speech and language delay in 7 year old DS.

[babyinarms]

Just wondering if there are some mums out there who can relate to this?.DS1 was diagnosed as having moderate receptive and expressive language delay in nov just before his 7th birthday. He has always been a vary shy boy and it's always been a struggle to get information out of him. He also finds it hard to concentrate on story books, TV programmes and to play with his toys or any sort of imaginary play is very frustrating for him.
I suppose we put all these little issues he had down to personality and just being shy. He loves to play outdoors on his bike or kicking his ball around and I always thought that was a good thing as it was better than sitting in front of TV all day.
What i'm wondering is ; is 7 old to have this problem detected? He is now attending speech and language sessions . Some days i feel he is making progress and others my heart sinks when he doesn't get it.
I worry a lot about his future how it will affect him down the line at school and socially. He is such a lovable little boy but i do worry alot about his future and i worry my DD age 4 and DS2 aged 2 will have similar problems although i cant see any signs in them of this problem but then I missed all the signs in DS1 also.I wish I didn't worry so much about him. Does anyone know speech and language sessions do make a big difference and how much progress should i expect and how fast?
Sorry for long post but it feels good to open up about it

my ds 8 has SALT and it does work. his therapist sends work home for us to reinforce their work and they also send work to school for the school to assist. he sees them twice a year only for a block of six one hour sessions, (once a week for six weeks) then the school and us incorporate what they have been learning him into daily life and when he goes back after six months they reassess him. i have found i dont actually notice straight away any real difference, it's more of a gradual improvement. one day i will suddenly think to myself "wow he gets it - he hasnt got that before". the more you can integrate the SALTS work in your every day life the more it benefits them. for example my ds has been doing work on "what will happen next and why will it happen" he was given 3 pictures and he had to put them in the correct order and then tell a story about it and then continue the story. the first week it was quite difficult for him but over the course of the six weeks he was able to add to the tasks bit by bit. we now talk about an object or people on our way to school where i may say "those two people over there have just done x or are going to do y, what do you think will happen if they did that and why". its all pretend and people listening will think we are talking total nonesense but he doesnt realise that he is actually learning and it also passes the time on the walk to school

Thanks a million. I am delighted your ds is doing so well and it gives me hope for mine! He is nearing the end of his first block of 8 sessions so I suppose I was expecting thigs to click a bit more for him but am beginning to realise it is a long term thing and a long term goal, so patience is the key. I am trying to incorporate the work into everyday things but it's not coming that naturally to me and ds ends up getting frustrated with me!!!I am hoping in time we will both get more clued into it and it might become easier for us both.
I must have better communication with the school also and pass on what he is doing in speech and language sessions to them and see exactly what they are doing at school to help him.
Did your ds also have an asessment by an educational psychologist or just a speech and lang therapist? Has been recommended and just wondering if you did and if it helped anyway.
Thanks again for your reply

my son has 22q11 which means he has many complex issues. his speech and language intervention came from having a cleft palate and the cleft team made the referral when he was still a baby. we have seen an educational psychologist and a clinical psychologist but this was more on a general development side rather than just speech and language.

if you incorporate things into every day life before long you won't realise your doing it and then it doesnt become a chore for you or your ds. Good luck, i hope it goes well for him

Thanks a million for replying again. The very best of luck with your little man too. I'm sure he will do very well with you in his corner!