Speech delay in DS 2.4 - should I be worried?

[sarahlawrence31]

My DS is 2.4 and only has about 35 words, most of which are completely wrong but do sound a bit like the word he is trying to say (eg. please is geez, thank you is ank-ee). He doesn't join words at all, just says things like "ball" and "car". He doesn't call me mummy, he calls me "Ga" and when i push him he will say "mamamamama" but that's it.

He understands pretty much everything I say to him, can follow instructions to the letter and is constantly trying to talk, but it comes out as gooble-de-gook (SP!!) He interacts with other people and plays with other kids, and he plays normally with all his toys, can pretend play beautifully etc.

He has been seen by a SALT who said he probably just has a speech delay and it is too young to diagnose him with speech apraxia or anything else, but the therapy session was a disaster. He played nicely for about 15 mins and fed the teddy, put him to sleep etc, but then refused to cooperate with any more games. Every time the therapist tried to speak to him or asked him to do something he just screamed "NO!" and threw himself on the floor. It was so embarrassing and in the end we had to just leave!

We have our next session next week and i am dreading it.

The speech delay is causing real problems - alot of the time i just don't know what he is trying to tell me which results in frustration and tantrums (his, mostly). I also feel sorry for him when i see him trying to talk to other kids and they have no idea what he's saying so he gets upset. He seems to spend alot of time in tears which i honestly think is 95% down to the fact that he can't make himself understood.

His father and uncle both are dyslexic and had speech delays/therapy as children, which i am clinging on to as hope that he is just the same as them and not on the autism spectrum or something.

Sorry for the long post, any advice gratefully received - we are at the end of our tether!!

Thanks

sarah

DS2 has verbal dyspraxia and autism and actually the verbal dyspraxia causes him more social problems than the autism does - so I wouldn't worry about the 'label' or potential diagnosis, rather what his difficulties are.

The fact that the SALT thinks it is just delay is good. He may have played up but TBH at 2.4 he had probably just had enough. I wouldn't necessarily dread the next session as he may be fine and even if he isn'tthe SALT will have seen lots of frustrated or uncooperative children before. He is very little.

When DS2 was incredibly frustrated we started using PECs which helped him - could you ask the SALT about that ( if it is appropriate for him of course) and ways of helping his , very understandable, frustration.
I do feel for you. I remember DS2s frustration and bursts of distress and anger. it is hard to see.
Hopefully as there are some with lots of SALT experience, you will get some other posters with advice too.

My son is 2 in a couple of weeks and only says 2 words: 'no' and 'een' (meaning green). I haven't had him assessed by speech therapist though keep pondering it, but anecdotally loads of people have said to me their boys didn't speak until past 2 yrs 6 months.

My older son is 8 and severely dyslexic but was speaking fluently at 12 months - so i don't know if there is any recognised link between the 2?

A friend has an autistic 2 year old - apparently though if they are trying to communicate and pointing at things and trying to name them then autism is highly unlikely.

The slt will definitely have seen lots of little ones who are not keen to participate!

Hopefully, if he remains unsettled, she will have other suggestions which may include working through you or seeing him with another child.

Does he attend a nursery/playgroup? If not, it would be worth looking into what is available locally. Nursery environments are very good for helping language development.

Do you have a Talking Tots group near you? This company has been set up by slts and from what I have seen of the sessions, is very good (i'm an slt - although, not working currently).

Hi
my 4 year old DS has verbal dyspraxia and I am trying to remember what he was like at 2.4. I certainly recall that there were other issues like constant dribbling/weak chewing and inability to stick out tongue/blow bubbles on command. he also used to cut off words so Pingu became Ping etc.
Like your DS he had no issues with imaginative play/receptive language. How are his motor skills as verbal dyspraxia often (but not always) goes with motor dyspraxia.
it may be simple language delay and will get better-I cant believe the progress my DS had made in just 18 months and pls dont worry about what the SALT-believe me she will have seen SO much worse than that!

Have you had his hearing properly checked recently? DD2 has very delayed speech and many of the 'sort of sounds like' words as per your DS. She is 3 and has a mild hearing impairment and learning difficulties caused by a congenital thyroid condition. Makaton can work brilliantly to break speech 'deadlocks' and I still use it with DD2 even though she is nearly 4 years old now. Don't stress too much about the SALT sessions - if DS is not in co-operative mood then use the appointment to get info and ideas from SALT on what you / nursery can do to help DS - this makes much more difference anyway IMO.

