Anyone fancy a speech therapy thread?

[mamapants]

Have read some older support threads but couldn't find anything recent.

My DD is 2.2 and has just had her second speech therapy session.
She's had an inconclusive ear test and we're waiting for another more comprehensive ear test.
She basically only has four consistent words.

I've been given some really useful tips from the speech therapist today and will share them later on if anyone thinks they'd find them useful.

Anyone else in the same boat.
Any tips to share or just want to share your worries concerns.

Thank you

My DD had speech therapy when she was 4, and I have to say the transformation was amazing. In less than 3 months she was talking clear as a bell.

In my eyes SALTs are just brilliant. I'd be one tomorrow if I could afford to go back to uni!

Good luck with it all.

I will be watching this thread with interest as my almost 19 month old is yet to use any consistent words with meaning other than dada. (She said 'bye' and 'again' once, about two months ago, but has never repeated since.) She's very vocal but everything else is babble (or screaming!) Everything I've read/been told has indicated she should have a number of words under her belt by now so I've been wondering if she is headed toward the path of speech therapy. I'm actually unsure whether to visit the hv now or if it's a little premature and I should wait it out a little longer (til she's 2 years old) She understands many things and follows simple instructions, but becomes so easily frustrated a lot of the time (hence the screaming) I can see she wants to express herself and copy me, she just can't seem to make the connection from her brain to her mouth. I repeat words and read to her a lot, sing songs. Unsure how else to help really.

Good luck with the therapy mama I hope you and your dd get on well with it, and that her hearing is okay. I have read many positive stories about speech therapy helping little ones, let's hope she's chatting your ears off this time next year!

My ds 3.5 has had SALT for the last year and a half unfortunately it hasn't brought his language on at all or at least it doesn't seem to have done to me they just keep banging on about comprehension even though he understands everything you say to him. He has just been diagnosed with social communication delay on the autistic spectrum though. Pointing is a big deal to show they can get their needs met etc so look out for that

My little girl's speech is quite good but my friend's son has just been referred at 2 years 4 months because he only has a couple of words.

AprilLoveJ if you are wondering whether your child needs a referral to speech therapy have a look at this. confidenttalkers.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/should-i-worry-that-my-child-isnt.html The website also has lots of ideas to help your child talk.

Slightly different because Dd2 has diagnosed hearing impairment but I'm just waiting for her referral to come through.
She's 20 months and seems to be increasing her"word" count weekly but none of it is clear or correctly pronounced.
Not sure yet if it will be group or 1:1

Hi, my ds is 2.6 years and is having his first SALT session next week. He has a few words but is very unclear and his pronunciation is poor. I feel almost worried out as I've been worrying about his speech for so long. He scored low on the M CHAT test and the SALT said that he was doing things you wouldn't typically see in a child on the autism spectrum, lots of eye contact, imaginative play. I'm worried about dyspraxia because he's quite enthusiastic about trying to talk but he can't seem to make the sounds and mouth shapes.

We've just been put on the waiting list. Have been waiting for the 'watchful waiting' to be over since March. 25months now and the wait list is about 18weeks. DS can't understand things like "which one is the duck?" "Where are your shoes?" so it's no great surprise to me that he can't say duck or shoes. HV seems to think they are separate and we only need to worry about his lack of speech. I'm more concerned about his lack of understanding. Would be very interested to hear the tips.

My 6.5 year old started seeing a SALT a couple of months after starting in year R, we received a letter a couple of days ago saying he has made huge improvements and apart from a frontal lisp (which is common) he is now discharged from salt.
In around 18 months salt have done a fantastic job, I can't praise them enough. He was unintelligible, the difference now is truly amazing. Had we started salt earlier, his speech and language would most likely have improved at a younger age as well.

DS is nearly 3 and only has around 8 unclear words (no mummy or daddy, sadly). His understanding isn't bad but he is a bit behind I think. He scored moderate on the MCHAT and there are some concerns about Autism, although his social communication is improving (he points, makes good eye contact and shares a lot more now). We've not had a brilliant experience with SALT, sadly. They started well, quick assessment and allocation, but then his play therapist went sick for nearly three months, and his proper therapist left without telling us and his new one didn't contact us. We've finally had another block of sessions (6) but I can't see that it's doing much good, DS made more progress when she wasn't coming! And now they've stopped again and he'll be reassessed 'sometime after the holidays' to see if he needs more input. I'm really hoping nursery helps to be honest!

My DS is 31 months and on the waiting list for SALT. Have seen a private SLT and we are doing the talk tools exercises with him as she said he lacks strength in his mouth which is why he can't pronounces a lot of hard sounds like puh... Not sure the exercises are doing anything to be honest.

His hearing test was all clear. He is quite hard to understand but getting better all the time...

To those who's children are getting speech therapy or did in the past how regularly were they being seen?
Just wondering what the norm is. My daughter had a 3 week gap between first and second appointment and due to summer holidays there will be nearly two months before the third and it just doesn't seem like its frequent enough to make a difference.
april it wouldn't hurt to get in touch with health visitor now just because waiting liat s can be quite long. Took us about four months to get the hearing test and will be another two at least before get the follow up.
Bedtime for the children now but will reply more afterwards and post the tips I was given.

