Speech Delay

[riab]

Does anyone know how I go about getting a referal to a speech therapist?

DS (18 months next week) doens't talk at all, nor does he recognise any words. He is bright as a butotn in other ways but I'm getting sick of people telling me he will be fine and that they know lots of kids who weren't talking at this age.

he simply doesn't do words at all, he doesn't respond to his name, he doens't say mama, he doesn't respond if you say milk or toast or ball.

He's not interested in reading or listening to stories and he doens't join in singing and clapping games.

every site I've found says he should be able to understand simple questions or sentance like 'where's teddy' or 'here's your milk' and be able to say a few words.

its not event hat he has his own sounds he uses instead, we though he learnt byebye (well its mroe like byba) about 2 months ago but he just learnt the sound, he uses it for all kinds of situations, like he'll wander out into the hall and i hear him going 'byebye' on his own out there

Starting to get quite worried

moondog -"We SALT's hold great store by a mother's instincts"

Exactly the feelings of our SALT ,it's a pity more HV's and teachers don't have the same view imo.

Our HV told us not to worry even though our son had no more than six words by the time he reached his 3rd Birthday. We insisted on seeing a speech therapist and I realised from the questions that she was asking that she was looking at the posibility of autism. I did not say anything while we were there and nor did she. However I rang the following day asked outright. Because I did this she admitted that autism was 'one' of the things that she was looking out for. It became clear that the the strict routine, watching the same video for hours on ened although he would then lose interest and move onto something new, and the restricted diet were all adding up along with the speech delay. Our son did not appear to realised that he had a name most of the time. I thought because he could follow instructions that he was OK - but he was given a dx of autism within six weeks of seeing the therapist. I often wonder what would have happened and how long it would have taken if I had not rang and asked.

Oracle

Sorry to hear of that Oracle.
How are things now in terms of your ds's progress and salt support?

Tiptoes,that is awful.

OK. Getting very nervous now. I thought dd was doing well. Not sure what to do... I was sort of relying on the HV, who had been great up until now.

BBS,thay're not all bad!!!

I know, I know. It's just that most of the time I'm very sensible about the whole speech thing. But at times I can only see the worst. I'll shut up! MY instinct tells me she's OK...

Socci, he does poin bu i doens' communicae to me - ie his poining is still quie vague. He generally points and then gets frustrated and goes to get the thing he wanted.
For example if he wants to go to the avairy in the park (he loves the birds) he will point or grunt, but half the time he is pointing away from the building the avairy is in. Despite going there 3 times a week he doesn't respond to 'birdies' which i say every time we go to the building and when we are in front of the birds.

He does point at things in books but again it is very random, and he makes no noises and doesn't attempt to copy me. He likes books with touchy feely bits in them and will spend 5 minutes with a book he can stroke the cats belly on.

Does anyone have a list of what gets checked at the 18 month check up?

this is a list i found of speech milestones: Moondog what do you think about it?

12 months:
Child says 3-5 words; nope

Child recognizes his/her name; 50-75%

Understands simple instructions; nope

Initiates familiar words, gestures, and sounds; not really, except to play peekaboo or chase

Child understands common objects and actions (e.g., cookie, eat, juice). nope18 months
Child uses about 10-20 words at age 18 months including names; nope

Recognition of pictures of familiar persons, objects' recognises me, his dad and his childminder

Early 2-word combinations of words emerge; nope

Needs are requested verbally such as "more, up"; nope, but he now holds his arms up to be picked up

Child will point, gesture, follow simple commands, imitate simple actions, hum or sing; points, but no ability to do action games like incy wincy spider, humming clapping or singing

Distinguishes print from non print nope

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I am an ardent campainger for greater awareness of autism. I don't want every child on the planet diagnosed but if HV's had far more awareness and did not fob parents off then maybe so many kids would not be slipping through the net. It's not only HV's we have a Pead who has just seen my DH's niece and her little lad who is 4 and none verbal. He was referred via Sure Start possible ADHD? Yes he is hyper but there is so much more going on than that and none verbal at 4? One of our head speech therapists is far from happy but the Pead has signed this child off saying nothing to worry about even though we have autism in the family more than once.

