speech delay problem with my 2 1/2 year old

[JennyB]

Does anyone have a child with a delay in their speech/behaviour. All the other mums with similarly aged children are absolutely miles ahead of my daughter and can count to 20, name colours etc. My daughter can say maybe 15 words max, doesn't recognise or say colours, can't count and is generally very slow on the uptake and not from want of me reading with her. Her 4 year old brother was a whizzkid at her age. I have put her on the waitlist for speech therapy but it will be another 5 months for an appointment. Any advice would be much appreciated.

My 2 1/2 year old DS can't count to 20 and does not know his colours.
My Dd did not talk till late and then just spoke in complete sentences!!
Maybe talk to your health visitor???
Does she understand what you say to her but just responds with actions not words? This is what our Dd would do. We too were worried but she did seem to understand what was said. I thought she was not developing properly and blamed it on lots of things but think now she just thought you should speak with a string of words and waited till she could do so.
Hope this helps?

Jennyb - sounds like you need some help now not in 5 months (SALT aggghhhh!!!! tell me about it and 5 months will probably turn into 8!). Does she point, to things in books, things of interest or to make her needs known?

You might want to talk to portage as parents can self refer. Alternatively if she attends a pre-scool or nursery they will be able to get help from people such as pre-school advisory.

btw wouldn't worry too much about the counting to 20 and colour stuff. I can dig out a developmental checklist on that but 2 and a half is still early.

Thanks alot - half of me thinks she is still very young but it is very hard when everyone around you is so far ahead. She does make her needs known only too well, points to things etc. When I ask her name, she replies 'Blue', I say no it's Is (Isabel), she then says 'Is', I ask again straight after, she says 'Blue'- the same goes for most other things. She is also impatient and has a short attention span. Have just written down all the words in her vocabulary which comes to a grand 19! P.S. What is 'portage'?

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Jennyb -portage is a home teaching service for children with special needs/developmental delays. They are trained to help children with their speech and other areas of development. Ours used to visit once a week for an hour, and set targets for us to do with dd at home. It really is a good service. Unfortunately I know from experience that the speech therapist will have very little input with your dd even if she needs it and I am pressuming this is why jimjams has suggested portage-although I had to wait a long time for portage too

I do think counting and colour matching is alot to expect off a 2 1/2 year old, but from your post you do seem concerned. My dd has a short attention span and it does hinder her development. Please ask your HV and GP again if you are still worried, they will be able to refer you to a child development centre for a check with a paed.

I hope I haven't frightened you.

Jennyb, I echo what all the others have said. I had a similar experience with ds, as he was slow to talk, and dd was very quick. The nursery refered me to their special needs co-ordinator who is a SALT as well. She suggested that we use very short (ie 2 word) sentences with him, so that he would feal that he could join in. She said not to point at things and ask what they were (I'd been doing that to try to help him on a bit). Instead she told us to point and name the item. She said that eventually he would join in. She also said that we should repeat anything that he did say, and give lots of praise and cuddles(which we had already been doing). Over the last 6 months we have seen a big improvement. As everyone has said, children develop at their own rate. That said, it is worth pestering to get some help if you feel your dd needs it as early intervention is the key to a swift improvement.

You could try here for more info on Portage

www.portage.org.uk
sorry my link didnt work!

JennyB - I know quite a lot of 2 - 2.5 yr olds and only one of them can count up to 20 (not mine!)...perhaps you are surrounded by a few children who are just well ahead in their developmental stages. As has already been said, children develop different skills at different times but most even out later on by the time they are in the first few years of school. Think about all of your child?s other skills and I bet she is ahead in some other areas - eg. drawing, physical skills...

However, if you are a little worried that maybe she is further behind than you like and are not prepared to leave it to chance to see if she catches up then go and make an appointment with your health visitor to talk it through and get a second opinion.

Remember it is not a reflection on intelligence - lots of really famous brainy people didn?t talk until much later (often suddenly in full sentences like Britabroads DD) - EINSTEIN is on this list!!

One little thought - if you have a computer at home, there are some great educational games that focus on helping speech devlopment and object recognition. My daughter loves Jay Jay the Jet Plane (to name but one of her huge collection) and it really does develop her problem solving skills as well as helping to teach her to count and name colours. She will happily spend ages on there copying the plane counting and focuses much more effectively than when I try to help her count in more traditional ways. The CBEEBIES website is another good source. Oh, and my DD loves singing along and that can help reinforce counting and colours...
Try not to worry too much and good luck finding new strategies to help her fulfil her own potential.

jennyb- could you afford to pay for one private speech therapy assessment- they would spend at least as hour with your child do an assessment and also give you a report and lots of ideas and advice. Private SALT is usually around 50 pounds an hour- although if you go for one assessment it will cost more as it would last longer and includes a detailed report etc.

I my experience it can be much less frustrating if you can do this that just sitting back waiting for "5" months whilst the NHS does nothing. Also the NHS appointments are often very unsatisfactory in that you can be given a few photocopied sheets and told to come back for "review" in "3" months (for which read 8 months). A private assessment is usually much longer, and more detailed and the report (which is usually more accurate unfortunately) can then be used to hassle for access to services and further NHS referrals.

If you type ASLTIP into google you will get to the ASLTIP home page where they have a list of registered therapists in independent practice. I can personally recommend one in Bromley and one in Sevenoaks if you live anywhere near those places. Another place I have heard good reports of is Christopher Place in London.

I wouldn't worry about the colours and counting, but by 2 and a half I would say it is worth checking out speech and more particularly potential language problems. It means that you can be in a postition to start fighting for access to services when your child turns 3 (before then forget it). Of course there may well not be a problem (and this would be an advantage of seeing a private therpaist your mind could be put at rest now) but if there is you want to be in the position to get help now not when your child is 4 and a hlaf or whatever. Also if there was a problem picked up now then you could get portage which can be very helpful, if you wait to get seen after 3 your child may then be deemed "too old"- although it's for pre-school children some areas will not provide portage for children who are over about 3 and a half.

I hope I haven't sounded too cold or harsh. I know the feeling you describe so well. I also know what it is like when things don't just come together and how difficult it is to get services and to access the help you need, so the earlier you try the better really. I also know the worry so if an assessment could put your mind at rest it would probably be money well spent (even though it might be money wasted from a treatment point of view iyswim). By the way if your child is pointing and making their needs known then that is really really good, and they may well be just a slow speaker. Have they had their hearing tested by the way?

Thank you so much for the advice! I really do feel better knowing that there are things I can do about it and will arrange for a private speech therapy assessment as soon as possible. We live in Much Hadham, Herts, but I will travel into into London if I have to. I will check out the internet sites later so many thanks for the info. I have no problems with her hearing which was tested 6 months ago at the 2 year check. Health visitor agrees with me to have her referred but has no other suggestions. I really do appreciate your comments.