Flash cards

[sweetmaryjane10]

So I'm introducing my son to flash cards to help him with his words as he's a bit late at 26 months. My sister made him some and sent me a video until I can next collect them so for now I've been showing him the video twice a day while he watches it. I assume he's taking it all in but who knows? Do u think he will be? He watches the phone while my sister talks with each card

I think you'd have better results if you spent that time talking to him, singing with him or reading to him tbh.

What's on the flash cards? Surely it's things you have at home or could find in a book.

I do talk and read and sing to him. Who said I didn't?!

Erm....no-one?

The time he spends watching your sister via a phone would be better spent watching you do it live. That's all.

Is he taking it in? Not nearly as much as he would be if you were doing it with him.

Do flash cards work? To a point, but not really via a phone. Just talk to him/show him it live.

Does he say any words currently?

I will be showing him the flash cards once I have them!!!!

He's trying hard to say words. He can almost say ball end flower but not quite. He can woof woof and whey noises but not sure do they count as sounds. If I say snake he does ssssss sound

'I will be showing him the flash cards once I have them!!!!'

Again, I think we all understood that.

The question was 'is he taking it in, watching flash cards on a phone?'.

The answer is, probably not. And if you are worried about his speech the best thing would be to stop the phone time and use that time to read/sing/show him the actual thing. Show him a ball (a real one!) and show him a flower, instead of a picture of a ball via a phone! He will absolutely learn better that way.

Wait until you have the flash cards before using them.

I personally wouldn't use flash cards, I'd use the actually objects as you come across them with him.

Does he understand what you are saying to him? Respond to his name? Follow simple instructions?

His understanding is very good and he follows commands

If you contact your HV or GP they should be able to refer him for speech therapy.

My DD didn't really talk until between 2 and 2 1/3 probably I can't quite remember but then it all came out and still is.

We had flash cards but she'd get bored after about 5, we found it better just to talk to her and show her things

I don't think at this stage flash cards will be most beneficial at this stage tbh from you or a screen. In fact they may even make him more reluctant to talk as it sounds like it's the art of conversation he's struggling with not his understanding? If his understanding is good as you say then he surely knows what anything on your flashcards are and is way past that point. My daughter a similar age can now follow quite complex 2 and 3 stage instructions and contexts in conversations so if he's where he should be in that respect then flashcards will be wayyyyy beyond him and he may even resist them as he senses that you're trying to get him to perform. I think the best thing you can do is as much playtime involving really face to face interaction so that he can really see your mouth move and copy you and lots of turn taking as this is a massive part of understanding what a conversation not just speech is and lots of songs and rhymes etc to practice using words and sentences rhythmically. Little things such as giving him a choice of 2 things also helps coz he is then gently pressured into speaking to make that choice without the feeling that he's being asked to perform if that makes sense. I love a website called www.teachmetotalk.com which really gives some good advice on the stages of speech and how to encourage it. 26MO is on the late side to be not saying much at all. Plenty of kids are the same and develop just fine but I'd suggest googling the MCHAT test as a quick screen for autism and I'd get in touch with his health visitor and ask for a speech tx opinion too. Good luck xx

He is not autistic and I hate how ppl jump to that conclusion just Cos he's a late talker. I spoke late as did my nephew and hubby's brother and none of us are autistic

How many words does he have do you think OP?
I’m sure he enjoys seeing your sister , a fresh face, could you face time instead and have a live conversation that might be more engaging for him.
It’s lovely of your sister to do that .

Maybe 5 words but not very clear ones

Sounds count as words too, give the flash cards a go .
Keep an eye and phone your hv if you’re worried .

Nobody is saying he's autistic. You've given us one paragraph about him. Fully trained professionals often take several lengthy F2F sessions and years to make that assessment so nobody is going to be daft enough on here to say he definitely is or isn't. I think you need to stop jumping down people's throats OP when they're just trying to help. A common but by no means exclusive cause of late speech is autism so I don't think advising you to rule it out (particularly whilst giving no opinion on your child specifically and making it clear that lots of kids who are late talking catch up with no issues) is unreasonable. Good luck xx

I wouldn't bother with flashcards too much as children can get used to that picture rather than how different they can look.

Collect a few things from around the house in a bag of pillowcase and pull them out to name.

Then when you go out just name what you see like you've got verbal diarrhoea. And comments he on his play sometimes.

Just loads of repetition does the trick and suddenly it will get there.my DS was the same and was probably always less chatty than others his age for a while (I think because he was slower to name things etc) now at 3 I can't shut him up! 😂