Speech delay a pre-marker for dyslexia?

[ClodiaF]

DS1 is 2 1/2 and doesn't really talk: he mostly babbles with only a few clear words here and there. He often doesn't follow instructions or questions unless accompanied by a clear gesture or context, so I suspect his problems may be receptive as well as productive, unfortunately. I'm currently waiting for a full SALT assessment; his hearing's fine.
I have read somewhere that speech delay is often a marker for dyslexia, which happens to run in my family. Can anyone confirm this, and do you think there is any way of warding it off, so to speak? (I know lots of dyslexics are successful people, so no particular judgement intended - I just remember the acute difficulties faced by my brother and sister at school because of it, and hoping to spare DS1 any of that.)

No it's not. Lots of children have speech delay and have no problems with literacy later on. As you have mentioned he seems to have an issue with receptive skills there is a possibility of Specific Language Impairment. However take it one step at a time.
I wouldn't say you can ward off dyslexia but good teaching practice from the begging (explicit multisensory teaching of phonics) can help. Many SLTs teach phonological skills as part of their sessions (dyslexia is caused by difficulties in phonological processing).
My advice to you is stay positive and work closely with the professionals. My ds had a speech delay. We were the only ones who could understand him at the age of 3. We heard so much doom and gloom and negativity. We walked out of one nursery who insisted he was autistic despite his SLT contacting them to deny it. They said we were in denial! He is 15 and a PITA ;) but doing absolutely fine now.

Dyslexia runs in my family but we haven't noticed any language delay in fact I would say the people who have dyslexia were if anything remarkably articulate, verbal toddlers.

I'm dyslexic and spoken language is a strong point of mine, I can learn to speak foreign languages very easily, 2 of my dyslexic cousins are the same.

My 2 year old is great at speaking, but I will keep my eye out for signs of dyslexia, dp has 2 dyslexic siblings so the chances if our dc being dyslexic are pretty high but I really am not concerned, I don't have a preference as to if the are dyslexic or not, it's just a different way if learning, there are many good points to being dyslexic.

Speech delay and dyslexia are regulated by the same set of genes so you can get one or the other or both. Only time will tell.

I did my PhD on this topic, believe it or not! A lot of children do have speech delay with no long term effects, but if you have a history of dyslexia in your family then a speech delay can be a sign that he has inherited some of those dyslexia genes. PM me if you want more details. As lem says though, you can only see with time and quality teaching can really help.

Certain causes of speech difficulties can also coincide with a difficulty in learning to read. DD2s speech therapist has told us, due to the nature of her difficulties (she has a speech disorder), it is quite likely she will have such problems. However, as a teacher, none of the children with dyslexia I have ever taught have had speech problems too, so it is not a given that these problems will go hand in hand. I would urge you however to get your child's hearing tested whilst you are waiting for the SALT assessment. Many children with delayed speech have glue ear or other hearing difficulties and you must rule this out as a problem.

Sorry, I see you say his hearing is fine? However DD passed her hearing screening but actually had moderate bilateral hearing loss. Also, glue ear can fluctuate so can pass a test and still have problems.

That's really interesting as I'd never heard of the two being linked - says the dyslexic who had speech therapy as a child! (I'm now an assistant headteacher and no problems verbally - never let it stop me!)

Thanks all. I remember my sister's speech was mildly delayed, whereas my brother, whose dyslexia turned out to be much more severe, was an articulate toddler. Guess we'll just have to WAS....

It would only be linked in the cases where there is an auditory processing problem.

I have 3 dyslexic nieces/nephews and all of them were very early talkers.

Really interesting thread, particularly the post about the S&L therapist being pretty positive and the nursery staff trying to diagnose Autism. I feel like I am at the starting blocks of that scenario myself right now and it's really really crap.

Dh and I had a lot of sleepless nights when ds1 was going through this so I have a lot of sympathy with anyone starting out sebsmummy. Ds(15) still remembers the day when I dragged him out of the nursery when they accused me of being in denial about autism! He can't believe they said that. However because it forced us to work hard with him a lot of good came out of it in the long run for him and me.

I am determined to stick out the pre school as it's attached to (what will be) his primary school. My Mother and DP says to just pull him out but we have a SALT appnt in early June and I want them to put everything down on paper so it will help get us regular appointments.

I could just do without the whispering in corners every pick up where another piece of 'puzzling behaviour' gets described to me. I wouldn't mind of any of this behaviour even sounded that weird for a 28 month old, but chucking a toy and being obsessed with the play equipment, the computer area and tipping water on himself sounds pretty normal to me.!!

I know exactly what you mean about scrutinising everything your ds does. My ds's nursery decided he was autistic because he didn't like playing with manipulatives (Lego, wooden blocks etc)!! The trouble is staff in these kind of places have a bit of awareness about these things and they think it makes them experts. You are probably right to stick it out until the assessments are done but keep an open mind about what school you want to put your child in.

My DS had speech therapy as his speech was very hard to understand and even at 5 it was only really me who could understand him. He is now 6.5 and although still young he shows no signs of dyslexia. In fact he is 'above the expected level' with his reading and on track with writing/spelling. Having said that we have no family history either. Your LO is still very young, try not to worry.
I'm very interested reading other comments on how their children with speech disorders/delays are treated in school/nursery as I have also found the same. I feel like they are constantly trying to find something wrong with him just because he needed speech therapy at one time! We are both primary school teachers and have no worries about him.

My pre school were full of apologies this morning. Not sure why but they have done a 180 degree turn. Full of praise for DS and effusive comments with regard to progress. He apparently said a full phrase today!! I am shocked as I certainly haven't noticed him stringing words together but I an told he did and it got written in his book.

Long may it continue!!

Great news

Hi OP I thought the links below might help you figure out where you might be in terms of language delay, or impairment or language disorder etc. I definitely found for myself that having done some research I was better placed to understand the assessments being done for speech as well as the results of the tests themselves.

www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/speech.htm

www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Verbal_dyspraxia/

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/dyslexia/Pages/symptoms.aspx

www.helpwithtalking.com/Dyslexia

www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/LBLD.htm

When DD was first assessed she was considered 'at risk' of a speech disorder as she was around 18 months delayed in her speech (at age 3). She could not do 2-3 word sentences, could not say many sounds eg /s/ and could not repeat words or sounds accurately in many cases. Some of these things she still struggles with, but very quickly with speech therapy she made progress in the quantity of her speech and sentence structure. She had no grammar and a very limited vocabulary which was very concerning but improved rapidly. What I hadn't expected was finding that the 'therapy' was really something I did with her - we saw the therapist every 2 weeks simply to touch base, follow progress and fine tune techniques. We had to do a lot of stuff, day to day, consistently at home to ensure progress. It was a huge PITA! I hope this helps - you need to believe and know that very rapid progress (even if your child is later diagnosed with a speech disorder) is very possible and likely. It is a very stressful and worrying thing when your child fails to develop good and normal speech. You worry there is an underlying cognitive problem, you worry they will be socially isolated and excluded, you worry whether it will ever be 'normal'. I felt all of these things. Some of these worries are not completely gone even after over 2 years of therapy. DD may never have completely perfect or clear speech but I can see light at the end of the tunnel. I hope after your appointment in June you can see it too.

Best wishes.