Not talking

[Jess712]

My 27 month old is not talking as much as other children her age, she understands everything but only says 3 different words. Should I be concerned? my health visitor recommended speech therapy.Has anyone sent their child for ST and if so was the outcome positive?
I am now sitting here worrying that I'm to blame for my daughters late speech development...can anyone help?

I would say no need to be concerned at all. ST seems a bit extreme at that age.
My friends ds only said about 3 words until they were 3 then all of a sudden started talking in full sentences. They all progress at their own rate.

Ps you are certainly NOT to blame

If you're lucky enough to be in an area that allows your child to get on the waiting list for speech therapy at just over 2, grab it! My eldest dd was referred at two, and was diagnosed with 'speech delay'. My next two dd were not able to be referred until 2. 5, and both had 'severe speech delay'. Obviously, the later speech therapy may be irrelevant.... I'll never know.

For what it's worth (and it's pretty meaningless, as every child is an individual) my dds have no problems of any kind a few years down the line.

The worst thing about having children with speech delays is the number of parents who say to you: "Oh, but my child spoke early. Of course, I talked to them all the time." I've always wanted to reply: "You mean I shouldn't have locked them in the cupboard under the stairs a la Harry Potter."

Thank you for all your reassurance and kindness . I find these health visitors pile on the pressure and make you feel rubbish if your child doesn't do or match what their text books tell them is 'normal'.I will take each day as it comes and see what happens. Knowing the NHS they would put on a list for ST and probably wouldn't get an appointment for 6 months by which time hopefully My daughter will be chatting away... Will keep you updated and nice to know I'm not alone.

P.s can anyone recommend any good books,games or toys to help encourage speech development?

my 27 month old had his check today. both nursery and cm r concerned about his language, but tbh it's came on so much in the last 2 months. hv I saw today said that this is the stage where they really come into their own and start speaking much more. she's going to contact us in a couple of months. if there r still concerns, then she'll refer to SALT.

not sure if that helps, but ur not on ur own

Speech therapy is also about understanding & communication not just actual speaking it depends if you think there's an issue there. Ds1 was referred to speech therapy it took a while before the referral came through but I went with it although they didn't discharge him straight away they monitored his progress for a while which was good to know that we didn't need to go through the referral process again. The main reason behind his lack of speech was glue ear it was explained to me it as if they are listening under water so find it hard to repeat the words. He had grommets put on & his speech improved drastically . maybe worth getting get ears checked out if you've not already

A good game to encourage communication is play with bubbles but don't blow another one until they communicate with you, on a basic level this could just be making eye contact to start with, after that you could wait for them to say "more" then progress to "more bubbles".
There are lots of variations on this game you can do with toys etc.

Also try not to ask questions (it is hard not to!) just comment on their play or what you are doing.

If they babble at you translate the best you can and model the words for them.

My dd2 was slow to talk but has made great progress in the last couple of months - she turned three last month.