Speech Delay - Baby Talk by Sally Ward

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I wonder if anyone had views on the above book. I got it out of the library after seeing it recommended on another thread. My son has just turned 2 and is not yet speaking. This book has made me realise how dreadful my own speech is and I am sure one of the reasons my ds isn't speaking yet is because of my constant asking him questions ! The book also bangs on about tv as if it's the devil's work, and again I am sure that admittedly heavy cbeebies exposure has not helped my son, but is it really that bad ? I am torn between feeling like a terrible failure as a mother, and thinking that this book is a bit ott. Any thoughts from anyone ?

anyone have any views on this ?

followed the programme with my DD and she has pretty good speech. Its probably not what you want to hear, but from what I've heard she's got her facts pretty straight. The issue with the tv on all day is that children at that age cannot distinguish between foreground and background noise easily, so even though as adults we might like the tv on as background noise, I'm told that there has been a fair bit of research to show that there is a connection between speech and tv viewing. Also, I went to a teacher's conference about something or other and was told there that again there is a connection between kids watching lots of tv and ADHD. Its scarey stuff when you think about it.

But no, you are not a bad mum because you bothered to read the book and you care. I don;t know how much you do have the tv on etc, so can't comment on that - but the fact remains that you are wanting and trying to do the best for your child, and that's all that counts in my opinion!!
HTH

Sorry about typos - done very quickly!!

I think it's a good book but I agree that some of it flies in the face of what lots of people do i.e. asking tons of questions or getting very young children to say things e.g "say 'car' emily" etc

I do think she really knows what she's talking about.

Thanks for your replies. rarrie, I must admit I had become reliant on the tv too much , mainly because I also have a dd who has just turned 1 and particularly during the early months, when feeding, it would keep ds occupied (although he would be pottering around doing other things as well). I really am not a fan of tv anyway, but must admit it became a bit of a habit just to put it on whilst busy to keep the children occupied (as I am sure many people do). I am reading through the book at the moment and you're right, it is very scary what she says. In the last few days I have banned tv altogether, am working on modifying my own speech (poor ds must be so confused to hear me constantly saying, 'what's this ?') and have started the daily 30 minutes of quiet playtime. katierocket - yes you are right that it does go against what a lot of people do - I think I was getting a bit panicky that ds isn't talking and kept subconsiously trying to 'test' him, but I've heard others doing it as well. It's a hard habit to break, but I am determined to give it a go and hopefully give ds all the encouragement he needs.

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Well to be honest Socci I'm a bit relieved to have a break from sodding Mr Tumble and that scary woman off of Razzle Dazzle

We did used to have it on a lot, several hours a day, which can't be good for a developing child - they used to hear the theme tune for Teletubbies and come rushing in to the living room like zombies ! And I'm not going to ban it forever - I think it has its uses.

I bought it when DD2's inability to pronounce certain letter combinations began to worry me. We had fallen into the habit of asking her to repeat things too! I didn't follow it to the letter but found that it made sense and corrected the worst things we were guilty of as a result. Fortunately, DD2 was not interested in tv so that wasn't a problem - wish I could say the same now. Use it as a guide but don't worry if you can't do everything that it recommends.

I think I will just dip into it, although I do like the idea of having some dedicated play time every day - I enjoy it !