How can I help our DD with her speech delay

[mummyloveslucy]

Hi our daughter is 3 in march and has very delayed speech compared to the other children in her nursery class. She babbles a lot still. she can say some short centences like "I want apple juce" but the apple is so unclear not many people would understand what she said.
I've been to the doctors who told me to see the health visitor. She said wait until she's three and see how she goes. She is improving slowly but she's no where near where she should be for her age. Does anyone have any ideas about how I can help her? is she too yong for a SALT assesment? if not how can I get her one?

Has she had a hearing test?

Yes when she was a baby. I think her hearing is very sensitive as she dosn't like certain sounds and somthing like the pur of a car engine she'll cover her ears and say too loud.

how would I go about getting it done privetly, and is it expensive? I'll do all it takes to get her some help as she gets so frustrated at times.

Hi MLL,

Don't want to play down your concerns at all and can't make any judgements as don't know your DD, but my nephew was very similar with his speech but just developed very rapildly when he hit 3 and had been at nursery for a while. He is now 6 and has been moved up a year as he is super bright, he also has the most incredible vocab. My 3.3 yr old son is also similar but v advanced counting (up to 100) and saying his alphabet. I would also have been concerned if it wasn't for previous family experience, but sometimes it just works itself out with no intervention. Good luck

I would ask for another hearing test to rule out glue ear

My dd had SALT assessment at age 2 yrs 10. She was found to be a whole year behind! I was advised to talk to her more, show her photographs and get her to respond. She made 6 months progress in the next 3 weeks.

She is now 11 and next week plays Narrator in the church nativity play.

Thanks mikamakamoo, That is reasuring. I was a very early talker and my husband was average so I don't know why she is delayed. I read to her and sing to her all the time, and she goes to nursery twice a week. I actually turned out to be dyslecsic though and einsteine didn't talk until he was 3 apparently.

Ds2 had glue ear and this resulted in delayed speech. You can get a private referral through your GP fairly easily - ours was covered by my work medical insurance. Waiting lists for NHS assessment and SALT can take a while depending on where you are.

Your nursery teacher may be able to give you some information/tip sheets.

Dd1 was seen by a SALT at my insistance when she was 2.10 and had a kind of verbal dyspraxia. She had SALT for 3 years, though not frquently when she reached school age, and is now pretty much okay. I can notice a difference, but not many other peopke can.

I did ush for a referral though, as the HV was reluctant ot do anything.

What would a two and a half year old with mild verbal dyspraxia talk like e.g. length of phrases, vocab and nature of problems with pronunciation?

I have looked this up and it is a possibility for ds but the internet info is quite general. Where is the line between just immature pronunciation and dyspraxia?

(Yes I know I should see the HV but...)

my DS is 5.5 and he started seeing SALT at 2.5
she is not too young & you should push for getting her assessed

dont worry though - my DS is playing Joseph in the nativity this yr (yr 1) - last yr would have been impossible with his speech but SALT has done wonders

my dd is 2.4 and has been referred to a speech therapist already. He does make sounds and says a few words but he can say more than he lets on as occasionally a word will slip out and he claps his hand over his mouth and goes uh oh! Am hoping when he starts nursery in Jan that his speech will come on.

sorry that should say ds!! baby brain coming through!

Your DD sounds a lot like mine - I took her to a private therapist that I found via this website: www.helpwithtalking.com/

She was 2yr3mth when I first took her and even then we were able to do a few exercises with her rather than specific words/sounds. Now she is 3yr3mth and making slow progress but it is progress. She has also in the meantime had grommets in her ears for persistant glue ear that was causing a hearing loss that we were unaware of initially.

You will probably find with the nhs system that you will have to push to get people to refer you. It is also frustrating the waits many people encounter too - us included, hence my decision to take her privately in the mean time. We are now using the nhs and private speech therapists in tandem, with each having full knowledge of the other so there is no confusion for us or DD about what is being worked on.

There is also a great book - more about normal speech development, but not exclusively that we used call baby talk by Sally Ward. It does give some helpful advice in general though about talking with your kids and how to help promote normal development.

Hope that is all of some help. I am thrilled with the progress my DD is making, but at the same time it is frustratingly slow at times.