my ds 2..6 delayed speech would love to hear sucess stories and advise for me

[bubblagirl]

i have recieved great advise on someone else's thread so thought best create my own

my ds is 2.6 can say single words most not pronounced properly is not putting words together

we are awaiting SALT have had a nice therapist come to my house twice as i have such a wait he does try to say words but we dont seem to be progressing

just wanting to hear from people who have been here how they dealt with it and some reassurance that he will talk like other children his age

i'm beginning to feel i'm not doing enough for him we sing we read we paly games what more can i do to help him

sorry long rant but really would love to hear from others in my situation as no one understands my frustration and worry for him

it feels like while waiting for SALT there seems so be no other support in the time you are waiting i feel i could be doing more to help him

any advise from anyone in same situation ether its something you have done that triggered something singing seems to get my son to attempt to say words but cant sing all the time lol

x

Hiya

my 4.3 year old had no language at all at 3, and now has some so there is hope (DS3 has additional Sn so any is a bonus).

Sorry to hear ab out the SALT, sadly we have had the same situation regarding waiting lists, private is an option but not a cheap one sadly. It was certainly beyond us.

There are groups such as ICan and Aphasic who may be able to help with advice, but honestly he's still young and has every chance in the world of being fine with his speech. keep talking / singing / playing games etc, as you already do.

thank you so much i too thin k he is quite young but so many children dont seem to stay young any more if you know what i mean talking at 12 mths walking at 9 mths so when you get an older child with a delay it feels worse that it should

he looks older than his age and when he starts babbling you see the looks then you wait for the eer how old is he whilst there 14 mth old is practically talking in sentences

makes me worry more as you get the he should be doing this now

he can read the alphabet and numbers from a page cant say all correct but close he can write some alphabet apparently yr and half advanced here but speech probably a yr behind

i'm worried about him at nursery unable to talk will he go un noticed as he cant ask for things probably bothersd me more than him but it is so worrying

have been informed of a group called snap that help with speech delay so will try that have SALT review in a week and half so i'm hoping by the time he is 3 we would be able to have a chat his my little buddy makes me sad to see other people talking with there child

hope your dc come along too it can be so frustrating thanks for help

Is your child going to a state nursery? if he is (eg one attached to a school) and he still isn't talking then, you need to ocnsider applying for him to get a statement to help as that will tkae the 'forgotten' child fear away hopefully (my ds3 will get 1-1 help 16 hours a week when he's at school from January).

Don't envy epople with early talkers too much- always remember my ds1, who was walking at 10 months, talking by a year.... has a SALT age of 16 - 21..... and turned out to be on the austistic spectrum and is not fdoing very well at school at all, and was almost excluded at the start of term! Early spech is a sign of nothing ime.

he hasnt started nursery yet only have one nursery where we live as 2 have shut down so struggling to find him a place asap but apparently he will get monitored but still i'm his mum of course i'll worry

sorry to hear about your ds

i am slightly envious because of how some people's attitudes are people with early talkers are not very sympathetic to late talkers he always get looked at as though somethings wrong with him yet can do things there children couldnt possibly do i dont like to brag lol

it is nice to know he is advanced in something i just dont want him to miss out on things as speech is delayed

i've had the odd comment that it xould bve my fault which doesnt help so thats why i ask others with same situation to talk with me as they know how i'm feeling and not finger pointing some people can be cruel about it

My ds is 2.6 and says very few words. he is getting better every day and he is learning to put two and three words together
I have to say I have never been concerned about it and have certainly never thought about getting him looked at by health professionals
He is at home with me for the majority of his life. I can understand him, he can understand me. Why on earth would he need to speak more at this stage? (He is a bit like my dh and will do the minimum to get by }
I really wouldn't worry - compared to all of his friends he does speak the least words and the least clearly. It honestly doesn't worry me. I quite like his "babytalk". I know it will change soon and then these baby days will defo be over.

stressteddy hem isnt even puting 2-3 words together struggling with single words baby talk is good but it frustrates him not being able to communicate thats when it becomes a problem

skerrymum he had hearing test done not so long ago all was ok cant do other untill 3

x

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bubbla, my DD is 2.4 and has only just stringing two words together and most of what she says sounds like gobldegook She has had some SALT although NHS, so now waitinf for next session, but i actually think she wont need it. This transition to two words happened recently, almost overnight - i know her speech is still behind and i do worry when i hear other children her age almost fluent. She is pretty average to advanced in the rest of her development.

