Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Flip

Original poster

help how can i get my 24 mth to talk...

14 replies

allthreerolledintoone · 01/02/2010 21:46

he is only saying a few words.Alot of the other words he say's no one else can understand as they aren't very clear at all. I think i only recognise them because im with him all the time. So far he says digger,ta, mama, dada, stuck, that, there, moon. The rest is either pointing or sound effects like cho cho or brum brum.

I feel like such a failure as my other ds 5 is starting speech therapy as he is struggling to pronounce certain words and now my youngest is hardly talking. Im seeing the Hv tommarrow but what am i doing wrong and what can i do to help him or them? Please, please help...

OP posts:

janx · 01/02/2010 21:54

Hey - don't go blaming yourself - you are not a failure. My ds is 26 months and has 5 words or so - I take him to a chatter matters group to focus on talking. He is taking his time I guess. My dp is dyslexic and had speech therapy for several years - starting when he was 4. He went on to do a degree and an MA. Support for children has come along way since he was at school thankfully.

What does the therapist say about your older ds?

becky4kids · 01/02/2010 22:03

don't worry about what you are doing wrong - it is nothing to do with you, all children are different. my ds is almost 3 and has been seeing speech therapist for a while. Sounds similar to yours, started late and few words very difficult to understand, but he's getting clearer all the time. My 2 older children had no speech problems and my youngest dd is already talking at 14 mths! I haven't treated ds3 any differently, it's just the way he is.
Speech therapist hasn't done much yet, says he's too young for exercises and groups, but she says to try to spend 15 mins a day with him alone (easier said than done), to acknowledge everything he says and repeat back to him. hth

heathermc · 01/02/2010 22:06

My pal's wee one is 3 and a half and I can barely understand what he says half the time.
No sentences or anything like that and lots of choo choo and jooose and calling the cat 'eh'.
They don't seem worried and he has had check ups etc.
Why don't you get some alphabet flash cards and practise those with him, perhaps he is more a visual learner and needs pictures to link things he sees to words rather than repeating them?

kid · 01/02/2010 22:12

My DD had speech therapy for a few years as her speech was unclear.
I was recommended to offer her a choice of words, such as, do you want milk or water.
Then she would have to chose one of those words. It definitely made a difference with her speech, her nursery also used the same tactics.
Also, lots of pictures to practise naming/talking.

There is nothing you have done to cause this, lots of children require SALT, at least you are seeking help and advice which is more than some people do!

Good luck with seeing the HV, I hope they can offer some words of wisdom for you.

Original poster

allthreerolledintoone · 01/02/2010 22:14

ah thankyou for the reassurance and advice guys.

Janx the speech therapist is seeing my eldest again tommarrow to finish her assessment as he's been waiting for a year to be seen. The poor thing gets very frustrated especially at school which is knocking his confidence a bit during class discussions. Which is why im keen to see the hv tommarrow and get ds2 name down just in case he doesnt improve as its such a long wait.He isn't in a nursery setting so im thinking of outting him in one for one afternoon or something so he interacts with others.

OP posts:

janx · 01/02/2010 22:31

Agree with kid - offer choices. I show ds a banana and pear and get him to choose and then name the fruit he is chosen. My dd is 5 and talks for England - she tends to talk for ds too.

seimum · 01/02/2010 23:09

My ds also did not talk much until he was 3 - though his two elder sisters both spoke lots!
He had speech therapy aged 2 1/2 - the therapist seemed to concentrate on making sure he understood words (especially concepts such as under/over etc) rather than actually talking. She also sent him for a hearing test, which was fine.
She then got concerned he was not making eye contact, so an assessment with a paedatrician was arranged. However, by the time we got the appointment ds had learnt a couple of dozen more words and impressed the doctor with his other skills - I came to the conclusion he had been bored at the speech therapy sessions.
Anyway, by the time he went to nursery he had totally caught up with the other kids and talked lots.

maxybrown · 01/02/2010 23:23

I give Ds choices all of the time and it makes NOOOOOOOOO difference whatsoever. he is 2.4 and mostly makes this weird noise from the back of his throat - hard to type!

