speech delay

[tapas]

First time posting on this topic.

My son is just over 2. He doesn't say any words at all. Speech therapy have seen him.

He plays nicely and makes good eye contact so they have ruled out autism.

His understanding is all there. He babbles, points or takes me by the hand when he wants anything.

Speech therapy dept. have said they will see him again when he's a bit older. At the moment they feel he's a bit too young for actual therapy sessions.

Some members of my family have advised me to apply for dla for him. Is this possible, anyone with similar experiences?

I'm quite upset that they even think it's that bad but I know I've got to face reality.

i have no experience of speech problems but if its any concilation my sisters ds never started talking till he was 2 and a half. he just made noises. he is 3 and half now and you cant shut him up. i hope this is the case with yours.

Thanks..I really hope you're right.

Has any autism specific assessment been carried out ? Such as CHAT test ? I don't want to offend any SALTS such as Moondog that we have on our team but the ones that I met, in my opinion, did not know enough about the issues to even attempt to rule out or dx Autism. Pointing is good - taking by the hand is unusual at 2 years and may suggest autism if part of a wider picture. Eye contact is not really a useful way to dx autism but if play skills are age appropriate, that's good. I would suggest looking at CHAT (even though for 18 months) and thinking about the questions it asks. Maybe you will be pleasantly surprised - Good Luck anyway.

I wouldn't think DLA is appropriate yet but hard to say without knowing your child. It is awarded if your child needs substantially morecare than another child their age.

I would suggest getting your GP torefer to a PAed who may be better placed to consider the whole picture, many SLTs are not ASD specialised, not all though- we ahve a few acknowledged experts around ehre: nevertheless whilst they can recommend a dx they cannot make it, that haas to be done by a Paed, Psychitarist or on rare occasion Ed Psych.

Pointing is a great sign- is it a triadic point? That's where they point,look at you then back to ythr item to convey meaning. That's the kind of point they mean but some professionals don't necesarily understand that.

I have a ds 4 .7 with no real speech as such and they ahve ruled out autism but its a good sign that he is babbling and that his receptive seems good to.

dla could be a tricky one we get it but ds has a whole load of other issues.and am guessing they would say that your ds is not out of norma range yet

Has Salt given you any idea for working with him on , have ypu tried makton so he has other ways of communicating

No offence to SALT , some are very good , some are not.
The one we saw when DS was just 2.1 was useless. DS spoke only about 10 unclear words.
She too said his eye contact is ok, and he managed to feed a teddy so it's not autism.
I was there during the initial assessment, i unfortunately knew nothing about asd at the time.

I told the SALT DS was playing only with cars and trains.
So when she tried to interact with him , he was interested only in the little car.
She tried to get him to play with other stuff , he would not, so she had to take the car away, he screamed.
Then she picked up a teddy and sat it opposite DS , and pretended to feed the teddy with a toy spoon.
She asked DS to feed teddy. He didn't.
It took her several attempts to get him to pick the spoon up and briefly bring it to the teddy's mouth.
After that she asked me a few questions re: his dummy, the fact he still used a bottle, how much tv he watched. All crappy useless questions if i may say.
She said DS has a speech delay of about 1 year, and would be offered some therapy.

No mention of possible asd then. She should have picked up on the relevant fact that DS did not feed the teddy spontnously and that she had a job to get him to cooperate. The fact that he used to drag us by the hand and grunt for stuff he wanted, she didn't ask the right questions at the time and the red flags were missed (or swept under the rug!)

Sorry i'm not helping really. I 'm just livid when i recall this bodged-up assessement.
Don't take the salt words for gospel.

My DS is about to go through this process mysonben so thanks for that but I am sorry that things are so difficult for you

Peachy I've tried and failed to google triadic point in the past so thanks for that too. Sadly DS does nothing like that at all.

If i could rewind back to when DS was 2 and we had that salt assesment.

I would have been more insistant on these points :

• DS seldom points to stuff for social interaction.
• He prefers to drag us by the hand and use our hands to gesture towards what he wants.
• We need to remind him and physically show him how to use his own finger to point.
• DS plays only with cars and trains and various objects which he loves to line up (this for hours at a time).
• he doesn't do any of the action gestures during nursery songs at his gymtot club.
• he has difficulty responding to our voices

when we call him, he doesn't follow many of the simple verbal instructions we give him.

The SALT made me feel like my DS 'speech delay was my fault , she said: i advise you to cut down the amount of tv he watches, ...stop using a dummy and his milk bottle, when B is playing cut down on background noise such as tv or radio as the differents sounds interfere with what he hears and his speech generally.
Maybe good advice but nothing to do with ds's asd.

I think the general opinion is that 2 is too young for formal therapy, but there is a lot you can do at home which will be more successful than formal therapy. If the SLT didn't give you anything to do with your DS you should probably get in touch with them agian - it's never too early to start on playing games making noises, pulling faces, blowing bubbles, all of which help massively with speech.

I don't genuinely think you could get DLA for a 2 year old on the basis of speech along, unless you had a definate diagnosis. I successfully applied for DD1 when she was 3 and still had virtually no speech

Hi Tapas,
2 is very young and it may just be a speech delay. I would highly recommend the book 'It takes Two to Talk' - you can often get it on ebay. This approach certainly triggered speech in my non-verbal 2 year old at about 2 and a half. Its a fantastic, practical technique. Very useful.

