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

Hello I have been lurking for a while and wonder if I can join for advice and support.
DD2 is 2.5 (she was 3 months prem) and has mild Cerebral palsy. I am concerned about her speech and pronunciation. She has a few words, mum, mummy, no, yeah, 'Ello and has a few sentences you can make out just, like 'in there' 'where you go?' , 'there yet' of which she will constantly ask over and over but that is about it. She babbles (I think), and her understanding is great. If asked where is an object in a book she can point to them, but she just doesn't seem to be coming forth with any more words.

She doesnt copy words (though can copy actions), If we ask her 'what's that', her standard reply is 'Aga' to everything. If we say, dd say cat - she will say 'Aga' or 'no'

We are used to babies over taking us in terms of motor development (because of her cp) but now 18month and younger babies speech is coming along and we are falling behind there too . I find myself feeling more and more frustrated and the worry creeping in more and more.
To make things worse,I stupidly watched some videos of dd1 at the same age and her speech was a million miles ahead.

So wondered if any of you lovely ladies have any suggestions? Opinions?
Thanks.

My ds has his first assessment tomorrow (which is a drop-in service is that normal??)

17 months, absolutely no words, babbles v little and it's just mamama dadada bababa.

V active, doesn't point, doesn't respond to name v often. Doesn't play with anyone who tries, little interaction unless you make a lot of effort.

Feeling v low atm and hoping some intervention will help

Hi, I just came across this thread. My DS has just turned 3 and has a significant speech delay. Up until about 2 months ago, he could only say about 15 words but managed to communicate pretty effectively through a combination of grunting and pointing. We have been in SALT since last November and over the last couple of months he has really come on and he can now say about 150 words (although some of them he is not using spontaneously - but he can repeat them) and is putting some 2 and 3 words sentences together. He now no longer grunts and communicates using the words he knows as far as possible. I have been really pleased with his progress and had finally started to relax, until he started nursery a couple of weeks ago.

I have been a SAH mum and my DS has not been in any kind of childcare setting before (not even a kids club). So starting nursery has been a big change for him. He is only doing 3 mornings a week and the first week was totally fine but since then he gets very upset when I leave him (he has been there in total for 3 weeks). The nursery have said he is usually fine after I go but one day before half term they called me to come and get him early because he was very upset. I am sure that part of his issue is his inability to communicate his needs effectively - although his speech is coming along, it's sometimes hard for other people to understand him.

Anyway, I had to go in for a meeting with the nursery so they could feedback their initial observations and I was very upset to learn that in some of the Early Years Assessment areas they think he is in the 8-20 month category! I was expecting them to score him low for his expressive language but to be honest, I had no concerns about the rest of his development. I also find it ridiculous that they have to assess him after 2 weeks when he has still not settled in (apparently this is an OFSTED thing?) His understanding is good,he follows instructions (when he wants to!), he engages in imaginative play, enjoys when his little friends come round to play, and also loves playing with his little brother who is 8 months old.

The nursery have told me that they think I should get a developmental paediatric assessment of him. Their concerns are that he likes to carry toys around (which he has always done from a young age - I have always just seen it as a quirk and haven't been too concerned because he puts them down to play with other toys and definitely plays with toys in the right way, and engages in imaginative play). They said that they think it's very unusual and in my mind were hinting that they think that he may have either SPD or ASD. My DS's SALT has already ruled out ASD so I am a bit taken aback by the nursery's view. They also told me that he needs quite a lot of adult attention (which was not too surprising to me after 2 weeks at a new nursery, having come from being at home with me all day).

Anyway, I have spoken to his SALT and she has gone through the Assessment tables and broadly puts him where I would have done, which reassures me a bit that I am not totally blinkered, but I am now very concerned about whether I have chosen the right nursery for him.

I have another meeting with them on Wed (at my request) and my SALT is going to come too so she can provide input.

They have just made me worry again at a point when i was starting to relax. I never thought too much about the toy carrying thing - it's not always the same toys, and if we are going out and I say to him that he can only take 1 toy with him, it doesn't seem to be a big deal to him. But i have seen myself that in a setting where there are lots of new toys, he does seem to like to collect toys in a possessive kind of way. I always just assumed he would grow out of it and wasn't too concerned.

Sorry for the long post but I am not sleeping very well with worry about it all. I know deep down that I know my child better than a nursery that he has attended for a couple of weeks, but they have really rattled my confidence, both in them and myself!

Any advice is appreciated..

londonmummy, you already know his speech is delayed..the nursery have concerns. I would probably want him to be seen by a dev paed as well. if all is well then fine and you will be reassured but if anything else is going on then the sooner it is identified the
better.

as for ruling out asd - a Salt cannot rule out or diagnose
asd..this is usually done via a multi disciplinary assrssment. a salt ruled out asd for my child. she was wrong.