DS had a gap of a few months between his assessment and the sessions, then had one a week. She was only ever here about 20 minutes a time though.

helen that sounds like my ds, he can't make 'mm' noises and misses that beginnings of works so he says "uck" for truck, book, look and duck. He also can't pucker up for a kiss or make "sshhh" sounds.

Watching with interest.
My ds is eighteen months and will start with SLT in August, he has just been refered to audiology for a hearing test which we are also expecting to be in August.
He has no words, or noises to represent words, at all. Nor does he nod or shake his head. But he does point, make eye contact, very very occasionally does imaginative play when prompted and has comprehension e.g. He can put on his shoes if asked or will fetch things from another room, so I'm not convinced he has any problems hearing.

I am very interested to know what experiences others have had.

Nickyeds sounds very similar. My DS makes weird shapes with his mouth when he is trying to talk and often has his tongue too far forward in his mouth. He had tongue tie as a baby which we had snipped so always wonder if that is related. He says eppa ig for peppa pig and guggles for bubbles yet can say baby.

DS3 is 31m.

He doesn't pronounce any unstressed syllables, or consonants at the end of syllables. So caterpillar is ca-pi, Peppa Pig is pe-pi, etc. He also frequently mixes up his stops - eg d/g.

He was first referred last November at his 2y check but we've just found out that the referral was mislaid so we're starting from scratch

Meanwhile we've been logging his language development. What's noticeable is that although he's made lots of progress in sentence structure (might use seven words in a row) and vocabulary (can't count how many words he uses) his phonology simply hasn't developed past the first stage. His words now are pronounced exactly the same as they were seven months ago, there's just more of them.

Fwiw, April and others, my DC1 and DC2 didn't have a single recognisable word at 18mo but were pretty much fluent by 2y6m and now flying high in English at school.

The speech therapy assessor here said that because our region has changed from a 2y6m development check to a 2y check, they are now getting two hundred referrals a week. It's really common for a child of only just two not to be speaking very much so although it's worthwhile being vigilant it really doesn't prove anything.

Our sessions were every 3 weeks but there was daily homework to do in between so we did 15-20 mins a day of work at home.

Ds had a tongue tie too helen it was snipped when he was tiny though. Dp also had to have SALT as a child, until he was in school. He remembers a woman getting him to say 'lorry' a lot and calling him a lazy boy I'm guessing things have moved on considerably. Dp's family are unconcerned because dp was so late to talk, also when you look at the word he attempts they are 'choc-oc', 'cake', 'daddy', 'car'.......So basically his favourite things.

DP has tidied away the advise I've been given, so will seek it out later.
What are the talk tools exercises helen?
I've read that blowing golf balls through straws is good exercise for strengthening muscles.
Am not sure if that is an issue for dd. The speech therapist hasn't really discussed what she thinks the issue is or anything.
I worry that its something beyond just slow speech but she didn't seem to think it was necessary to refer to a paediatrician. I think I might speak to the HV though as I also did the mchat cheradine and it came out with at risk. So I think it might be worth following up to be on the safe side.

Mamapants
We had to buy bite blocks £35 that he has to bite with his back molars. One at a time and then both together. This is to strengthen is back bite.

Also holding a lolly stick between his lips.

Blowing into a plastic horn.

Blowing bubbles.

She gave us a plastic straw as well with a circle attached to it so he has to use his lips to suck and not put the straw between his teeth but it was rubbish quality and broke straight away! And it was a bit of a choke hazard.

Also exercises with crunchy foods like pepper sticks/bread sticks where you aim it for the back molars so he chews with them.

These are all a challenge to do with a 32
Month old. We struggle to make him do them especially as you have to make them sit straight on a chair with their hands on their knees and feet on a cushion to ensure that they don't use any other muscle than their mouth...

Thanks for the info helen they are definitely something we will try in the future. I can't imagine she would understand, or be capable of that right now. She tends to bite and chew things to pieces and sucks at the bubble wand rather than blow. A horn or whistle could be good though as she might get the concept with something with an instant, noisy reward!

OK, here are the tips. All pretty obvious but there are some things I hadn't thought of or are a bit different.
So no.1. Playtime with mum or dad. Min 30 mins a day. At child's level, child to take lead, simple language, comment on what they are doing. Name things. Have high interest toys eg bubbles, stacking cups, car etc. Choose things you can play together. People play eg peek a boo.

No. 2 action songs eg wheels on bus, row your boat etc. Encourage copying actions. Repetition is good.

No. 3 association. Choose objects to explain things.show an object before an activity. Eg car keys before a journey, swimming costume before going to pool, plate before dinner.
Your child will then be able to use these objects to help make choices and feel less like everything is out of their control.

And no.4 encourage your child to bring you things to show what he wants. Beaker when he wants a drink, remote for telly, wellies for walk etc. This can be easier to start when both parents are home as one can help model it by helping them take the beaker to the other. Set up a situation such as a pot with a screw lid with chocolate buttons inside so child needs to take pot to parent to 'ask' for help. Treat them bringing you something as a request.

Hope they are helpful, especially for those of you who are worried but not as far as speech therapy yet.