Lack of speech in 2year 10month old son

[Archiesmummmy]

Hi everyone ,
Please be gentle with me as this is the first time I've posted on here. Well my son is 3 in June and still has no words. He has been going to nursery 4 day a week as both myself and his dad work full time since he was 8 months old. He didn't walk till he was 18 months old but we have seen a paediatrician who has diagnosed hyper mobility of his joints which is why he was a late walker but she sees no physical reason why he's not talking. We have had his hearing tested and that was fine and he also goes to speech therapy once a week. He understands 2 or 3 point commands like" fetch mummy your shoes from the kitchen and put them in your bag". He grunts or makes a uurgh noise when pointing to what he wants. He can shake his head for no but won't nod for yes. He will say what sounds like there when he points to things and sort of babbles in a sentence or variety of noises when he is trying to tell you something. We are getting more frustrated as time goes on as to what to do to help him. We sit and read to him talk to him in simple terms and repeat words ie juice when we ask if he wants juice and when we give it to him or he points to it ?? I just wondered if anyone has been through anything similar or has any advice .thanks in advance Alison

Just a comment, my DD1 went to Christopher Place (a private speech and auditory centre) near Euston in London many years ago and we met a boy there who had cleft palate which was very difficult to diagnose as it was high up and it wasn't discovered until age 3. I just wondered if the paediatrician was certain there was no physical reason. I would also recommend Christopher Place if you are in London - it is expensive but you can apply for means tested fees which may be more affordable. They have a website so google it if you are interested. We went because my DD1 had delayed speech and the local NHS SLT ceased to exist in my area at one time.

We're very gentle on here don't worry!

What is your SALT saying? Hypermobility could potentially affect speech if he is low toned in his mouth muscles. It sounds like you are doing everything to encourage him and he's clearly been around other children to gain social skills etc. I have a friend whose DS didn't talk until around 2.5 yrs and even then it was very unclear. He had S&LT until quite recently - he's coming up to 8 now and his speech is much better but has just taken longer for him for some reason which has never been identified.

I'm sure there will be others along to help soon but didn't want to leave your post unanswered

Hi Archiesmummu and welcome to the SN board. It is a good place to be and we all come here for support and to support each other.

Have you tried teaching him some signs. your local children's centre should be able to get you on a course. Learning to sign will support him while he learns to speak and will relieve some of the frustration.

Also you should be able to self refer to Speech and Languuage Therapy services. But again you children's centre will probably be able to help with that.

Good luck and be kind to yourself.

Hi ,
Thanks for your responses . Archie is currently waiting to be discussed at early years forum. We are trying to teach him makaton but he tends to take u to things rather than try and sign , he does do the sign for mr tumble the kids programme lol but that is it. We are trying to get him to practice sounds to get him to move his mouth more but he Wont do any animal sounds.i do think he is extremely stubborn as he will blow raspberries and move his mouth more when you're not looking at him. The speech therapist is trying to work on his playing skills and focusing his attention as his attention span is not very big. We have been having speech therapy for 9 months and there doesn't seem to be much progress so we may try a private therapist . My mum is a retired SENCO as she says in the 40 years of working she has never come across a child of Archie's age with no words at all???. He has recently been stringing more sounds together so hopefully I will be a big delay. At nursery he doesn't really play with the other children but he does with the staff , we don't know weather it's because the other children try and talk to him but he doesn't respond so they go and play with someone else where as the staff are aware he doesn't talk ..sometimes feel like were fighting a loosing battle.

Have you tried MAKATON symbols with him. I worked with a little one who had v few words, he wouldnt sign either. We had been using symbols for a while when one day we showed him the symbols for crisps and apple and asked him to choose. The crisps were on the table he grabbed the symbol for crisps and we gave him a crisp. He cotton on very quickly and after about 3 goes he grabbed the card and said crisp with a big grin on his face.

We were so excited, one member of staff cried and we were all cheering bless him he looked at us as if we had gone bonkers.

Some children seem to get the symbols or pictures better than signs, on my last course we were told to use both.

Good luck.

Try the website www.makaton.org.uk for details of local course/training in Makaton