My experience was very similar to mysonben's and my son's ASD was missed for quite a long time. So don't totally let it go off your radar, but if speech is his main issue then you're right to focus on that. Agree too with bubble - hassle your local SLT and ask for more help.

Good luck.

Agree with Shells.....I've found that book excellent, it's such a good starting point and i still refer back to it for ideas.

Austism was so totally not on the agenda for my DD1 at 2yrs and not speaking ...even the paed was not convinced but, one year on, (she's 3.1yrs) she completely agrees that she is! My DD1 is learning to speak in phrases...and we are now needing all the SALT we can get...so don't lose contact with them.

DS3'sasd (severe enough to need a SNU) was also missed insofar as the PAed kept saying SLI and SLT kept saying ASD and they shuttled between the two for a good while, arguing about SLT Schooland SNU and MS and..... very fustrating and if we hadn't found a stunning palcement for him then I suspect could have been a massive hurdle.

Lack of a triadic point at +2 is a red flag there's no denying, and with the speech delay it does need assessment by a Paediatrician. 2 is young but ATM there is a big drive towards dx at 18 months plus (that has both positives and negatives IMO).

I would get the GP to refer you direct for assessment, and also if you want my Uni notes of assessment of communication and play I will send them if you CAT, I'd have sent them via here but the Uni site is down atm (too many last minute essays being prepared perhaps LOL? not that I have one myself oh no )

It might be worth speaking to a charity such as BIBIC to seeif they can advise,they might be able to help- not sure where their cut off ages are but worth googling (they don't dx but their assessments can help with a dx).

Its wellworth bearing in mind that if he is on the spectrum that doesn't mean severe impairment: many children are very high functioning and do wellwhen given the right sort of input. And you know,even though ds3 is moresevere- severeSLI, autism etc- he'sincredibly rewarding and a complete blessing.

We have a toddler of almost 21 months as well and though he has no speech delay i'd place money on him having AS- we've an awfullot of issues with feeding, routines,phobias etc. But even as someone studying ASD I couldn't necessarily verbalise my fears yet sufficient for someone to look at a dx. Parental instinct is a powerful tool and guide.

My dd2 is 2.9 and does not talk,only says dada,points alot too,she has yet to be dx'd.She also does not walk but has been dx as very hypermobile.We have been having SALT for the past year & are encouraging her to do makaton,although she has yet to pick up any signs.
She is starting at the local CDC next week.
The comm paed told us to apply for DLA,I have & we are waiting for a decision.
She has had numerous tests - hearing,bloods,MRI,but still no dx.
As she approaches her third birthday,it gets increasingly hard,so I understand your sadness.Some days are better than others as it is very isolating.We have many worries about her future.
Get as much help as you can,our HA are quite good but I know from others posts that you have to fight for everything which wears you down too.
Let me know if you want to talk via e-mail.

Thank you all for the replies. I need to do do more research. I don't know ehat asd is. I will definitely go back to my gp.

My dd is 2 and has speech delay too.
We were referred 3 months ago and assessment has been a long process - finally dd starts a 6 week block of speech therapy next week.

Initially they are planning to start with communication - encouraging her to ask for things. Also to help her with Makaton.(she does know a few signs) There has never been a mention of her being too young.

I am going to BIBIC next week for assessment too. If you contact them they are very helpful.

My advice is to keep at it and dont be fobbed off if you feel that speech therapy would help now.

Check how long the waiting list is in your area and make sure you are in the system IYSWIM...

It is not right that 2 is too young for formal speech therapy - in fact only recently an authoritative and properly conducted scientific study in the US suggested that earlier intervention (2 or even earlier) leads to a a markedly better outcome for kids with speech delay and / or autism. It grieves me that people are being fobbed off with this "too young" business - when what the state really means is "we haven't got enough money to help really young kids, we'll pitch in when they're getting near school age and therefore becoming our problem". The brain's plasticity as regards language development is at its highest level from the ages of 0-5, which is why kids find it easier to be bilingual if raised on 2 languages from an early age. Even if the state give you this bullshit, you can start working on drawing out words and then speech at home, just by getting kids to copy what you do with your mouth and using their own motivation - eg get them to say "s" and they get a sweet. Sorry to pitch in aggressively, but I do feel that many SEN mums are being fed a wrong line (and by the way, I too was told at 2 that there was nothing to be done till 3 years old about my son's speech delay - which was in fact autism. I lost a year because of their crap - don't anyone else fall for it!)

Hiya,

just thought id add my experience, ds is now 2.5, he didnt babble or make any sound at all, he either laughed or cried, he had good understanding and pointed and so on, but that was it.

We had 4 salt sessions, the therapist only showed up for one, so i gave up and decided, he was ONLY two afterall.

6mnths later, christmas came, lots of family and friends around and my silent son asked for a sweetie, perfectly clear!

And since then i have lost count at the words hes came out with well over 30 i can assure you, i have changed nothing, he still has his dummy for naps/bed and upsets, he still has his sippy cup for milk and we still watch tv. He just needed time, and me not to worry.

today he proudly said, mum.... snack.... peeease.

i could burst with pride. hes slow, his words joined together take a while, BUT hes getting there and he did it himself, and hes prouder than me!

agree completely with sickofsocalled experts - 2 definitely isn't too young for speech therapy.

a couple of good websites:-

www.teachmetotalk.com
www.hanen.org
www.ican.org.uk