Language delay, how common is it and do children usually catch up?

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DD is two and saw the SALT today who said she has got a delay so she wants to keep an eye on her but that there are lots of things I can do to help her, I've got lots of games and ideas for how to deal with cthe communication side of it and the appointment went well. JJust wondering if this is fairly common? And do children usually catch up quickly with therapy or is that a bit like asking how long is a peice of string? There was no definate reason for DD's regression and delay other than she has been in hospital a lot and so it may have delayed her a little then become habit to use actions not words.

I think it is a bit of a "Piece of string" anwer really.If your dd has no evident reason for delay it my be it just takes her a little longer to catch up.

If there is a medical reason it may be a bit more complicated.DD has a neurological problem so speech is probably not going to come or if it does it will be limited and unclear.tbh 2 is still very young so at this point you are doing all the right things getting her seen by SALT and in the system (they are like gold dust.DD is pretty non verbal and sees hers ever 3 months)

Did they discuss augmentations to speech.Signing can be valuable,it doesn't neccessarily replace speech but can be an adjunct to it.Makaton and preogs like "Something Special" good,and stuff like "Sing and sign"

Good luck and hugs xxx

ds2 is 3.9, just started seeing SALT and were still waiting for therapy, but have all the games/exercises to do in between

he enjoys his games and lots of people have commented on his improvement... nursery are fab too in supporting his speech and do all the exercises with him

Hi thank you WT, yes she mentioned signing as DD already signs a lot or kind of acts out things instead of talking. She said this is good so I am going to try and get onto a makaton evening class to learn some basic signs. She is going to be seen again in two months but the SALT was lovely and said to call if I have questions or am worried. DD has a lot of medical in put and quite complicated needs in that area but developmentally her condition should not affect her, but I think what the SALT was saying was that she could have been affected in other ways by the experiences she had. Also I feel that I have probably treated her more as a baby due to being worried about her so much so am going to try and work really hard on the ideas I was given.

She isn't making any consonent sounds but is trying to talk it just all sounds very similar (aah type sound or other variations)talking it all through today made me see how much she tries though so feel a bit guilty as we are often out and about so maybe I haven't given her enough time just talking and playing quietly at home with me.

Hi Saralou that is good to hear. I just can't imagine DD talking but from what was said, she will probably improve with these exercises. She has had a lot to cope with but what worries me is that that part won't change so I hope she won't regress after each bad time.

bump for any other ideas/experiences?

My dd had a speech delay. She said nothing at all, and didn't make any consonant sounds, no babble, when she was a baby, or indeed before she was about 2.6. Once she started though she got going pretty quickly. It was like she was following a different path. DS would point and name everything he saw. DD has never done that, but put words into sentences as soon as she could say them. She's now 4 and generally considered pretty articulate. I bought her a t shirt with 'chatterbox' on it. I don't tend to do slogan t shirts, but it was just so lovely to be able to do it

Thanks TFM so she hasn't been too affected by it that is good to hear. DD is following a different path too it seems, she doesn't copy much and also doesn't seem to ask what things are. Lovely abput the chatterbox tee, did she have speech therapy btw? Or did you do any signing with her?

No, and no! She was on the waiting list for SALT, for 14 months (Grrrr), but had made sufficient progress in that time to be discharged at her first appointment. Which is obviously great for dd, but would have been annoying had things not worked out for her. I did the exercises they recommended with her, but not signing. TBH, she didn't have that many problems communicating. I'm not sure how she did it really, but she tended to make herself understood.

Yes DD is similar. With me anyway. But others wouldn't have a clue. She has only recently started to try though so it is all progress. Thats not good about how long you had to wait, sounds like we have been lucky.

My DS1 didn't really speak until about 2.8, before that he was just single words and a lot of unofficial sign language.

He did have some disruptions, so we know why the slight delay, but there's no problem at all now, 2 years on. He's most articulate and a persistent questioner.

I worried about it a lot at the time but like fallenmadonna, by the time he got to the SALT the problem had solved itself.
Once he decided to start talking it developed at a tremendous speed.

I just put a post on here last week about my 3yr old ds who's a bit slow with his speech. It's not too bad, just suffering from being youngest brother to very talkative older sister, and we were talking to him less at legnth as he could make himself understood, but it is all a bit monosylabic........Anyway, someone recomended a really good book...." It takes two to talk" by Ayala Manolson. It's bloody hard to find, practically out of print, I managed to get a copy from the local childcare library, alot of speech pathology people recomend it. It's nice and basic with practical suggestions as to how to improve things. give it a go, ( if you can locate the thing)...

Thank you all, MadamDeathStare lol at ignoring their taunts yes sounds like she is doing very well now! I will have a look for that book OzJo, it sounds good. My DD is able to make me understand her most of the time so probably hasn't had too much incentive as I tend to translate for her too.

BlitheDance, interesting that you mention disruptions, DD was actually an early talker but then gradually lost speech which the SALT and myself both felt could possibly have happened due to the things she had to contend with around that time. She had to have a general aneasthetic and then two months later we moved house and she then had three hospital stays in a short space of time as well as all the usual hospital stuff she has to have. She also developed psoriasis around the same time so has had lots going on. I don't like to think of her regressing due to stress but it sounds like that may have happened. The SALT also thought it possible that as DD doesn't always feel 100% that she perhaps at one point maybe after her op or some other event, didn't feel up to takking then found other ways of communicating and it became habit. I suppose I will never know for sure, I just hope she doesn't regress each time we have to go to hospital.

I don't think it's so much regressing, as having to concentrate on other things. With coping withthe moves/hospital and presumably some pain and anxiety, it's perhaps natural for her resources to be coping with that. If she does "regress" think of it as a "rest" and she will probably catch up fine.

I remember people saying, by age of 3 you will know whether you have a problem, but I was worrying that I should be doing something NOW to avoid that problem. In hindsight I wonder if it was fair to try and "hothouse" a little boy who had other worries.

I guess that if you keep reading stories, nursery rhymes, doing the nice play/language activities with her, it will all be going in even if she doesn't yet feel ready to express it. Hopefully she will suddenly discover the pleasure of language again.

I seem to remember it was some book with farm animal noises in the story that broke the ice with DS1, The Very Busy Spider IIRC. It was moo, baa one week and "biscuit, Mummy" the next.

Yes you are right, regressing isn't the right way to think of it. The stuff the SALT said to do with her is really an extension of what we do already and she was very firm about not making it into a big deal because she does want to talk now(quite a recent thing)but struggles as her speech is so unclear. The SALT has said work on the rying/wanting to talk for now then next time she will give more exercises for getting her using consonenets etc. With your DS did the disruption he had end or was it ongoing like DD? Don't answer if you don't want to discuss it just out of interest.

No it ended. I don't mind saying, he's adopted so had a couple of moves in/out of foster care and then to us. The foster carer had a really broad local accent whereas I don't, that probably didn't help . AND he had a dummy until age of 2.

Ah I see, so a lot to cope with. He seems to have progressed lots then and without SALT, its amazing how long the wait for it can be. So it seems most children with the kind of delay that has no physical reason, catch up eventually. I hope DD does the same, she certainly seems to be trying so fingers crossed it will be something that happens over the next year or so. Luckily she is a september born so won't be at pre school till January 2010 at the soonest which gives her pleny of time.