" and a half year old child speech therapy??

mummyroysof3

my son was 2 in april and he doesnt talk atall...health visitor is coming back in a few months to reveiw. my eldest was 3 before he said a word and 6 months later he was talking well and hasnt stopped since lol

shellsuit

My eldest (son) was referred for speech therapy at his 2.5yr check as he wasn't speaking, only muttering the odd few words. The sessions didn't do a thing for him and I hardly got any feedback so I stopped taking him.

As soon as he started pre school when he was 3, he started chatting away.

My youngest has his 2.5yr review next week and he is exactly the same as my eldest was. I'm not worried about him at all, some kids are quicker at things than others and some are slower.

My daughter was speaking when she was younger than 2.

I personally think boys (well, mine anyway!) are just lazy little boogers lol!

gratefulforhelp_2

My daughter had speech therapy for a while. Her speech was affected by persistent glue ear that was never dealt with properly. There are lots of other reasons for needing help with speech - that are not related in any way to the child's intelligence.

Don't worry, and be pleased the HV is on the ball, you will probably find that a few appointments and she is signed off.

Think of it this way - it will help at school and pre-school/nursery and reduce any frustration and potential for behavioural problems if she can communicate as clearly as possible.

purplepardalis

OP - may I ask, how old is your son?

shy-but-need-help

My 4.5 year old is in speech therapy, well technically pre-speech therapy, they identified a problem with his pronounciation at age 2.5 and so he went on the waiting list, he now sees "the nice lady" (as he calls her- she has an "L" name and the L sound is one of his main can't says- it comes out as "W" which is unfortunate as his own name starts with L) he sees her roughly once a school term and she takes him through some pictures to see how far his natural development has moved him forwards with the suggestions she makes to us. It is then noted if he's made any progress and it's all being recorded for when he begins reception in September, at this point he'll start speech therapy if the issues are still there as by age 5ish they'd expect to see them naturally ironed out or to need further help.

He really doesn't mind seeing her. He is definitely one of the brightest out of my 5, he's on a par with his oldest sister at that age and she's always been a gifted student, his class are learning to recognise numbers to 10 and he can add, subtract, do basic multiplication and division (only 2x and 3x but it's a start!) He can read a little, he can write, he recognises all his letters and he has a very, very expansive vocabulary... however that still doesn't change the fact he sounds like Jonathon Ross.

I was upset when they first suggested he needed a referal, his older brother is a special needs student (ASD, dyspraxia and a few other issues) and I wanted to curl up and cry at the idea of more "outside agencies" involved with my kids, actually I wanted to cry at the idea there was another flaw. However DH pointed out very swiftly that if he needed help with his reading we'd get it, if he needed help with his maths we'd get it, if he needed help with physio like his brother does we'd do it and his speech was no different. It put a whole new spin on it for me.

DS does fine at nursery despite the fact he would hardly speak when he began, he's one of the most popular boys in his class (and we're told quite the class ladies man too ROTFL) so it's definitely not held him back socially.

Like Pigpen points out you really don't have to take the referal, many will iron out naturally, we chose to accept the referal though as we knew waiting lists in our area can be ridiculous and we took the view if he was on the list, got an appointment and then they said he didn't need it, fantastic but if we didn't get him on it and then later in life we realised he did we'd be at the bottom of a long list. Pigpen is also very correct in that most speech therapists when they see them at that age will tell you to talk to them as much as possible, expand on your sentences and pronounce well yourself, we were encouraged to speak to DS2 in a way which required him to answer back with more than yes or no (Eg: if he wanted a drink rather than asking did he want blackcurrant where he'd just respond by nodding we had to ask him did he want blackcurrant or orange, would he like it in the blue cup or the yellow cup)

Debbie_A_3

My son was having speech therapy when he was in the Reception class (his teacher could not understand him at all). We were never that concerned about him - I was a very late talker myself - but we did take up the speech therapy appointments. On one level it was nice that the NHS was giving him 1:1 time with a professional. I thought that we should make the most of it!

He is now nine and he is doing well at school.

Debbie

AmandaD28

Hi OP,

I haven't had time to read all the responses but seeing some of the posters names I am sure you will have some very accurate advice.

Just wanted to post to give some reassurance ! My DS2 was also referred for S.A.L.T after his 2.5yr check as the HV thoughrt he was delayed like you I felt he just needed time to perfect my HV said in her experience though it was a good idea to get the referral in nice and early as waiting lists are long for it around here and it would take longer if he was older (kind of made sense when she explained it) as it happenned the service was completely inflexible and when they eventually got in touch they demanded that I visit their office at the local hospital I knew DS would simply clam up there and I refused to go, it was a risk at the time when I think back but he started nursery last April and he has come on leaps and bounds he is now once of the most talkative little boys in his class he just needed time thats all there are now no concerns and he never had "therapy"

Please just do what you think is best your child can always be re-referred if you need to to be honest I always thought age 2.5yrs was too early for referral given that all children have their own rate of development and I remember posting on here about it at the time very concerned and was reassured by the lovely MSE community that I know him best and am perfectly capable of making the decision about it.

Good luck

xx

Abbafan1972

My now 9 year old daughter got referred to a speech therapist because of delayed speech and I have to say she was a waste of time.

Probably had about 2-3 home visits from her and I took an instant dislike to her. She seemed to be more interested in promoting the use of makaton signing and I got given a book about it (can't remember if the HV or the speech therapist gave it to me), but it didn't stay in the house very long.

I would have meetings with DD's nursery key worker and the Educational Psychologist and a copy of the notes would get sent to the speech therapist, but we would never hear from her and she didn't attend any of the meetings, so I just told the nursery to take her name off the list.

Haven't heard from her at all since.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Sublime_2

My 3 1/2 year old has his 2nd speech therapy session today. I know how you feel, as I went through similar thoughts as yourself. My son does need it, although your daughter sounds fine. It wouldn't hurt to go to one session, and then see.

Wishing you the best.

Rockporkchop

Don't be down about it, it's good that your HV takes an interest in your DD. Let her refer your DD for speech therapy, the waiting list is so long she will probably be an accomplished public speaker before the appointment comes through.

My DD was referred for speech therapy after her two year check, just because she mispronounced a few things, such as calling a car a bar. We never did get the appointment and she is three next month! She speaks perfectly now though.