Thanks so much for all the advice. We have never had a proper hearing test done, but I have always assumed he has no problem as he appears to hear everything, responds to his name and is woken by us creeping around in the evening!
His motor skills are normal for his age and he doesn't dribble alot or have problems sticking his tongue out, though he did dribble an awful lot when he was a baby.

He has been going to a childminder who does lots of play groups with him, and I take him to playgroups quite often, though he doesn't like it when it's really busy. I will be doing more of this as on maternity leave again now.

I am going to find out more about PECs and Makaton online and have sent an enquiry to Talking Tots in Bromley. Thanks for the advice everyone, it has been quite reassuring.

Sarah

My DS is 2 in a few weeks and doesn't speak although makes lots of sounds. I would definitely recommend that you get his hearing tested as we've discovered with the help of an SLT that he's got intermittent glue ear so has had times where the sounds he's been hearing were muffled. This then leads to a sound processing problem, but it is something that can be dealt with.

Perhaps go to the GP and ask for a referral for a hearing test then go from there? Also, I'm sure that your DS will benefit from the SLT sessions despite not being able to concentrate for the full session (which is perfectly normal as it's hard work for them when they are so little and doing something new).

I hope that you manage to get him the right help as I know how frustrating it is both for them and for you. If it is his hearing then at least you will know how best to help him develop his speech.

Good luck with everything.

Hi Sarah,

Firstly, I know this is difficult but I really think that you have nothing to worry about. How do I know this and why do I think this?

1. My DS is now almost 3 and had very similar profile at same age. 35 words at this stage is more than my son was saying. Your son as others and SALT have said is very young. Range of speech development is huge. Very bright boy I know who is now 8 said NOTHING at all until just before 3rd birthday.
2. SALT and HV discounted autism and they were right and have given him diagnosis of speech delay but SALTs are sure he will get there and catch up in time. SALTs know and recognise symptoms of autism.
3. Boys are much more likely to have speech delay problems, particularly with older more articuate sisters, which is what my son has.
4. His progress will not be steady/ linear. In fact, in last month DS has made more progress than in previous 6. He is now close to 100 words and is starting to string words together, has lost his self-consciousness about speaking and his diction is improving all the time.

Things to look out for are: does he point at things to draw your attention to them? Does he look you in the eye and maintain eye contact? Does he understand the need to communicate? Does he get that he needs to communicate by whatever method he can, even non-verbally to get what he wants? My son spend ages pointing and grunting and that is OK. It just means a delay, not autism or a learning difficulty. He may just be a perfectionist and not want to come out with something he knows he cannot say perfectly yet.

I would offer the following practical advice: keep going with SALT and absolutely no need to feel embarrassed, they have seen it all. Take SALT's advice and do the exercises they will give you. Consider private speech therapy if NHS provision dries up. Look at Assn SALTs website. Get brilliant book called Baby Talk by Sally Ward, really helpful and lots of practical advice about techniques to encourage your child to speak. Do not try and force him to say things, this may make it worse. See Sally Ward's book for expertise on this. Learn some Makaton signing with him and encourage him to use signs to communicate what he wants - this is a brilliant stepping stone into language (I was cynical at first but it works). See Mr Tumble video clips on Cbeebies website - brilliant.

I have just recommended this book on this thread.

• oopps just realised that the book I recommended has been mentioned above by HantsPants.

Sarah,

As others have said, try not to worry. I know that it?s much easier said than done.
I am in a similar situation to you, my son is 2yrs 8months and says NOTHING.
He has no words at all, but he communicates brilliantly with a combination of sounds, grunts and especially signs.

Adam has had his hearing checked a few times and given the ?all clear?, he has been seen by SALT about 4 months ago and she basically said he had a speech delay (wow she went to college to tell me that) and I should give him time.

I couldn?t encourage you enough to try signing classes, we have tried Talking Tots and Tiny Talk. We much preferred Tiny Talk and have been going for about a year. Adam signs all the time now and often signs a 3 or 4 word sentence.
I am convinced this is the reason he has very few tantrums.