His understanding is amazing, he knows numbers colours shapes, starting to know letters but still does not speak. He never shuts up though! It is quite heartbreaking to hear him and gets me down tbh as I imagine him at school and everyone running away from him

On sunday he was on our drive watching 2 boys play on the street (they are about 6 and i dislike them) they couldn't see DH and I as we were behind the hedge but DS kept doing his noise making and so one of the boys kept talking to him, just so he would make the "funny noise" it made me feel very sad

He is under SALT and starts ggroup sessions after half term. Have no idea what they will do with him but he is so confident and capable I am not even sure they can do anything - I have a feeling speech therapist feels the same

It does make you feel like a failure. We do lots of singing, reading etc, he has never had a dummy or a bottle.......it is mind blowing!

janx · 02/02/2010 10:25

Maxy - sorry you are feeling down and children can be cruel...but I think you are running away with these thougths....school is a while off and alot can change in a couple of years. I went through a down patch about it - mostly because my dd talked so early and was so ahead of alot of other children. We all need some perspective on these things - and as I mentioned, my dp was several years attending speech therapy - and that was only because his mum fought for it - he was written off as a no hoper and schools were not as geared up for special needs in those days. He did a degree and a masters and you would never know that he had speech difficulties - chin up lovely

alana39 · 02/02/2010 10:31

allthreerolledintoone I know you said your older one is having speech therapy but this may not be the same. My DS2 hardly spoke at 2 - by 3 he was much better and although he is still a bit slower in speech development than most in his class at 5, he is still improving.

Strangely his speech really started to come on when he found something worth talking about - unfortunately that was makes and models of cars ( he knows everything about this now) so we have had 2 years of interminable conversations about this.

maxybrown · 02/02/2010 10:46

I have to say the speech therapist is lovely and has talked of puting his name down for language school by christmas if there is not much improvement. I think she is just as puzzled as us as she is very impressed with his play skills etc.

I know what you are saying is right Jan, it just gets to you sometimes! He will be at his school nursery in january, so not actually that long off!!

janx · 02/02/2010 11:07

I didn't mean to sound all bossy maxy!! I am a terror for getting down about things...but keep telling myself to be positive about it. We are going for a hearing test next week - but am sure he is fine on that front as he can hear the word biscuit a mile off.
On the nursery front - I was worrying that when ds turned two and left the baby room he wouldn't be understood by the bigger children, but hsi keyworker says he does communicate and gets what he needs.

Thats interesting about your son talking about what he is interested in alana...my ds is train mad and I can imagine the conversations

maxybrown · 02/02/2010 11:20

You didn't jan!!

Honestly, you should hear him, I really must try and do a little video of him. It is very odd. It gets me down too because the noise drives you insane!! His hearing is spot on, he hears things long before we do.

he is mega interested in cars, and he kind of has these converstaions without speaking he asks models and tells us (in his own way) about trailers, models etc. It is all so bloomin odd!

Ineedsomesleep · 02/02/2010 11:31

Firstly, its nothing that you have done wrong, all children are different.

DS is 5 and got referred to a Speech Therapist by the school. We took DD, then 2 with us for one of the assessments.

The ST wasn't at all concerned about DS but asked us to fill in a form for DD to get her a referral.

She was just 2 and was hardly saying a word. Since then I've got really tough with her and refuse to give her anything until she asks for it and won't let her get away with just pointing and saying uh. Having typed that, I don't know why I was letting her get away with it, I never did with DS!

Anyway, its worked. She is now 2.5 and has started chatting away and is even saying sentences.

I can see why you want a referral. If they take a year in your area its probably best to get referred soon but what I'm trying to say is that in another 6 months you might not even have a problem.

Flip