SALT help please.

[Memeto3boys]

I have a a 2 1/2 year old little boy who has speech delay. Hes currently stuck at the 1 word level. His speech is to delayed to be able to have threapy within clinic so intially it was going to happen at the cdc within small group play sessions. He had assessment sessions with a nursery nurse who disagreed with the development delay that was suggested by SALT but thats an all other story. Because of the outcome of this the cdc arent going to be offering these group play sessions now and are going to discharging so now it means for his SALT therapy he would have to wait till he goes to nursery which is january 2017 (if i could afford it i would put him in nursery now). Now with that being so long away i have invested in some games that are to help this like old macdonald lotto where you need to find what matches the pictures on the boards and a post box game where you have green yellow blue and red post boxes and 12 letters and you have post the letter through the post box that matches the colour of the letters they are 2 years + games and according to the assesment hes well capable of doing. I have tried to sit and play with him but he just wont. He either looks at me like he really hasn't a clie how to play or he just point blank refuses and does his own thing. His SALT report tells us to sing and do action songs with him like head shoulders knees and toes and take him on walks looking for things like a bird flowers ect but he won't get involved he just stands watching you. What do i do to try help to get him trying these things. I think waiting till january and doing nothing in the mean time is along time for him to wait. I feel as his mother if i dont try help himself that i will be letting him down. I also feel that if i dont try it could get worse its 8 months away and 8 months in development is such along time.

Look up the book by Hanen called 'It takes two to talk'. It is very good and I know quite a few people who have used it, myself included. It may work for you too.

Thank you will take a look

It is a good book.

My child was the same at his age. It is what most motivates him at first, and not talking 'at him'. Whatever he says, be really interested in and take his lead. Wait for him to speak and do pre verbal activities like tickling and peekaboo. Get him to say the name of what he wants, like cookie, by saying cookie every time.

Match your speech to his. It seems silly at first, but it works! So if he only uses one word, you only use one, and then add a word when he has a lot of single words. So when he has lots of words, you can say 'Look bird' if he says bird. But if he doesn't say anything while you are out on a walk, just be quiet for most of it, if he looks at anything, say what that thing is 'Tree, tree'. Go up to the tree with him. Just say 'tree' again. Take the pressure off.

They say it helps to think about overall communication, back and forth between you and your child, rather than just speech. Any back and forth, pointing, playing, where he does something, you respond, he does something back. Like saying cookie, or pointing cookie, he gets one, you say 'yum'.

Thats the biggest difficulty i have is getting any back and forth communication with him. He doesn't point or rarely try get me into doing things. When he does he will do it for about 30 seconds before going away. If i try to inciate anything he will take whatever i am doing and do something on his own. Its hard to know if hes engaging properly as he doesnt have any eye contact when playing. He never takes his eyes off what he is playing unless i ask him to look at me several times.