Things ive learnt through SALT are:_

Choices:- Would you like a banana or an apple? would you like a red or blue cup - this works amazingly well for dd.

Repetition:- would you like a banana or an apple, apple? You would like an apple, oh look DD has an apple. That is a lovely apple. (drives me mad, but it works!)

Don't ask too many questions like, have you got a book? Rather say, you have got a book. That sort of thing.

Like you, we play, read all the time. I think some children just develop at different rates and would like to burn the development charts. I used to get very stressed about this, but i just figure that i love my DD so much, not just because she is my DD but for the lovely little person she is, i wouldnt change a single thing. If she goes on to have difficulties, i dont care (i do as in i wouldnt want her to have problems) what i mean is, she is still my angel and my reason for living, and i wouldnt want to change a thing about her. I hate the pressure of competitive parenting, it seems to be rife these days, my DD1 is 17 and i dont remember every being paranoid about development milestones like i am now.

i have just read that you said he is getting frustrated. Sign language - its brilliant, ive learnt most of mine from justin on cebeebies, looked some up and the rest DD and i have cobbled together ourselves. Its fantastic, our secret code - got some stunned looks today when i was able to communicate "do you want a drink and something to eat, do you want water or juice" at the soft play today - when DD was at other end of the room

i've actually just bought a sign language dvd as i'm willig to do anything to help him communicate with me he does say help now if he wants me for something only been doing this about 2 weeks now does answer singular words such as red or blue he'll say which one

today had great day with words he attempted to say everything yesterdayu felt we had lost all hard work didnt want to know lol typical this is when i get frustrated as i'm worried were not moving on thanks so much your dd sounds adorable glad she is picking it up well bless her

Are you with him all of the time? If so, then I really do think you are worrying unnecessarily.
If you understand him and vice versa then that's all that matters
If he is indeed frustrated then this is the time that you will see big progress. They won't stay frustrated for long
Also, you could sometimes "pretend" you don't understand him and get him to try telling you again
I found that my ds had an uncanny skill for being able to say the words of things he REALLY wanted
choc choc
lollipop
more
etc
Hope you are ok
You sound very worried about this
x

yes i am with him all the time which makes me worry its something i'm doing wrong silly i know but comments made to me dont help with this

although i do no different to parents with early talkers i guess its only been last few days that i'm beginning to worry more not sure why really maybe because i thought he would be starting nursery although it seems his place hasnt come up yet

i just dont want to be not doing something if it would help him

i have managed to get him to say the odd few words that he needs for me to really understand he says help, more , and other singular words i'm just a worry mummy

needed to hear fro other people experiencing same or experienced so i know i'm not alone with this as all my friends dc spoke from young age so i get oh i never had to do this as xxxx was talking from 12 mths

thanks everyone it is making me feel so much better knowing i'm not alone

he is such a loving caring boy i wouldnt want him any other way but want the best for him dont want him to stand out for his lack of speech but for hopw wonderful he is xxx

bubbla - I'm certain it's nothing you are doing wrong
You sound like a lovely mum who just wants the best for her ds. As we all do
Please try not to worry too much
Love to you
Do let us know how things progress
x

bubbla - not a "success" story - DS is still very behind for his age, but he does learn new stuff all the time. I was advised to teach him more verbs to help him progress from single words to sentences. REMEMBER that there is a good chance that he will just catch up of his own accord by the time he is 3, he may just be a late talker without anything be amiss.

aside from AFASIC and ICAN websites, there is also this website with lots of info www.speechteach.co.uk/p_resource/speech/speech_intro.htm and ideas for games, and www.hanen.org has some useful info too.