Hello to all the new joiners.
londonmummy your little boy sounds a bit like mine was at that age (now 5 1/2). He has/had an articulation disorder and was very difficult to understand up until a few months ago. We were certain that speech (and by that I mean the ability to make the sounds) was his only issue. His understanding is great and he is a bright little boy. He had some NHS SALT on and off but we felt it wasn't enough so started private therapy in sept (and six weeks ago she told us that he was pretty much ready for discharge- 7 months ago we never thought we would see this day)! I remember thinking when would the spontaneous speech happen and the therapist reassuring us it would, she was right. One minute it felt like he'd never get there and the next (well after lots of hard work from us all) he was doing it!
Check out the website www.mommyspeechtherapy.com for tips and ideas for things you can do at home. I have used it lots, it's been invaluable to us.
Also use a mirror to show what his mouth looks like when making certain sounds.
We were right about DS, articulation was the only issue he had, at school he is working around the top of his class. You know your child. Good luck

Sorry I was rushing typing this. Meant to add too that obviously I don't know your DS so I can only speak from my experience. Before school got to know him the assumed that his speech disorder would mean he wouldn't cope in school and his behaviour would suffer. They were wrong.
Sometimes we need to take a step back to see the real picture of our children. He may just need a little longer to settle but keep an eye on it and woke with the nursery to help him.

Thanks, yes I will definitely try and work with the nursery to help him settled but I am just concerned at the way they seem to be assessing him. His key worker is also very inexperienced (graduated last year) which doesn't help.

I know how you feel. I was very concerned about some things that happened when DS first started school. We let them know our concerns and stuck to our guns, whilst helping DS as much as we could and proved them wrong.
Private therapy was the best thing we ever did. As I mentioned DS is about to be discharged from private salt this week, whereas we have been waiting for his next NHS block since February now and heard nothing!
When DS first started we did lots of things to improve the oral muscles so lots of blowing bubbles, whistles, playing recorders, using straws etc. we also used an app called big mouth sounds , there are two, one is a short workout of the mouth muscles to do daily. This seemed to help DS a lot as I hadn't realised some of the things he couldn't do eg at that point he was unable to put his tongue behind his top teeth which is needed for lots of sounds. In the workout be practised things like this.

Saw the SALT team today and they've referred my ds to a developmental paediatrician and for a hearing test.

It's just the waiting that is horrible.

Thanks for posting that link, will check if out as I need more tips. Funny because ds babbles a lot infront of the mirror

Hi crispy h
The waiting lists are terrible aren't they?
All the stuff I put in my last comment about activities for improving oral muscles may be of use to your DS too at his age.
You have got the ball rolling early which is great

:)

Jellyandjam, thanks so much I will look at that app!

Hi everyone

Just want a bit of advice.

What can I use to make my DS understand words more? Plus I would like to expand his understanding of directions too.

Thanks.

My daughter just turned 2, also has speech delay. Basically, just has few words. She has attended group therapy in May but the speech therapist refused to send her for the waiting list of individual speech therapy. Based on the fact that she's the youngest and most able one in the group. The speech therapist told me she doesn't think my daughter has any developmental delay (which she will have assessment in end of July as I am very concerned about it) and she has confidence that she will speak more in coming months. I feel upset about the decision, I think she should base on the current circumstance to decide whether a kid need speech therapy ?only few words at 2 is really a speech therapy), not her ”prediction". The speech therapist even told me she is the only one has the right to decide whether a kid needs an individual speech therapy. The therapist can sense my upset, finally, she said she will put my daughter to another block of group therapy. I spoke to the children centre and they said if that was the decision of the therapist, they can't help anything. I really feel v upset and think they are wasting my daughter's time to access proper therapy.

Hi worry It can be so frustrating at times. I think the problem is that there are just not enough resources to meet the needs as they should. So many cut backs on funding have meant there is so little to share around. It's wrong but I guess not much can be done.
This was why we went private. Group therapy in my opinion did nothing for my DS, he only really made progress when he started individual therapy (but he was 4 at this time).
adrianna I dint know much about that side of things, hopefully someone will be along who can help you.

*don't

Hi jelly, I think you pointed out the fact. They just give the resources to who needed the most, not who needed it at present. It's really hurt when a parent already so worry.
I feel happy that your son has been discharged from speech therapy. Not sure if my daughter can be as lucky as yours one day (sometimes, I really worry she may remain non-verbal for the rest of her life), but I will try to keep positive.

I know how hard it is and trust me I have been there. Only a few months ago my son was not able to make himself understood to anybody who didn't know him well. I honestly felt at times like we would never get here (there is still work to be done but the difference is wonderful). Your little girl will get there, hang on in there

After a great settling in week at nursery, DD is not liking it so much this week! She will be going next week for three full days, as I am still off work this week I didn't drop her off til 10 on Monday morning well as soon as she saw the building she started wailing and clung to me when we got inside! She had an awful day wouldn't eat for them etc I picked her up at 3, then they readjusted her hours this week so it's like another settling in week, just left her off this morning at 9 more tears and clinging to me!!! Ahhhh I feel like the cruelest parent in the world . Can't get the silly notion out of my head that if she's distressed going there it will not help her speech develop one bit! Unfortunately she has to go, it's breaking my heart .

