language delayed child that didn't ...

[nowalkinghere]

... suddenly start talking in sentences overnight.

Does anyone have any experience/words of wisdom to share with me.

DS in just 3 & has a serious language delay - somewhere around 18 months we think. He is suspected to be verbally dyspraxic too. He has about 100 words (very garbled pronouciation) & his receptive skills seem on par (maybe slightly better than) with his expression. With the exception of 'all gone' 'bye bye' & the VERY occassional 'help mama!' he isn't putting any words together, though he has a few verbs & adjectives. He uses his words to label, request (usually only when prompted visually by the object he wants thoughe are seeing improvement - for example he'll now take us unprompted to soething he wants then ask for it) and to comment.

In other ways he seems typically developing although he is rapdily losing confidence & has recently started to become anxious in unfamiliar social situations (I think he knows people expect something from him that he can't manage).

We're not getting much support - we see a SLT 6 weekly who has suggested some Hanen techniques - and are hopefully getting portage after Christmas. DS goes to nursery who sign with him (he has about 100 signs as well).

Everybody - friends, relatives, GP, HV, nursery workers, CM - all do the classic well such & such didn't talk at 3/4/5 then started talking in sentences overnight. Maybe some children do, but I am certain ds won't - he is making progress but it is desperately slow & the amount of work we have to put in for tiny improvements is huge (three weeks to get 'help' for example). I am so depressed by it all & I feel that his disability is being ignored.

Has anyone had a similar child - did you make progress?

DS2 now 2.8 only said three words only a few months ago. At 2.5, he could say Mum, Yes and Burp. He now says single words, but not promounced very well at all. He is missing the first sound out of each word, and speaks very quiety. He is not the type who will wake up one day and speak in sentences, I think there's a long journey ahead. I've read the Hanen method book (It takes two to talk) and it's very good, very helpfull. But it took us so much effort to get him to just say one extra word (it ended up being the word 'me' as in who wants ice cream? Me-me-me-me-me and I don't know just how much our efforts helped, I think he picked it up from The Night Garden).

As for a multidisciplinary assessment, we asked for one when he was about 2 years and 2 months, and it was refused (on three separate occasions) because there was 'only one area of concern with his behaviour'. We have had a few group sessions with speech therapist, and three assessments. We did Makaton with him (still do, sometimes) and his understanding of language has always been very good, we feel.

Lingette, I just saw a poster at one of our local centres about a support group for parents of children with Autism, Asperger syndrome, and other communication problems. I might go and see if I can pick up a few things, I don't think our DS is autistic, but he is 'very much in his own world' a lot of the time (so sais his pre-school). He shuts off when he is in a group situation, and school scares me to be honest.

Enough rambling!!

Great idea Blueberry . I will be interested to hear how you find it ... so much stuff that benefits children with autism seems to benefit all kids ..... Have you looked into doing an It Takes Two course where you get home visits and feedback on your techniques? Everyone on here seems to find them very helpful (alas not available in my area).

justabout -I know what you mean......

Hi, no I haven't done the Hanan technique course, it's not available in our NHS area and we can't afford it privately. I just follow the tips in the book.

Very interesting reading! One of my son's is Aspergers but he could speak fluently from an early age. Nicknamed: garage mouth open 24 hours. We knew our second son was not under the Autistic continuum. My other son was not speaking until over three and that was with intervention by a speech therapist. Other milestones were under developed as well. He was diagnosed with severe developmental delay. The speech problem was apparent due to his babbling, using tantrums and signing to communicate even by the time he was three. He had confusion over inside, outside, beside. He confused similar words and context was lost on him. Copy was interpreted cough for example. We had to teach him how to hold lips, tongue and mouth to make sounds before progressing to words and sentences. School was a nightmare for him. He qualified for TA assistance. Extended family have blamed the noise of four siblings, not enough attention, molly coddling etc etc. Dyspraxia and Dyslexia are the problems. All children are different and many have issues. I love my son's but have decided that having children is like playing Russian Roulette. There are many things that can go wrong and parents can't afford to be complacent. If a parent is in doubt they are probably right. Incidentally I don't believe in Santa or the tooth fairy and denial of a problem is ok up to a point.