When did your child start talking?

[Disneylvr]

My sister's ds with apraxia can say a word perfectly, and then totally different the next time he says it. It's a tough road, but with excellent outcomes with therapy. I agree with you - what is the harm of an evaluation? There is harm in waiting, however, if there is a problem. Why wait and see? It's crazy. Even my sister's DH didn't want to have his kids evaluated. I'd hate to see where they'd be now if they waited.

AMEN!!!! There IS harm in waiting. No one ever wants to believe there might be something wrong with their child but it is best to error on the side of getting the child early intervention than to not to seek help at all. My daughter has autism, I speak from experience. And guess who noticed the delays and signs first?? OUR DAYCARE PROVIDER AND FRIEND!!!!! Thank God she did.

 

[jodifla]

I mean...REALLY talking?

I watch my friend's boys 3 times a week. They are 4 and 22 months. The youngest is not talking much. My friend and I have talked about it and I know she is a little concerned. I try throughout the day to get him to repeat my words but he just stares at me. What he does say is mumbles or "baby talk". He has momma, dadda, juice, cookie, ball...all those type words down but some are pretty hard to understand. Like water sounds kind of like "wal-la wal-la wal-la".

I try really hard not to compare our children but my child is my main experience. Other than babysitting when I was a teen. DD is 14 months old and has quite a few words. Becoming a little parrot.

Should he be putting words together by now and making short sentences? I'm just wondering because I don't see him trying much. Like right now...he is waking from his nap and I go in and ask if he wants up...he shakes his head yes...I say "say UP" and he just looks at me. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do? Any experiences? Should we (his parents and myself as a babysitter) just let it go?

We know what he wants but he just wont talk.

There is a wide range that's normal in speech.

That being said, there's a lot to you and his mom can do as well. Check out Dr. Jim McDonald's web site Communicating Partners

http://jamesdmacdonald.org/Articles/MacDonaldStart.html

Parents and caregivers spend the most time with kids and can be their best speech therapists. His site has lots and lots of free tips.

If the child has good receptive speech, that's great. Studies show that about 60 percent of kids with an expressive lag only catch up by kindergarten without much in the way of intervention. Receptive deficits are much more difficult to overcome.

And should the mom have her child evaluated, well, let's just say there are good and bad evaluators out there. A parent has to be a very careful consumer. There are good and bad speech therapists as well. I know several moms who pulled their kids out of speech because the therapists were making matters worse.

 

[deerhart]

My biggest pet peeve is parents who don't get their children the help they need for fear of their child being "labeled." I equate that to child abuse...

I see this all the time in my ADHD groups. They are so worried having their kids labeled SPED or AHD or whatever and we usually respond, well that's better then the OTHER labels the child is going to get

lazy, naughty, defiant, trouble, goof off etc..

 

[KateMW]

Kids are different. Some kids talk later, some sooner. Some children just aren't parrots. DD didn't talk much until later but she's coming out with complete sentences, not just repeated words. I'd only be concerned if the child's pediatrician is.

Exactly. My DD didn't talk very much at all until she was 2, but then she started full force in sentences and at 4, she was tested for entrance to school and she had a 6-7 year old vocab, so I think she caught up. I worried and worried, but my ped was always calm and didn't freak out. Turns out she really knew what she was talking about!

 

[Kriii]

I'd have the child evaluated by an SLP for an objective and professional opinion. Most pediatricians have next to no training re: speech and language development, so I wouldn't necessarily rely on their opinions only. Opinions from strangers on the DIS aren't really a valid basis for a decision. There are some red flags in the OPs description but you can't know for sure without the evaluation. It's easier to correct the problem if caught early and the outcome is often better. I'm an SLP. Trust me, we have such a demand for our services that we won't recommend any services that aren't really necessary. Good luck.