Child speech problems- help needed

Marmaduke123

Does your son understand what you say to him? That's by far the most important thing at this age

marisco_2

LutonGuy wrote: »

She says, his speech capabilities are like 7-8 months baby and learning skills are like 18 months baby.

It takes to observe a child for far longer than the length of one appointment to diagnose the above accurately. OP all children develop at their own pace. Some start babbling, slowly build a word bank and put garbled sentences together. Others sit back, take it all in and then start talking clearly at a later stage than their peers.

Bringing your sons speech on through play is the best way forward. He will be relaxed and open to taking in all that is going on around him.

My youngest son was over 3 before he spoke clearly. I was advised to talk to him non stop about anything and everything. So when I was driving around I would point out the red bus, big tree, look at the children on their bikes etc. In the supermarket I would be chatting away to him discussing what shall we have for dinner. Every time I put an item in the trolley I would show it to him and say its name. I will admit it became a bit soul destroying when I got no response back. I just kept telling myself that it would all be going in.

He started at a great nursery when he was 2 1/2 and they regularly sang nursery rhymes with the children and did all the actions alongside. He loved this. I would collect him and he would be humming the tunes. He gradually started to add in words here and there until eventually he was singing the entire song.

Does your son appear to understand what you say to him? How does he get along with other children? Does he take an interest in them and wish to play?

BucksLady

I was wondering whether your son had been born prematurely as that can lead to delays in different areas of development.

I do hope the help your son is about to receive, really helps him.

Best wishes to you all

Seanymph

My daughter didn't speak until she was nearly four.

Now i wish she'd be quiet.

It seemed that her older sibling, and myself, talked enough for all of us - and waited on her hand and foot - generally anticipated what she wanted - so she didn't need to speak.

Stop passing things without him asking and see if that gets him verbal. It worked for us.

GwylimT

All children are different, it's pointless comparing, my daughter didn't start talking until she was almost three, where as our son has started with his first words at 13 months, unusual for both a boy and a premature baby. Neither of mine are unusual, both in perfectly normal ranges for language, you have to remember as well that babies and toddlers practise words for a very long time, so it is fairly common for a later speaker to start and very quickly develop a larger vocabulary than a younger speaker.

barbiedoll

Greeneggs has explained the play therapy very well. I work in the same clinic as speech therapists and they have told me that many speech problems in children (in our area at least) are caused by parents who are unable to interact with their children, mostly because they are always glued to their phones/computers.

Of course, this isn't always the case, I work in a very deprived area and we see many very young parents, single parents and immigrants who can't or won't speak english. The advice about keeping the background noise to a minimum is often given to immigrant parents, the children are trying to make sense of the speech they hear from their parents and also that of the telly in the background, which ironically, foreign parents will have on to encourage their children to learn english!

Kids do learn at different rates, the idea that your child has a developmental delay is only her opinion based on one session. She may well be qualified in speech therapy but not necessarily in mental development. Her remark that his "learning skills are that of an 18 month old" may relate to his speech learning, not to his other cognitive skills. Can he hold a spoon or a crayon for example? Does he move well (walking, climbing etc)?

If you think that he may have other issues, then you should see your GP or HV and push for a paediatric referral. But speech delay is hugely common, we have drop-in sessions and appointment-only clinics, every day of the week in our health centre, they are always full!

Tigsteroonie

LutonGuy wrote: »

I have a 2 years and 9 months old son who has not starting talking yet (not even single basic words). He had a hearing screening test that comes OK.

Does your son babble? Any consonants? Does it sound like there are attempts to mimic your speech (tones, sounds strung in sentence like phrases)? If so, I'd say don't worry - he'll get there, he's just taking a little longer

Apparently I didn't talk till I was three and my brother went to school - I had no need to speak before then because he did all my talking for me!

LutonGuy

marisco wrote: »

Does your son appear to understand what you say to him?

Yes, He does understand some stuff. If he is playing and you ask him "Bring your shoes, lets go outside" he search for his shoes and brings it to you as he loves going outside. But if you ask him lets go and dring some water, he is least bother about it as I think he only replies you if he is interested in that stuff.

How does he get along with other children? Does he take an interest in them and wish to play?

Nope, he likes playing in Garden, in park etc but alone.

jozxyqk wrote: »

Does he communicate non-verbally, (e.g. Makaton)? Make eye contact? Giggles?

All of above is yes. He does communicate non-verbally

Marmaduke123 wrote: »

Does your son understand what you say to him? That's by far the most important thing at this age

As far as I can tell he does understand some stuff.

barbiedoll wrote: »

Can he hold a spoon or a crayon for example? Does he move well (walking, climbing etc)?

Yes, he is very good in these skills. Can walk/run easily. Can hold pencil, can unlock my Iphone etc

Thanks all for replying

Marmaduke123

If your son understands there is less of a concern.
Speech therapy at this age will be directed towards helping parents and other adults to modify how they talk to a child to help him link words to objects and ideas. The group you say you have been referred to sounds very appropriate, although it doesn't seem to have been explained very well!

*Ro*

Not sure if you would have already seen this website but thought I would mention as I got the boxset to help with sons speech and found it very good as it has practical play tasks to help encourage communication. The main Ican website is very useful too. I did find that my son suddenly found his voice and is much improved but I did worry for a while. I've accepted he will get there just need to be patient! Good luck with your son here's the link to the box set of cards https://shop.ican.org.uk/earlytalkers