Obviously there are times when I worry about his lack of speech, and I try very hard not to compare him to other, often, much younger children who are chatting away.

Good luck with your app. next week,

Andrea x

HantsPants,

I just wanted to say thank you for your post, I thought it was brilliant and very reassuring, especially your list of things to look out for

Andrea x

Hi Andrea,

Thanks for your thanks!

Another thing that has come out of sessions with SALT is that there is a multi stage process to learning speech and that an important part of this process is about concentrating sufficiently so that children can process language.

Best way of course to get small children concentrating is on the usual picture books. I think Walker Books are just brilliant for this baby/toddler age group. Sally Ward talks about this in detail but as part of the dedicated playing time with your DS, try to get him to look at, concentrate on and process the language in the book. Another good tip is to point at all the objects in the pitures and name them for him. Then when he is learning what things are called, encourage him to point at them on the pages. This will give him confidence. Then try and get himto concentrate from 5 to 10 to 20 minutes with longer texts eg. Spot books to the Gruffalo to Cat in the Hat.

SALTS will teach you these techniques if you have a good one.

BTW, the wesbite you need to look at is
www.helpwithtalking.com/ this is SALTS in independent practice if you want to go down that route which I would recommend, finance permitting.

Hope all goes well for you both Sarah and Andrea. To reiterate your DSs are both VERY YOUNG, and crucially you are both on the case with it, and not in denial (not a good idea in my view) and getting your DSs the help they need. However, I have been there and know what it is like.

HantsPants,

Sorry Sarah, I don?t want to hijack your thread but, I think HantsPants is wonderful

I have driven myself mad by googleing ?delayed speech?

You have summed up Adam in a couple of posts.

?My son spent ages pointing and grunting and that is OK. It just means a delay, not autism or a learning difficulty?
Seriously, that sentence helped me to sleep at night.

Adam loves books and will bring books for me to read to him, many times though out the day, also he will very happily sit by himself and look at a book.

He has very good concentration, if something grabs his attention, usually cars or wheels or Mr. Tumble, also The Gruffalo is his absolute favourite

It has been suggested that I?m either, too soft on him/understand him too well, so he doesn?t have to speak........
But I know that if I pressure him to speak/vocalise he simply ?switches off? and stops trying to communicate.

What I find really frustrating is he is bright, can follow instructions, he has a sense of humour.
BUT he cannot speak..!!

Andrea x

Hi again Andrea.. you are most generous!

You make a couple of interesting points in your last post about understanding him too well so he doesn't have to speak. I think that you are right to identify that as a potential reason. I discovered that it wasn't that my DS couldn't speak, but wouldn't. He was risk averse, didn't want to make a fool of his little self and also did not see the need.

I often joke that with half the men I know, if you provided them with on-tap food, drink, entertainment and rubbed their balls with vaseline every day, then they wouldn't bother saying anything at all!!

Jokes aside, he will speak when he needs to and there is clearly no need for him to at home. I sent DS to the local Montessori nursery when he was 2.2 (so quite young) and I was amazed to hear that he would say 'nappy' when he wanted to be changed, 'blue car', 'red car', 'Tom go outside' and other words and phrases that he had never used at home. Also, if he wants to be accepted by his peers, he has to speak, make himself understood, learn to take turns etc. The penny will drop that it is not only big people who speak but people his own age and size. So, I would advise checking out local nurseries to get him started well before he is 3. Make sure that your SALT liaises with nursery. Having 2 professionals talking to each other is helpful.

Other piece of advice and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT pressure him to speak. This will just give him terrible performance anxiety. He needs to lose this anxiety and self-consciousness and practice saying words. My DS's diction and pronounciation has improved dramatically over last month or so because he has been willing to have a go at words. Needless to say, ANY ATTEMPT AT ALL oven if it bears scant relation to the actual word deserves wild applause and exclaimations of 'clever boy!' Again, see Sally Ward's book. Also, use very short sentences of 2 max 3 words eg 'Adam coat on, Adam boots off, Adam sleep' etc. If you use more they will just, as you say, switch off.

He understands, so is processing language and this is brilliant, so it is not his receptive language but expressive language which is delayed.