ds2 has a speech disorder!!

[Jimjams]

And a delay- but particularly a disorder. Well what a surprise! And it's a completely off the wall one as well- what another surprise! Everything else is fine though (social skills, language comprehension etc).

I think someone should study our family-- we'd make a great research project.

I think I should probably be more worried than I am (just can't get worried though`). Our SALT seemed a bit fazed by it- aparently he's all over the place. Loads of sounds missing, and a few later sounds in place (apparently they should develop in a set way).

Anyway our main concern is to get his speech advanced enough that we can avoid having to see the awful NHS SALT who deals with all the weird pre-school speech disorders. I don't think I could bear being in a room with her again! This time waiting lists may be on our side. He's been referred to a community therapist (although he's going to be out of her league!) and god only knows when he'll be seen so the referral to the awful SALT is at least a few months away phew!

Great news Jimjams, well done him . LOL at the loo doors Aloha.

aww ds1's SALT saw ds2 today, then went round to my friend's and said how amazed she was by his progress Gives me hope for number 3!

Really pleased for you Jimjams. My dd4 has only recently decided to start speaking and she is now 3 and 1/2! I couldnt make out a word she said and dd3 had to translate. She has been referred to a speech therapist (but it will take 9mths before she will be taken!!). However, she has come on leaps and bounds in the last 2 months, but strangely, she too has problems with k and g. She can say the sounds on their own ( k-k-k-k etc), but cant incorporate them into a word. Does anyone think this will come with time??

don't you just love SALT???? !!!!!

sounds are easier to make at the front of the mouth- so k and g are one of the later ones to develop. Combining sounds is always harder- as it producing a sound on cue without copying. The best way to help her combine sounds would be to use the Nuffield system, unfortunately you generally have to see a SALT to get the cards- I've never managed to find anywhere that sells them. The card for k is a camera- and you start with that and then combine it with other cards so that she has to start combining sounds. YOu start with one syllable words sounding out the sounds seperately so g- oh, g oh, g oh, go, c ah, c ah, c ah car. (the ah sound is a piccy of a crocodile with an open mouth) iyswim. We've been doing some simple Nuffied with ds2 and I think it has helped a bit- once he got a few things he just started doing it properly anyway.

another simple thing that helped ds2 a lot was clapping out the syllables in words.

DD1, who was quite articulate by about 2.5 (20 years ago now so a bit misty) had a lot of trouble with k - couldn't say it at all - came out as t. So cake, kate and take were all tate, for quite a long time. (She also had trouble with sn and sh.)

I found this earlier - HTH!

Ive tried breaking down the words with her, but without a lot of success at the moment. She was trying to say coat but pronounces it toat as she always adds either t or d instead of k or g. So I asked her to say 'k', which she did. Then 'ko' and she repeated 'ko'. But at 'koat' she said 'k-toat'. Its the same with all the g words too. Maybe I need to keep persevering, but she gets quite upset if I push it, so Im not sure whether it is best just to let her speak at her own pace. What do you think?? If she wont speak for me, how will she be with a SALT????? (And I feel as if I am somehow to blame for her being such a late talker - my other 3 talked pretty quickly, and I have a suspicion that dd4 has never really needed to talk as we all did it for her!)

Great news Jimjams!!!

Well she is making the "correct" substitution - by which I mean you would expect it to be replace with a b or d. DS2 does the same. If she is getting upset then leave her and don't push. I only did the Nuffield stuff as ds2 enjoyed it (but remember he's used to seeing his big brother (his role model god help us) have all sorts of therapy so was probably overjoyed to have some himself). He brings me the cards.

You may find your dd is happy to "perform" for a SALT. DS1 will work happily with his SALT, his ABA tutor and various LSA's at school, but will he do anything for me? Nope- not unless its on the computer and he doesn't realise he's having therapy. He used to be happy to do SALT with me- but no longer.

You could ring the SALT dept and ask whether they can send out an advice sheet- if they're not seeing you for months they should do this- orif you can afford it you could have one session with a private SALT for assessment and advice. Or as she's making progress you could leave it. It depends really whether you are worrying about it, or whether you think it is affecting her in other areas/ at all.

Don't blame yourself though! Rule number 1!

thanks for that JanH. Caroline Bowen is good- think she;s in OZ IIRC. Muminamillion both your dd and my ds2 are velar fronting!

MIMA, dd1 used to do that with the sn and sh words - she used to say hake for snake and hoopy for snoopy - if I tried to break them down she would say sn-hake.

She can talk properly now!

What?????? Explain please! Thanks Jimjams. Im only really worried when other people (my older sister for example) parade their much younger child in front of me speaking fluently!! You would think after having 4 kids nothing would worry me any more, but there is always something new to be concerned about! Thats a really good idea about asking for a help sheet though. I will do that. I dont want to be causing more harm than good.

Thanks too JanH. You know, Ive never ever mentioned this to anyone (not even dh!) as I felt a bit of a failure!! Stupid I know, but it does make it worse when you feel you are the only one with a child like this. Its great to get advice and I really appreciate it.

Oh I missed this, it is indeed brilliant news, Jimjams and I am really pleased for you and your lovely son!

Follow Janh's link muminamillion! Velar fronting is when a sound produced at the back of the mouth is replaced with a sound produced at the front of the mouth (so K is substutued by d for example).

Nancy Kaufman's cards are pretty good and available from the internet. DS2 loves them, and they're kind of easy to use, but perhaps not worth it if she's coming on anyway. Her site may be worth a look at though www.kidspeech.com She's also always happy to answer queries. When I was getting nowhere with the NHS I actually ended up going to her for lots of email advice (for ds1- by the time ds2 showed up with problems we had ds1's private SALT)

I'm off to bed now- but don't worry MIAM speech problems are nearly always completely fixable. I went to a Nancy Kaufman conference recently and she had video of children with very very severe problems (eg age 4 and able to say "ah") and the progress they made with therapy was amazing. If a child understands language it's not so much of a problem.

I'm having ds3 very close to SILs baby- so I suspect we will be in the same boat as you in a few years (we're kind of expecting ds3 to have speech problems- poor child!). Don't let it upset you- easier said than done I know....

Thanks very much jimjams.

Great news Jimjams! I'm still trying to get used to the idea of not swearing like a trooper all the time as its never been a problem with DS, rather hoping it WILL be a prob with DD!
DS also went through a letterbox phase, sometimes couple with doorbell/knocker, sometimes embarrassing!

ROFL Davros- me too! And yup ds2 does copy me. My mum: "did he just say bugger?"

JimJams - just to add my own delighted at your news. Really am very please for you.