There is an attitude that says we don't want to worry the parent - while I can understand that - I would want to rule somethings out. You don't always have to check something out and make it stick. For goodness sake at least rule it out and pay us more than lip service.If they had done this with my middle son he may well have gotten his dx of autism before he was 13 and had had a massive breakdown.

My youngest is actally doing very well - is highly verbal - highly social and a delightful child who has a better social life than me!

Oracle

Riab,those are good things to look out for but far from comprehensive.
I have a very nice (and easy to read in simple language) handout on what to expect from 6mth-5 years.
It can't do the same as a SALT assessment but I rate it very highly.
If you CAT me or give me your e mail address,can send you a copy (let me know what you do as not sure my e mail is working.....)

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moondog, my email is [email protected]. I'd really appreciate a copy of that leaflet. thanks all, I'm planning to push for his 18mo check asap and at that state very clearly what my concerns are, I will push for an assesment with a SALT.

Hopefully there is nothing major wrong, but I don't want to risk being told to 'wait and see' and get to 2 1/2 wih him still not talking and then have to wait another year for a referral.

I do tend to watch out for language things as his dad is dyslexic, ADHD and couldn't read until he was 8. DH is very bright and perfectly articulate now - but he did miss out at school so I don't want DS to slip through the net like DH did.

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sorry to jump in but moondog could I also have a copy please as we are still awaiting ds assessme

[email protected]

i haven't read all of the thread but just wanted to let you know that i didn't talk til i was nearly 4. nothing. my mum was worried sick, dragged me round london to all the specialists. i came out of one of them and said "don't worry mum, i'm ok" - just like that, all at once. i just hadn't spoken out loud before. and even then got very embarassed when i did speak as everyone turned around to listen. just wanted to share this with you - hope it makes you feel a bit better.

Hi Nemo and Rib.My e mail is buggered at present(nowt going in or out) but bear with me-will find someone to get it sorted (usually dh but abroad) and contact you girls for addresses.

Again I will stress that it is not for home diagnosis(!) but it is useful and concise.

HTH

update:

he recognised the word car yesterday - for the first time when i said 'where's your car' he went and go tit instead of his ball!

plus he has started using 'up', its a bit garbled but its a definite word, as he uses the same sound to be lifted up but not for anything else.

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Moondog, wanted to sya thanks for the stuff in th epost. I go tit a while back but read it properly today - we have the SALT coming for a speech assesment on thursday.

I was able to convince HV of my concerns because after going through those lists i realised it isn't just not talking, he is only meeting about half of the 1 yr milestones and only 2 of the 18 month milestones.

I now have my fingers crossed that the visit on thursday will give us some help.

hi, sorry to hijack this thread but I also have major concerns about my ds who will be two in a couple of weeks. He's always been a difficult child, prone to explosive outbursts and we have always made excuses for his behaviour ( ie newborn, ill, teething, terrible twos come early etc) but the past couple of weeks its dawned on me that his speech is almost none exsistent. He understands instructions and will carry them out if he feels like it. His vocab is limited to "mummy, daddy, hello, bye bye, all gone, no and mine" Until now I've been quite cool about everything just believing its a phase he will grow out of eventually.However, there is something different about the way he plays eg if you give him a box of cars instead of driving them around making car noises he will line them all up in very straight line. If the line gets disturbed then world war III breaks out. I also have a happy , healthy 4 yr old ds so can see how differently they are developing
I'm taking him to see the HV tommorow to voice my concerns but have very little faith in her from previous encounters.
Am very sad as don't want him to be diagonsed with ASD but can see this is where we are going. Am also scared that I am going to be alone with him all week when my ds starts school after Christmas. Until last week we were paying for him to go to nursery two days a week but can no longer afford it. Mother and Toddler groups are often really stressful expeiences so not sure what we are going to do together.Any suggestions anybody ???

my ds will be 2 in Jan and his speach is very slow. He can say the basics and try and say things but isn't near saying anythin properly. However im not too worried about that. But he has very terrible behaviour and i went to the GP who reffered him to a pediatrition specialist person. im still waiting for this appointment as it can take up to a couple of months to come through

juicychops, when you say he can say the basics what do you mean he can say?

DS (19mo) can't say any words - we thought we had car, up and ball but we havn't. I was just being over optimistic.