Is speech and development normal?

[FromWalesAndBackAgain]

I have a boy - 20 months old. He says lots of singular words by mimicking us and can pair them to actions - e.g. he says “up n down” and sits up and stands down, will hand us a book and say “book” that he wants us to read and tell you what things are on the page - e.g. flower, bear, dog etc and will say bye bye to people (but never hiya). However, he can’t string anything together to tell us what he wants and just babbles (outside of “drink”, “snack”) and doesn’t often respond to questions even though he is paying attention - e.g. if we ask him what the animal is, or ask him if he wants a drink. He does understand some instructions - e.g. if I ask him if he wants a drink he will run to the kitchen, if I say shall we go for a bath he will run to the stairs and hold his hand out for me to help him up. But never answers - I do now make a point of saying “yes” at the end to try and signal it but it’s not having an impact. He doesn’t point to things often (though has done on occasion) and doesn’t often wave, but says the words bye bye in the right context) Does this all sound normal? Most of my friends kids are a couple of months older and they are already narrating their every day life e.g. “Joe likes cheese” and answering questions like what is your favourite food? “Chips!!” “Ayla tuck baby in”

I know comparison is the thief of joy and they all develop in their own time. Just checking there is nothing I should be raising to a health visitor - it’s my first (which you can prob tell with this post 😂)

How does he score on this SLT progress checker @FromWalesAndBackAgain?

Sorry, it helps if I put the link in 🤦‍♀️

It's here.

Hi @SiouxsieSiouxStiletto thabk you for your reply. I was just about to make another post due to further development.

I hadn’t heard of the SLT progress checker, but he hits all but one area. He has never been a huge pointer and doesn’t often point at things but will sometimes - e.g. if I ask where his nose is he puts his hand to his nose.

However, I was going to create another post as I went to nursery today and they had carried out an assessment on him and advised he should be at level 3, but he only just passed level one and failed level 2 & 3. This assessment was only done over one day and was quite frustrating as in his observations from nursery they note him doing things that they have said he can’t do as part of this assessment :(

it’s made me worry more about the niggling things I’d be worried about. He is 20 months and doesn’t always turn to you when you call his name (he does some of the time, I’d say a lot of the time unless really engrossed in something - yet not so engrossed that he doesn’t look when you say cake 😂🙈) and he doesn’t answer questions - like if I ask him if he wants a drink he is more likely to say “drink” rather than “yes”.

I was just thinking all kids develop differently and he is doing great (I know he can do most of the things they have marked him down on for the assessment) but now with this feedback it’s made me worry more about those niggling things :(

Yes, a normal, healthy kid

Ok so if the checker said "you answered no to some important questions". It sounds as though DS needs some support with SLT Eve. If it's simply ruling out Glue Ear.

I'd call the HV and ask her to refer him for a hearing test and to SLT.

Now that Nursery have raised some concerns, have they had a meeting with you and discussed what they suggest should happen next?

@SiouxsieSiouxStiletto the tracker said “You answered “yes” to the important questions about your baby’s communication skills. This means that things are on the right track for you and your baby”

I rang and spoke to my sons key worker today, she advised she didn’t carry out the test, her colleague who DS is less familiar with did. She said she knows DS can consistently do lots of the things he has been marked down as not achieving on the assessment and she apologised that it was sent home to me without her seeing it. She said he will look most of the time when you call him but is sometimes engrossed or ignores you if he is really enjoying what he is doing, but that it is normal boy behaviour at his age. She said he gives her enough eye contact to not raise any concerns which is why she raised no issues in his termly review and parents evening that we had 5 weeks ago. His key worker and SEN lead are going to do some observations against the assessment again and see how they get on and we are going to meet with them. The SEN lead has also said they will run some general observations over the next couple of weeks just to make sure they are not seeing any flags. But it seems more positive now. I’m also going to take him the GP about his ears as this reminded me that last time he was ill we took him the GP and they said there was a lot of wax build up in his ears and we should use olive oil for a week and it will clear it up. We did this but I think I’ll go back just to check it has worked as we didn’t notice anything coming out.

@Injackane 😊

My DD didn’t walk until 22 months and didn’t start talking until around 28 months. She was a late developer (no thanks to Covid confinements) but she’s 5 now and loves to talk, and run, and have tantrums 🙄😆. She also has always had a habit of often not responding to her name, which I flagged to her speech therapist (she still needs help with her pronunciation). The therapist asked her lots of questions and talked to her about it…it seems she hears me perfectly well and just chooses to completely ignore me. Pffft! She is incredibly strong willed so I shouldn’t be surprised! She has had her hearing, sight, balance, understanding etc checked and she’s 100% fine. She is also bright and curious, she’s just developing at her own pace. I hope this is of comfort to you!

@LaLaLaWhoopsieDaisy thank you for this! A huge comfort! Every child develops differently! I definitely feel you on the strong willed haha, that certainly describes my DS - and the ignoring thing, if he ignores me sometimes I say “cake” and he looks right away 😂😂

m they actually reran the assessment and he is now in the development age bracket he should be. He isn’t taking in nursery as much as he does at home, so I’ve let them know the words he uses so they can help bring it out a bit more with him whilst he is there :)

I just had a thought…with both my kids I did Baby Signing…maybe you could try it with your DS? If you sign the most common verbs and nouns as you say them it might reinforce his learning. He will then learn the signs in return, he might feel more comfortable signing rather than speaking. They say once a child learns a word they repeat it in their heads a hundred times before they will try saying it. With signing you take away this barrier. It also made potty training a breeze, you teach them to sign wee and poo before they go in their nappy (just look for that look in their eye!), then when they are old enough you can just take them straight to the loo the second they sign! No need for fancy classes, I learnt signing from online videos and help sheets.