chatting' a lot more (babbling)

It's my understanding she should be able to say many more words, and even short phrases of two or three words by now.

She is learning two languages at once. I suppose this is likely to make a difference, but I will keep an eye on this thread.

Feeling like we have taken a step back this week. Hoping it's just a blip as we have been through times when I have felt like this before. DS seems to be missing off ends of words a lot again. Feels frustrating as they are words he has being saying brilliantly before! I think sometimes I expect too much though .

jelly that is frustrating. But these little set backs make the progression seem all the sweeter, it certainly is a (cliche alert) rollercoaster

Still no words from DD yet I can't seem to get into that 'relax and let it happen' frame of mind! Ups and downs here too. I have emailed a private SALT to see if it's worth visiting them we may get it through DH's work (health insurance) Just feel like I need to be doing something right now!!

No joy here yet with trying to get in touch with a private SALT ah well will enjoy the weekend and tackle it on Tuesday!

DD is imitating more sounds I swear she tried to say teeth after I said 'let's brush your teeth' but I think my optimistic ears where playing tricks on me I read somewhere that it is important for LO's to be able to blow, for muscles for speech - DD never could master blowing. So I threw myself into teaching her this week, fun games with straws, bubbles, a kazoo, a recorder alas nothing was working. Then on Thursday morning I was in the kitchen and I heard the whir of the kazoo I ran in to find DD blowing it! Was sooooo proud of her, sounded like Mozart, ahhhhh it's the little things

Enjoy your BH weekend everyone x

That's fabulous news jay
Yes we did lots of these kind of things too.
Have you tried the website www.helpwithtalking.com? This has a list of all accredited private SALTs ANC you can search your area.
Enjoy your weekend.

Should say and not ANC!!

Cheers jelly will have a look

Jelly it is frustrating sometimes I feel like its 1 step forward and 2 steps back. But it will be all worth it in the end

We did the blowing techniques took some time for Ds too but he got there in the end well done to your Dd Jay

Ds had his first day at Nursery and he had a good day. They are going to practise the "toilet" sign with him and then we can think about potty training him.

Im getting more concerned about him though waiting for referral about eyes but hes always dribbling and got his tongue hanging out

Thanks skuntoo it is frustrating at times. Tbh he seems to have picked up again over the last few days. I think that when he first gets a new sound, everything else drops for a few days whilst he focuses on the new one and then it all comes back again! I should be used to it by now but it's always a worry, especially so now that we are so close to being discharged from SALT.
Glad you DS had a good day at nursery.

I swear DD is saying 'no'!! It's happened too many times now to be a coincidence! She wasn't eating her porridge this morning so I asked her did she want it she shook her head and said 'nooooo' I guess until I've heard her say it a few more times I'll not believe it

Joining thread. My sons coming up 2 without any words too. Got a hearing test but not till end of July.

Hi, I had lost the thread after the login debacle.

We have an assessment with a SALT this Thursday and I'm feeling fairly positive. DS1 has continued to pick up a few words here and there but still isn't making sentences. Still no nhs referral forthcoming.

We also went to the local preschool open day and DS1 seemed to love it there and they seemed quite tuned into his needs and were very pro spending some one to one time with him working on his speech. Although his free hours don't kick in till next year, I think it'll do him good to attend from this September.