Top Tips for Late Talkers! General Support thread

[lingle]

The idea of this thread is to gather up some strategies and tips that have been useful for the many late talkers among our children.

If something has worked for you, let us know, and perhaps it might be useful for a family who are stuck on a waiting list for speech therapy!

Thanks Linglette, that is v useful - like you say, the you/I thing is tricky. I will coach DH to help model this one.

DD is 3.3, mostly using 2 and 3 word phrases. ATM she is not really using pronouns, or at least not correctly. She does say "yours" by which she means "mine". She says some phrases which contain "I" - e.g. "I find it" - but I think she is treating the phrase like a single word, as she does with some other phrases. For e.g., she says things like "there it is shoe" when she means "there's the shoe" - "there it is" is like a single word to her. She also announces "dress herself!" to tell me that she has got dressed by herself - I think she's got this from the TV (the animated adventures of Penelope on Show Me Show Me on CBeebies, to be precise !) So, not really getting pronouns yet.

We did lots of modelling of 2 word phrases when she was at the single word stage, so I guess now we want more of the same but with more words, but somehow I am finding it harder. I think I thought that once we'd cracked combining her language would somehow magically take off - obviously it is not as simple as that! I think the modelling really works so I'm quite hopeful about the dinner table modelling for pronouns.

"somehow I am finding it harder"

oh I know. You climb the mountain and all you see from the peak is the next mountain.

DS2 combined at 3.1 (I could tell you the exact date and time he said "porridge gone"!). Sentence length is pretty good now at 4.2 - certainly I don't count the words IYSWIM. He had no pronouns at 3.3. He is solid on I/you/we and pretty good on they now but only just getting there on he/she which he still uses interchangeably.

That's a good way of putting it linglette.
How do you feel about where your DS2 is up to now?

He's brilliant, and I'm very very happy with him.

To be honest, it helps that his profile is jagged, with peaks as well as troughs (musical ability, memory and concentration skills all very high). It also helps that his profile is clearly genetic, running through my line of the family, so getting upset about it would be like getting upset with a mountain for not being flat - it's just how he's meant to be. Plus as it's my side that he takes after, I can identify with a lot of his personal quirks. We love each other .

But - I was with a typically-developing 23 month old boy this weekend and could see the gulf between their developmental styles. There's no getting around the fact that he is different!

He sounds lovely linglette, no wonder you are proud of him!

thank you. You? Do you manage to keep your chin up? It's hard with a little girl as so many of them appear to be gabbling
irritatingly fluent from about 18 months (grrr). I know full well that the "boys are later" thing does not explain the severity of DS2's delay but at least it gives people something to say........

I know what you mean about amazingly articulate little girls, a few of my friends/family members have them, and it's hard not to feel despondent when their younger-than-mine DDs are chatting away - I feel the contrast must be so obvious, and then I feel as though I'm being disloyal for feeling sad about it.

I oscillate between optimism and anxiety. Sometimes when I reflect on her progress I feel ok and sure that she'll catch up, and then at other times I worry about how much she isn't understanding (I'm more worried about her understanding than her talking since I figure the latter will sort itself out once she understands more). I do think she will get there though.

I think that generally when a child so young (3.3) has some language it is more likely than not that there will be a lot more language to come. Have you (INRB) had any specific advice from a SALT about the best strategy to develop more language?

I was reading a book last night that said 'Girls don't talk because they are the little princesses of the family' is the flip side to 'Boys always talk later' explanation. First born children talk late because they have no role models ( this applies even if child is in nursery all day). Last born children are the babies of the family who don't talk because everyone talks for them (applies even if all siblings are elective mutes) and middle born children are 'overlooked' . Simple really....

Yes, I think most late talkers have either underlying articulation problems or understanding problems.

Totally agree that understanding problems are what really matters. We've got them too big time. This time last year we were still working on answering choice-questions and yes-or-no questions so it was pretty severe. Now things are loads better......we're learning to distinguish (slowly!) between the different "wh?" questions. We're only really there on "where?" and "What?" though to tell the truth. "how" and "why?" are still meaningless to him. Luckily we still have 9 months before he starts in reception so fingers crossed.

There's a quite good DVD called "Teach me to Listen and obey". It's better than the title suggests.

Also, are you aware that using visual aids is a big big way of helping with understanding? It's like a scaffold to climb up.....there are lots of threads under my old name (lingle) on this topic.

cyberseraphim, there's an answer for everything isn't there!
We had a SALT assessment about a year ago and were referred to do a course (Hanen "It Takes Two To Talk"), so we've been using the strategies from that. It's been very good I think - of course I have no idea how she would have progressed had we not done those strategies but I think it's been positive. It focuses on taking children up to the point of combining words, and although of course the basic principles still apply I'm finding I'm lacking imagination on specific things to try now.

linglette, visual aids sounds interesting and useful - do you have any links I could check out? Will look for that DVD also. That sounds like you and your DS had quite a challenge last year in working on his understanding. DD can do yes/no and choice questions, and "where", but probably not "what" and definitely not "how" or "why".

itneverrains,

if you have time, do a search under my name and also under "lingle" within the special needs board. There are quite a few threads, some started by me, on topics for language techniques to use when the child is already combining. I talk quite a lot with "moondog" who is a speech and language therapist.

I've taught DS2 to understand and use "when" concepts accurately using visual aids by a combination of a calendar, a "timetimer" and a doctored kitchen clock - let me know if you can't find the relevant threads.

Will do linglette. Thanks for all your responses, too - I feel like I've hijacked the thread somewhat!