I'm just after some personal experiences with speech delays in kids.
My son is almost 2 and it was picked up at 18 months that he was slightly behind in speaking. They said they would reassess at 2 how he was going, but he's made almost no progress. He understands everything and follows instruction perfectly so his comprehension is fine, but his language is very limited, it all kind of sounds the same or is more of a sound he uses as a word but it doesn't sound clear. My 1st child (daughter) could speak in 5 or 6 word sentences by his age.
We are booked in to get his hearing checked next week and have a followup GP and health center appointment in a month.
I'm in two minds because SO many people have told me that their boys haven't started talking until 2.5ish or later. But I'm at the point where I am getting worried now. There are other boys his age that we know who can count and sing songs etc. He can't do anything like that (he does try to count but its just random sounds).
I don't even know what I'm really asking, just personal experiences with potential speech delay and if it resolved itself or if intervention was needed? We'll obviously be doing everything we can to help him if needed after these appointments but as theyre getting close but still seem far away I'm getting worried and overthinking it all. You hear all these things about 2nd kids and especially boys taking longer to talk but the health center nurses have really stessed me out about it. My GP thinks he is fine and will catch up.
He has otherwise met all of his other milestones early and physically is thriving. He is obviously very clever but gets frustrated easily (at others) who cant understand him. I spend all day talking to him and giving him words for what he's doing. I read to him every day. I'm a stay at home mum so we're always out at activities and library storytimes or songs and always around other kids. He's very social and spends a lot of time with kids his age but also a bit older as well. I've taught him a bit of auslan which he is really enjoying.
6 Replies
Mine didn't speak until 3. I knew she understood everything and was smart as and didn't have an issue and said a few single words here and there, so I was happy to wait and assume she's taking her sweet time.
However, my friends child is similar timing, but in my opinion it was just different I can't explain how, she made a funny sound when she tried to speak, she was trying but was very very difficult to understand. She's referred for speech and I think that's a good thing.
I’d rather be the parent that sought help early than the one that assumed it would get better (and didn’t).
As part of my work I used to see loads of kids who fell into the oops we are starting school and my kid can’t talk category.
I’m personally glad I didn’t listen to those parents who said my child would talk when they were ready. I listened to the experts, followed there advice and my son improved out of sight. He wouldn’t have miraculously started talking more in his own, because he had to work really hard to get it.
Personally you never loose time and go ‘why did I bother getting that assessment done’. But you can regret not getting help.
As a mum of 8, some of mine didn’t talk properly very early on . But you never see a high school kid or adult who can’t talk like the rest of their peers . They always catch up , if it’s just speech delay .
He is ONE. Very very young and quite normal to not be speaking. Its crazy that it can be so uncomfortable and implied as a negative thing to simply just not stress over baby's developmental milestones.
IF it turns out it’s just a speech delay. There is no way to really know without a proper assessment!
And yes I’ve witnessed parents who thought it was JUST a speech delay and they never caught up, didn’t start school etc. Some did catch up with speech therapy eventually.
My point is don’t let people talk you out of seeing a speech therapist for a proper assessment.
My son was the same. We started seeing a speech pathologist around two and two months and it’s been the best thing for him. Your speech pathologist should do some early testing and they will tell you where your son is comparative to other children his age. My son does have other issues but I would say in comparison to other Kids in his kindergarten class he is In the top 1/2 of the class. The skills I learnt (because earlier speech work is all about parent training) Have been extremely helpful in me helping him to breakdown sounds and now spell. It also gave me a realistic view on where he was at comparable of the other children his age.