25mth old not talking

[Theantsgomarching]

Hi Everyone

My dd1 2 since last month, is still not talking. She says mama dada baba but not really to us or in context, just wanders round sometimes muttering such as mamamamamamadadadadadabababa IFKWIM.. gp has referred for hearing test then speech therapy but says we could be waiting 8/0 mth to be called..am thinking of going private what do you think? Her understanding is perfect by the way, she's as bright as a button.

If her understanding is fine then there may well be nothing to worry about. How does she communicate needs/interests to you or others ? Make a check list of her mode of communicating to show to any private SALT ( if you decide to do that). It's one of these difficult areas of development, some advise lack of worry and complacency, some may scare you but you need to find your own way between the extremes.

If she wants a drink she'll bring me her cup, if she wants to go out she'll go the door etc.. she waves to indicate yes and shakes her head for no..she never really made the usual baby noises and is now only starting to be vocal when playing with her toys. My gut is that theres nothing wrong but I don't want to be negligant either. She didn't walk till 22 months then was running in wellies by the end of first week

Gut feeling is important so that's good to know. Nodding and Shaking the head is good too. If she can do all of that, share attention, listen, play at peer level then that's fine too. I think ideas like 'Have you ever thought about talking to your child?' are a bit patronising and silly but there are things you can do to make learning to talk more fun. The Hanen 'It Takes Two To Talk' might give some good tips

Your dd sounds v like my ds. He was only starting to babble at 2 and now at 30 months has limited amounts of words he can say. The speech therapist has said he is severely speech delayed. Responsive language is excellant but expressive is practically non-existant (though I know exactly what he wants through his own language/ hand movements iykwim)

Only you can decide if you want to go private or not. My ds did see the community SLT at 2 but they waited until last month for him to get a proper assessment. Do you have a surestart in your area as they often have a SLT?

Some things they might ask is tongue movements. Can she get her tongue to touch up to the direction of her nose? Is there low sensitivity on the top lip (ie would she feel chocolate there and lick it off)? Does she feed well (possibility of tongue-tie)?

We were given tongue and mouth exercises for ds to do at home - blowing through various sized straws, party poppers, bubbles, making faces in the mirror with the tongue etc.
He is now waiting for a paedeatrician appt to check all other areas of development, hearing check and an oral assessment to check for tongue tie.

Hi,

DS is nearly 3 and has only started speaking very recently. Like your DD he didn't babble like other children, and his understanding is a bit behind average but very good.

There are lots of resources on line (ican website is great) and you can get loads out of It Takes Two to Talk. It's an expensive book so check at library if they have it or ask if they can purchase it. There are many simple tricks and many many more I could give you if you want, a start is:

• blow bubbles, and count 1-2-3 GO! and create a bit of expectation, count again 1-2-3 and wait for her to say GO or make any sound. Blow again. Create expectation, count, and wait for her to say something. Praise her if she makes sounds.

• Make lots of sounds for popping bubbles in the bath, pushing cars or trains around, make sounds for UP (go up in voice) and DOWN (go down in voice). She might not say the word but she might imitate the intonation.

• Lots of animal sounds, obviously DS first 'word' was woof

• Do something silly like sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Spider and wait for her to see if she spots that you are making a mistake. She might just laugh, or she might try to get the correct word, or simpy say 'no'.

• Clap your hand on the rhythm with words. It helps to focus on the language and rhythm.

• Make lots of noise with pots and pans and musical instruments

• LISTEN to her and repeat any words or babbles or sounds that she makes. It will make her feel that you are really listening to her.

• If you ask her a question, wait many seconds and give her time to answer (if she doens't get frustrated by that)

OK I hope it helps, you are right to get her refered but I found that a lot of the stuff from speech therapist is stuff that we have to do at home, and there's lots of material in books or online that you can just integrate in your every day situations.

You can also adapt stuff. speech therapist told me that it was important to praise them when they says omething, but with DS it had the opposite effect, it made him very self conscious so I stopped praising him.

Good luck,

BP

My DS is 2.3 yrs and was referred to SALT at 2 yr review in Feb. Got appointment within 6 wks who wasn't overly worried although did say his language is under developed compared to his peers. He has got a hearing test in May, after an 8 wk wait (was warned it would be 18 wks) and also been put on parent workshop.

Deep down I think he will do it in his own time but always worth checking it out, as I would never have forgiven myself if I'd left it and a year down the line discovered a more serious problem.

DS is saying more things now and repeating what we say, and came out with a whole sentence the other day which was a total surprise!

Go with your instinct as only you know your child in every aspect. Good luck!

Just wanted to say that my ds is nearly 2.5 he hardly spoke at all until about 3 months ago, He's now counting, saying colours and 4/5 words strung together, things can turn out to be fine but as tigersmummy says go with your instinct,

Thanks so much ladies, its always nice to get other opinions, will try some of the suggestion and check out that book. I'll let you know how we get on.