Repeat new words ad nauseam - here's your CHOCOLATE, your yummy CHOCOLATE, you like CHOCOLATE and mummy likes CHOCOLATE, we get CHOCOLATE from the shop.

I also find using photographs helpful to teach DS people's names etc.

a success story as such - my friend didn't speak until he was 4, he has just got a PhD. My PhD supervisor (so intelligent he scares me!) didnt speak until he was 3. I know i get sick of hearing how late talkers tend to be intelligent, i just think it means, that if you child talks late it could just be that. He is a late talker and it is no other reason than that, and it wont affect him in later life. You are doing the right thing getting him SALT as he is in the system if there is a problem, which there most likely isnt. You said he can say colours, my dd can't do that yet, so he is definately making good progress.

Ive heard that lots of late talkers really make progress once they start nursery.

Dd1 was vert slow ot speak; looking back, she sisn't really babble like dd2 has done.

Age 2 I expessed ocncern woht the HV and was told to wait 6 months, which I did.

Dd1 was very incoherent, htough she did have a wide vocab, no-one bar dh and I could understand her. She started to link 2 words otgether at about 28 months, but it was sonehting that dhe and I taught her to do.

She was seen by a SALT who was fantastic. She used various ways to help dd1, mostly ladders of sounds to help her to make the correct sound, and to use the correct muscles. And things like blowing and stcking her tongue out.

She was toght to have a kind f verbal dyspraxia, and many of her feeding problems form birth were tought to be contributrary- dd1 was rem and didn't suck for along time. She also was unable ot wrinkle her nose until she wa salmost 5.

Anyway, she really progressed and when she atrted school she on;y ha da couple of sound smissing. When she was in yr 1 she was discharged form the SALT.

She is now on a par witht he resto fher peers, and is in th etop group for literacy, which is so incredible. Her speach is slightly disjointde, but not that noticeabley..

As an aside, she attended nursery form 18 months, and preschool form 3.5 years.

Dear Bublagirl,
try to ignore whoever it is implying you are somehow at fault, or your son has a problem. You are doing everything in your power to check he's OK...kids really do take their time sometimes. My Ds is 2yrs3 months, very gably talk, odd words that make sense, hasn't started stringing words together yet, but is really expressive, and I'm sure he'll get there with time. Haven't considered the need to see a health profesional.
People should be more considerate. I had a good friend who felt pressured into toilet training her son way before he was ready so suffered months of wet clothes, unhappy son etc, that was mostly down to the mother in law!
Good luck with it all.

thank you every one for your kind words its so nice to have people understand me instead of feeling sorry for me lol

i appreciate all the advise and would love to hear everyone else's progress with dc good luck to all

i think it is just a case he will do it when he wants to do it he surprised me today and said up and down bet if speech therapist asked him he'd say nothing typical

also tried to copy alot of what i was saying i could understand what he was trying to say so thats made me feel more confident that he knows just wants to do it when he is ready

just annoys me when people imply as its my first child i might do better next time oooh makes me mad also dp doesnt want anymore lol

so thanks again it seems he has good and bad days with wanting to talk today stood in shop reciting alphabet not all said correct but understandable and also picking up different things and saying colours so hooray for today lol

oh and said ninky nonk when his toy finally arrived noticed a few 2 words together but not very understandable

children make you out of your mind with worry one minute then suprise you the next i think he secretly talks when on his own lol

x

x

My dd didn't talk at 2.6, but is talking now. Not as well as she 'should' IYSWIM, but definitely talking...

On the other hand, she is still waiting for SALT - we have been on the waiting list for 11 months .