Delayed speech

[mistya0730]

I see some other mamas on here have LO's with delayed speech. When did it come? Were you worried?

DS is a 33weeker, now 2.5.

His EIS is worried his speech is not progressing like it should. He says mom and yeah (if asked something). Sometimes he will say things that only we can understand like the dog's name.

Are boys more prone to the delayed speech?

I'm not sure if I should be worried or not. A lot of people tell me he will when he is ready.

[zacifer]

Crashing this thread just b/c I saw the speech thing. My DD was not an early arrival, but she has delayed speech. I might be biased coming from the side where we pushed for the pediatrician to be concerned, and she never was. She told us to wait and that DD would come around. We felt differently but thought we'd follow the ped's advice. We wish we hadn't. Come to find out, DD has hypotonia. She in fact has MAJOR speech delays and a TRUE/diagnosed reason as to why. HOwever, she's now 4 and we figured all this out RIGHT before she turned 3 and only, I believe, b/c we just couldn't handle it any longer and pushed the ped. We regret not pushing earlier b/c our DD missed out on Early Intervention, which is a free service offered by the state. Unfortunetly, at 2.5, your son wouldn't benefit much from it either. Though I'd still ask. Our DD got services for 3 months before she was graduated out of the program at 3 years old, which is typical. After that, the kids are handed off to the public school system. I'm glad for those 3 months b/c she was evaluated by many people, and started receiving speech and ocupational therapy. Even though it was only for 3 months, it showed us how much she benefited from those therapies. Also, its only b/c of those 3 months under Early Intervention that she was diagnosed with Hypotonia. The ped missed it, but confirmed the diagnosis after the evaluator from Early Intervention mentioned it. Once she was moved to services at the public school, she regressed. Thankfully, we had those 3 months of good services under EI to see what therapy CAN do when done correctly. After 6 months of the school "therapy", we pulled her and got the ped to refer her to a legit speech therapist. We have insurance so pay the co pay and deal with A LOT of insurance crap (they don't like having to sign up to pay for on going services, apparently), but it is worth it. And I wonder if I would have known that had I not seen how well she did with the professional speech therapists for those short 3 months in EI.
I hope you can follow all this. Obviously I'm passionate about this subject. Yes, I know some kids are late talkers and given time, they'll come out of their shells. But I say ask for the referral to EI in your area. They will simply start by evaluating your son and there's nothing wrong with that!
Feel free to PM me if you need. Good luck.

[krys_mathews]

My 3yr old has the speech level of just over 1. He doesnt talk and is competely happy with life I think he just doesnt feel the need to talk. He has started an ISD school to try to jump start things but all I see is hes more ok with strangers (like doctors and hair cut ladies). I believe it will come along my oldest didnt talk alot till he was 3 and my second is in speech 7 times a week.

[mistya0730]

Originally Posted by zacifer Crashing this thread just b/c I saw the speech thing. My DD was not an early arrival, but she has delayed speech. I might be biased coming from the side where we pushed for the pediatrician to be concerned, and she never was. She told us to wait and that DD would come around. We felt differently but thought we'd follow the ped's advice. We wish we hadn't. Come to find out, DD has hypotonia. She in fact has MAJOR speech delays and a TRUE/diagnosed reason as to why. HOwever, she's now 4 and we figured all this out RIGHT before she turned 3 and only, I believe, b/c we just couldn't handle it any longer and pushed the ped. We regret not pushing earlier b/c our DD missed out on Early Intervention, which is a free service offered by the state. Unfortunetly, at 2.5, your son wouldn't benefit much from it either. Though I'd still ask. Our DD got services for 3 months before she was graduated out of the program at 3 years old, which is typical. After that, the kids are handed off to the public school system. I'm glad for those 3 months b/c she was evaluated by many people, and started receiving speech and ocupational therapy. Even though it was only for 3 months, it showed us how much she benefited from those therapies. Also, its only b/c of those 3 months under Early Intervention that she was diagnosed with Hypotonia. The ped missed it, but confirmed the diagnosis after the evaluator from Early Intervention mentioned it. Once she was moved to services at the public school, she regressed. Thankfully, we had those 3 months of good services under EI to see what therapy CAN do when done correctly. After 6 months of the school "therapy", we pulled her and got the ped to refer her to a legit speech therapist. We have insurance so pay the co pay and deal with A LOT of insurance crap (they don't like having to sign up to pay for on going services, apparently), but it is worth it. And I wonder if I would have known that had I not seen how well she did with the professional speech therapists for those short 3 months in EI. I hope you can follow all this. Obviously I'm passionate about this subject. Yes, I know some kids are late talkers and given time, they'll come out of their shells. But I say ask for the referral to EI in your area. They will simply start by evaluating your son and there's nothing wrong with that! Feel free to PM me if you need. Good luck.

