Speech and language delay plus developmental delay - advice needed

[juneau]

DS2, aged 2.4, has been diagnosed as having a speech and language delay of 6-12 months. This is due to persistent glue ear (I reckon he had it for about that length of time, so the delay matches the amount of time he wasn't hearing very much). He had grommets fitted in May.

We managed to get him some private SALT while waiting for the NHS SALT to begin and the private therapist assessed him as also having a developmental delay of approx. 10 months. The NHS therapist who he started with this week said that it's quite normal for a child with SALT issues to have a similar developmental delay - particularly when that child simply wasn't hearing for months on end. We're pretty worried though as DS2 has two years until he starts school and as a May birthday who will already be at a disadvantage to his autumn-born peers, add a 10-month language and development delay and you've got a really significant difference between him and the other DC in his class.

I have three questions and I'd love to hear from anyone who has insight into this (particularly anyone with professional experience):

1. How likely is it that the developmental delay is directly linked to the SALT issues?
2. Is there anything we can do to help him overcome the development issues? We're following the suggestions from SALT regarding play as a way to help with the language issues.
3. Do DC with a development delay often 'catch up' or is this unlikely?

To put your mind at rest I would suggest you ask for a referral to a developmental paediatrican. It is so hard to unpick with salt issues and developmental delays and probably the best person to unpick that would be a paed. Bibic is also a fantastic organisation that have helped us over the years and will give you an understanding of your ds's difficulties and the best way to help. This is usually done over a period of observations over 2-3 days. HTH

you said your DS had grommets fittet in May? have you noticed any improvement in his speech and understanding?

My Dd had severe glue ear and all her speech, language& developmentsl issues were blamed on her glue ear .
it was only after having grommets fitted without any subsequent improvement in her speech and language that we were referred on for further investigstions.

with grommets gitted in May, I woulf expect a marked improvement by now if your DS's issues were pure hearing difficulties csused by glue ear.

agree with mindfulness - i would also push for a referral to a de paed.

I agree with choc we had the same with the grommets and my child had them twice and although her speech clarity improved she did have communication difficulties that were not related to that.

Yes, we have noticed a huge difference since May. He understands the vast majority of what is said to him and responds appropriately, even if he doesn't always have the language to respond verbally, and his language is improving. He has gained a lot of nouns since May and tends to speak in noun sentences, so 'Daddy car shop', but it's good enough for people to understand what he means and we repeat it back to him with all the other words added in.

We tried to get a referral to a paediatrician earlier, but the GP wouldn't do it. I'll try again now I have this report from the ST.

In what areas did the SALT say your ds had a 10 month delay? (phyiscal? walking? fine motor skills? social skills etc) TBH, I wouldn't be happy with a SALT assessing a delay in other areas apart from their speciality - I don't know if it is standard.

Ds is delayed in all areas, and is assessed annually by a developmental paed using The Ruth Griffiths assessment which looks into a variety of different areas.

As time has gone on he has become less delayed in some areas, and remained severely delayed in others. It is a difficult thing to assess, the older they get.

If you have it written in a report then maybe show this to gp when asking for a referral to dev paed.

And thanks

What she said in her report is this: "his language, play and attention skills remain very delayed - at about 18 month level" and that his language delay is likely to have contributed to this. I think the only way forward is for a developmental paed to assess him formally. We need some real answers on this so we can help him. At the moment I feel we are totally lacking in the knowledge and tools we need, which is a really depressing place to be.

His other areas of development seem to be on track. He crawled and walked within the normal time frame, he's running, climbing, walking up and down stairs, and socially he seems fine too. He goes to nursery, where he is popular, he had an older brother who he plays nicely with, he's learning social skills such as sharing, potty training, he can feed himself, drink from a cup, manipulate toys with his hands - turning, twisting, pushing, pressing, etc. He just seems immature in his play, for want of a better word. He plays like a younger child.

I would also be pushing for a referral to a paed,just for a broader over view.

But your ds sounds great!

For what its worth,my dc is developmentally delayed in all areas,although not by the same amount in each area. I totally get you wanting to 'do' something. For me, I found the book 'small steps forward' by Susan hayman useful (quite cheap on Amazon), the website www.teachmetotalk is full of ideas too.

Have you had a follow up with audiology/ent to make sure the grommets are in ok & doing their job?

My ds had grommets for glue ear,but we didn't notice the leap you did-more it was one more obstacle out of the way!

Sorry this is all a bit garbled-trying to type & feed baby at same time!

juneau Welcome to the SN Board - I just left a message on the 'behaviour & development' board, where you started this thread but it seems you are getting some good advice here, so good luck!

My nephew had dev delay with language and play skills at a similar age and yes he did catch up by the time he went to pre school (his parents paid for weekly SLT and play therapy). There was no obvious cause in his case although he is now 6 and not yet reading and writing so perhaps still a bit behind on academics (although he lives in a country where they don't start formal school until 6 so its not that behind).

These days there are wonderful ipad / iPod apps for speech which can seem like play but help with building sentences etc.

Parents do have the option of delaying summer born children to the following school year now (info on DFE website), but 2 years is a long time to work with so you dont have to make that decision now.

Watching this thread with great interest, as your ds sounds very similar to my ds. Mine is a month older than yours (April baby) & has less speech, probably about 5 words & some sounds, but also has glue ear. Frustratingly, nothing us being done about this except we have a 3rd audiology appointment in November to see if it's still present. Salt said in ds' report that he has fairly severe language delay, plus play skills delay, but she said it's probably because he did everything else later too (but within normal time frames)

Feeling up & down about it all, especially as ds1 just started school, pregnant, moving house & just found out some bad family 'news'

Anyway, sorry for hijack & good luck! Your ds sounds lovely