Hi jaybirdsinging,
I really feel your pain - it's so tough isn't it?? Hopefully if you take it slowly and build up her confidence she will start to settle and you can extend her time there?
I am having issues with my son just starting nursery too. He started in may and is still very upset when I drop him off. I really worry that with his delayed expressive language that he is not able to express himself and make himself understood and it's heartbreaking.
The nursery are also being a bit disappointing - they have told me that they are concerned he is not socialising and when I told them that I thought this was perhaps down to his expressive language difficulties, they disagreed which I find ridiculous! Anyway, I have been to a paed this morning who has confirmed that the only area is his development which is delayed is his expressive language and she agrees with me that this will likely impact on his ability to socialise in the nursery setting. It's all so difficult isn't it?? Good luck with it all.

Hi. I've been lurking on this thread since I've started and have found some of the information, particularly those relating to building up the mouth muscles. How do I teach 24mtho DS to suck through a straw? He can't and I can't work out how to explain it and showing isn't helping him and I can understand why as he can't see the inside of my mouth!
By way of background, at 24mths he has about 10 words anyone could understand (eg. "Bye bye"), 30 odd more which are understandable to those close to him (family, key worker at nursery etc) or if you know the context (eg. "Ow" for "cow") and then around 100 odd noises which are an attempt at the word but are no way clear enough to understand - and lead to a lot of tantrums! He can string up to four "words" together but it won't make sense unless you know the context and get the rhythm and go from there. He also asks questions, again subject to those caveats.
Nursery kept reassuring me he is fine - and I think he will be - but I have finally booked in for the SALT drop in clinic (although it doesn't seem very drop in given my appt is the end of August) and for a hearing test as he just doesn't seem to be improving much. I started worrying about 20mths, gave him until 22mths and then gave him until his second birthday but "cow" is still "ow", "sheep" is still "eep" and "cuddly" (a word he uses umpteen times a day) is still "cudd". His comprehension is excellent.
I just think he needs some help in making it come together. Since being on this post, we have done a lot of blowing bubbles, blowing paint through straws but I cannot work out how to get him to suck through a straw? Any other exercises I should be doing with him?
Thanks for getting this far. And I hope you don't mind my joining you as I know many of you have more reason for concern than I do.

Hi covered welcome Isn't it funny how some kids get these things instantly but others have to be taught. DS just picked up his sisters cup and sucked the water out through the straw (7months). But I had to spend a day or 2 teaching DD at 18months or so. I got an open cup with some water in it and a cheap bendy straw and waited til she was interested. Then I put the straw in the water and my finger over the top of it to trap some water in the straw, then she watched me empty this into my mouth and she wanted a go. She thought it was great craic. After a few times doing this I put the straw in her mouth with the water trapped inside but didn't let it go, she knew the water was in there so eventually she sucked on the end of the straw and I released it! Then we put the straw in the water and once it clicked with her she could use a straw no bother from then onwards. Worked for my DD, just a suggestion, am sure others may have less complicated methods Hope that made sense!

Hi guys

I know this is a sad question.

But have you ever felt that if your children don't catch up with their speech/ understanding for whatever reason, they may not live an independent life.

Yes, I worry about my ds' future so much at the moment because things are so up in the air. It's horrible

Hi
I don't know if I'm posting in the right place but I just need some advice. DD didn't speak until about 2.6 before this she was grunting and pointing. She had good understanding and went from nothing to sentences straight away.

She's now 3.6 and has a great range of vocab/sentence structure etc. However her enunciation of some letter is quite muffled and tbh I think if you don't know her you might struggle to understand her. She also complains about some noises hurting her ears.

I spoke to HV who said we could self refer to SALT. I called them, as soon as I told them when DD started talking they didn't want to know and said they wouldn't do anything til she was at least 4.6. The whole conversation took less than 30 seconds.

I went back to HV as I wasn't happy to leave things until just before starting school. The HV said to get a hearing test first off before looking into other options. That nearly 3 months ago, I spoke to HV who had chased up the hearing test and was told they were short staffed, had few childrens clinics and there would be a considerable wait to get an appointment.

I don't know what to do now. I don't think there is an issue with her hearing, but then I don't know that. I'm quite happy to pay for SALT but don't know if she needs this. She also struggled to feed as a baby so I'm wondering about tongue tie too (told DD2 had this at birth).

I just want someone to see her and say there's no problem, just the way she speaks or yes there's an issue and this is what we need to do.

What should I do?