Thank you! I am going to ask about Hypotonia.

Our ped did refer us to Early Intervention at 1 year, adjusted. They did their evaluation and also hooked us up with an Early Intervention/Preschool. We have EIS and speech therapist come into our home a couple times a month.
EIS thinks it is more of his personality, but the speech therapist is more concerned that his speech is not progressing like it should.

This week, DS is starting to go to an in-home daycare a couple times a week. I am hoping this helps to encourage his speech, as well as his social skills.

[shelookslikeamom]

Hmm.. I'm wondering about this. My DD (born at 33 weeks) is now 21 months old. She is smart enough where we're currently in the process of potty training her, but she doesn't talk much. She will say "all done" each and every time we finish taking a shower, but that's about it. She's the queen of gibberish-- very talkative in that sense-- but real words are few and far between. She had been evaluated by EI at 15? months, but was not found to have enough of a delay at that time to qualify. Maybe I should get the speech therapist back in here for a re-evaluation.

[apurkeyp]

My DS, a 32 weeker, is now 19 months old. So, 17 months adjusted and he has zero words. We just had him evaluated with EI and he qualified for services. I don't know what to think. My ODD was an early talker. My middle DD was a very late talker, as in 2.5. I am sure he will fall somewhere in there. It is nerve-racking though.

[pharmmama]

My little brother (much younger then me) didn't really talk until he was 4. They couldn't find anything wrong with him (no hypotonia or anything) and had an appointment to evaluate him for autism and then he just started talking with an excellent vocab and everything. Strange, but we guess he just didn't find talking important.

I would get him checked out for anything being wrong. He could just be like my little brother, but if he does have an issue the faster you get help the better for him.

[alaskamum]

DS will be 3 in March but was not an EA. I had him evaluated for EI when he was 2 1/2 b/c he was SO SO frustrated with not being able to talk.

I'm really glad we had him evaluated b/c it has made a huge difference. His vocabulary has exploded but he still has to try really hard to say everything. Apparently if he was just a plain late talker, he would be easier to understand.
Bottom line based on my experience: I would say if he's not frustrated there's a good chance he's just waiting until he wants to talk. If he's trying to talk and gets really frustrated b/c he can't, there might be a bigger problem.
Getting him evaluated won't hurt, though, and you don't have to do the therapy if you decide not to.

[mek10976]

my DS was born at 32 weeks and was diagnosed with an expressive speech delay around 14 months. he also had a gross motor delay. he worked with an EI therapist until he turned 2. we notice him making progress after he learned to walk at 18 months. it is so hard to know when to just let the child be who they are and develop at their own rate, and when to start seeking help. good luck!

[mibarra]

I am in the speech field AND have a hearing impaired 31 weeker now almost 3. To OP, if SLP is concerned, have her increase therapy time. Also, the Hanen program is a great parent training program to help parents be better at promoting language development.

Language therapy will not harm a child. Some children are just going at their own pace. However, by the time we know which ones, we've missed an amazing period of brain growth and neuroplasticity. Early intervention has the best outcomes. Better now and not need it than later with less gains, IMO.