Speech and language - help me decide if dd2 needs to see a SALT

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There was an appointment made for her just after her second birthday, because she wasn't saying anything at all. The HV said she wouldn't have reffered that early, but she was leaving and we might not have a HV for a while. She didn't want it to be missed just incase.

The appointment took ages to come and in the meantime we moved house and dd2 started speaking. I completely forgot that she had ever been reffered. The letter was forwarded to my new address two weeks after the appointment date, so she missed it. But since she is now speaking I decided just to leave it at that.

However my gran and MIL have both expressed concern that her words aren't very clear and think she needs to see someone.

She will be 3 in May and knows loads of words but very few are clear. For example 'aween' means she would like a Halloween straw, Gabby Goo = Scooby Doo, Mook = Milk, Scuppy = Scruffy. She is learning new words all the time. I am not convinced she needs to see some one and feel we would be wasting thier time, when clearly they aer very busy with huge waiting lists.

WWYD?

Hmm not sure.
We had a similar situation with ds had no speech at 2 and the SALT agreed to see him as he had absolutely nothing.

His speech was linked to dulled hearing and as that improved his speech did drastically improve and he never shuts up now
His pronunciation is not entirely what it should be yet but the SALT signed him off.
THe only reason she signed him off completely though and not just put off seing him for year/9 months was that DS was defiantely going to be attending pre-school nursery at 3/3.6 and if there were any concerns during his time there they were able to do a referral back to the SALT.

I do think st some point he may be back to see her although his speech is improving all the time.

It wouldn't do any harm to make another appointment and see them they can asses her speech and decide if they want to see her again or offer you anything to bring her on.
Great they may say nope she's fine but we'll revue her in a year/never or they may say ok this is something we can work on and offer you some advice. That is better than being a couple years down the line thinking damn I should have looked at this back then whe she was so much younger.

They are lovely and will not look o it at all as wastig their time.

I would just go for an appointment and see if there is no problem then the SALT will tell you if there is then it is good to get in early and try and get help.

My dd is almost exactly the same age as yours - 3 at the end of May. She has seen a SALT several times as I was worried that like your dd, she says loads of words but not always clearly and when making sentences some words run into each other.

We were told by the SALT that her speech was ok for her age and that she was doing all the right things. Hopefully the clarity and pronunciation will come eventually and she can be understood most of the time. I will otherwise ask for another referral which you can do at any time.

You could go for some advice and reassurance - I also got lots of useful info on speech development. Otherwise, if you are not too worried then leave it until she is 3 and ask for a referral then.

She is combining words together, she is currently stood next to me telling me 'urrgh no like it mouth'. We don't have a HV but I will take her to the baby clinic.

My worry about referring her is that she takes an appointment that someone really needs, when the waiting lists are about 6 months long. But it can't hurt and she is as entitled as anyone to see someone.

I had been thinking that MIL and my gran were only concerned because dd1 was very quick at talking, so is my nephew. And they compare dd2 to them, when her development imo is normal.

My DD is 3 in March and has lots of words, mostly misprononounced. There is often a SALT assistant at her playgroup who said it is fine.

I do have to translate for her a lot though, even for DH. I am noticing the pronunciation is improving though - Milk used to be GOK, then GOKE, and now its MOKE.

Asleep is ATEEP. Upstairs is UPDAIRS.
Sandwiches are DANNIJEZ. But I understand her 99.9% of the time and she puts together some fabulous sentences!

I am sure they will be happy to reassure you, I wouldn't worry about wasting the appointment and they may well give you some tips on how to help her improve more.

I'm an SLT and it would b so, so hard for me to tell whether a child needed to be seen or not without seeing them. I'd definitely get it checked out. Might be absolutely nothing, but if so, it will be no skin off the SALTs nose to discharge you.

I too am an SLT, and am always happy to talk through normal development, and address concerns raised by parents. It's better to seek a referral if you are concerned, than to leave it. Early intervention is very important if your child is struggling.