I have some concerns about DS

[TheRealMBJ]

I have booked an appointment with the GP (best one in the practise IMO) for Tuesday next week.

He is 2. My main concerns are regarding his sleep and speech but there are other tiny issues also.

He is generally a lovely, sunny boy that can be engaging and wraps his grandparents around his fingers. But suffers from quite severe separation anxiety. He will be left with DH or MIL but no one else. Ever. No matter how well he knows them.

Sleep. He has never slept through. Bedtime is ok now, we have a routine. Bath, play with daddy, in the night garden, books. DH reads to him until almost asleep and then stays with him until he goes to sleep between 19:30-20:00. He will sleep 1.5hrs-2hrs in his cot, then wake screaming. We then settle in cot but then bring him to bed with us when he wakes again, not because he sleeps any better (he still wakes hourly to 2hrly) but because I absolutely can't get up that many times to resettle him and neither can DH.

In terms of speech, he has excellent comprehension but has only eleven words. And no 2 word sentences. Lots of gestures and grunting. I am not a first language English speaker but although I do speak my mother tongue in his presence I speak English to him. DH is English and our home language is English.

He can also be described as wilful and 'liking things just so'. Kicking up a massive fuss if things aren't done just the way he likes. I don't give in to tantrums but he does bite his own fingers and bites/pinches/hits me a lot. I do not believe in slapping/biting/pinching a child in response to their doing so and have never done so. I try to get him to channel his anger elsewhere.

Is he just a normal 2 yo with difficult sleep and slightly delayed language or should I GE worried about something else?

yes it could be simple speech delay, but you'd still want to know what you can do about it if there is something.

Is he your first child?

If he is, be prepared to work a bit harder for your referrals. Shouldn't be like that but it is.

Yes, he is my first. He is already under a general paed because of febrile convulsions do if I have no luck with the GP I will request his follow up with the paed be moved forward and as for a referral to a developmental specialist from him

100% agree with all starlight's advice.

just one q - can he sing nursery rhymes OK? just wondering if he might have physical issues with making speech sounds, given his comprehension is great but expressive speech isn't. I agree about getting this looked into, paed referral etc, as even if it is "just" language delay, it's worth flagging up now, getting on waiting list etc. It's possible that language delay could affect behaviour, if he's getting frustrated at not being able to express himself.

He loves 'singing' but only does the actions. He doesn't even attempt to verbalise them. I will ask for a referral for a hearing test but am not really concerned about his hearing at all and wonder how compliant he will be. He never sits still unless he wants to. Usually only when very tired or watching Peppa

We used to have a S&L drop in at the CC but that's stopped due to staffing issues.

Our HV team are useless. It is quite a deprived area and I think they have forgotten how to handle anything other than safeguarding.

I would google your local PCT's children's speech therapy services, and see if they have info about how to refer, or a phone number, as you can get onto that over the weekend or Monday morning. Obviously if you can self-refer do that. In terms of hearing tests - children's audiology should be used to children who struggle to comply with instructions (language difficulties, heqring difficulties etc) - some people are more patient than other's unfortunately, though!

You might also want to have a google of verbal dyspraxia to see if that rings any bells. Possibly you might want to try some signing (sing and sign/Mr Tumble) along with speech, as that can help fill the gap before he develops better speech, and having visuals as well as words can help with learning new words.

Thank you.

What should he be doing verbally. I mean, according to all the things I can find he is spot on with his receptive milestones can follow 2 stage command, point to body parts and part and actions in pictures. Has excellent spatial awareness.

But expressive, uses gestures and grunts mainly has about 10 intelligible words, calls himself 'baba' (His name is Jacob), And definitely has nowhere near 50 words.

Have you had his hearing checked. My DD had really significant speech delay and it was only identified she had severe glue ear in both ears when she was about to turn 3. She had only about 50 words at this stage and had vents inserted her speech improved almost overnight afterwards and her vocab is now rated as above average her social skills however have suffered with such a late diagnosis as she had to start to learn how to converse at age 3.

No, but I will ask for a referral when I see the doctor on Tuesday.

DH is such a knobhead. When I express my concerns he just says 'it will come, it will come' he's probably right but still...

You are the second person I've spoken two, Len, who has said that they didn't think of ASD because their son's play was imaginative etc. she says that she now realises that he was just mimicking what he saw on television

MIL (lovely woman that she is ) tells DH this afternoon when he asked whether he or his brother were speaking at DS's age said 'I don't know. I didn't want you to speak. Believe me, all they do is ask questions anyway'

Such a brilliant attitude

I have managed a SALT and Children's Audiology referral.

Brilliant.