when to be concerned about speech?

[Mickey's Minion]

Speak to her doctor and get their advice. My DD was the same way at 4. She went to part-time pre-school but she mumbled because my DH mumbles and he's the stay at home parent. Doctor said to wait until she started school full time and see how she was doing a few months in.
Her speech cleared almost immediately. She was evaluated by the school when she started, as were all children, and she was borderline. Next year she was re-evaluated and she passed with flying colors. She's 10 now and won't shut up! And no one has any problem understanding her.

Good luck with your DD and whatever you decide to do.

Waiting until school to be evaluated is terrible advice even if it comes from your pediatrician if others have expressed concerns about the child's speech. Pediatricians are not all knowing beings. They specialize in the body and illnesses. I love my pediatrician and he is an absolutely brilliant man and I trust his advice. However, with many developmental things it is often better to get an eval from somebody who specializes in that type of thing, ie; a speech and language professional. I would use my pediatrician to rule out any physical concerns for a speech issue and then get an eval by a speech and language professional.

The earlier the intervention, the easier it is for the child and the easier it is to correct abnormal speech patterns.

At age 3 and up, your school district is, by law, required to provide a free screening.

Having a screening now is free and easy and can't hurt anything. It is very likely they will send you on your way and tell you she is developmentally on target.

However, taking the "put head in sand and oh we will wait and see" approach could be very harmful. The older she gets the harder it is to correct.

So, why not just give the school a call and find out for sure? You are not out anything except a fun couple of hours for your child. That way you won't wonder and most importantly, if services are needed, you won't be kicking yourself later wondering why you didn't go earlier.

 

[mjkacmom]

There is never a reason NOT to have a child evaluated. Either they will tell you there is no problem, or that there is a problem, and the child gets help. 4 is pretty late in the game when it comes to starting ST. My nephew has apraxia, and he's almost 3, and has been in ST for over a year now. I can now understand him - well, a lot of the time. When he started at 20 months, he spoke, but one couldn't understand him.

Call your health department or school system, and set up an evaluation - it's free. Also see what your health insurance will pay for. My ds7 started ST at 20 months, because he had no speech. He qualified, we got almost free services, and he aged out at 3.

 

[mjkacmom]

Waiting until school to be evaluated is terrible advice even if it comes from your pediatrician. Pediatricians are not all knowing beings. They specialize in the body and illnesses. With many developmental things it is better to get an eval from somebody who specializes in that type of thing, ie; a speech and language professional.

The earlier the intervention, the easier it is for the child and the easier it is to correct abnormal speech patterns.

At age 3 and up, your school district is, by law, required to provide a free screening.

Having a screening now is free and easy and can't hurt anything. It is very likely they will send you on your way and tell you she is developmentally on target.

However, taking the "put head in sand and oh we will wait and see" approach could be very harmful. The older she gets the harder it is to correct.

So, why not just give the school a call and find out for sure? You are not out anything except a fun couple of hours for your child. That way you won't wonder and most importantly, if services are needed, you won't be kicking yourself later wondering why you didn't go earlier.

As someone certified in special education, I agree with this 110%. As any speech therapist, and they will say the same. DO NOT WAIT!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

However, taking the "put head in sand and oh we will wait and see" approach could be very harmful. The older she gets the harder it is to correct.

I'm quite sure that my doctor would be the last one to call me a "put head in the sand" type parent. That actually made me laugh out loud!! However, I trust him, I trust his judgement and it worked. If she feels her daughter needs help then by all means get it. However, I would take my MD's advice over my MIL's any day of the week. That was my line of thought. And yes, her hearing was evaluated prior to him making his assessment. Her medical history, her social interaction, etc. It wasn't just a "hey, what do you think" conversation.

 

[puffkin]

I also want to add that Pediatricians are NOT speech professionals. My ped was the first to admit that they have guidelines to check but unless it is really bad, they really have no clue. I mean honestly, a pediatrician only is around your child for a few minutes....I just think way too many of us think the Ped is the end all know all. I just don't see any reason why the child should NOT be evaluated....it really is a no brainer to me

 

[Mickey's Minion]

I also want to add that Pediatricians are NOT speech professionals. My ped was the first to admit that they have guidelines to check but unless it is really bad, they really have no clue. I mean honestly, a pediatrician only is around your child for a few minutes....I just think way too many of us think the Ped is the end all know all. I just don't see any reason why the child should NOT be evaluated....it really is a no brainer to me

That is exactly what our pediatrician told us. Unless the speech problems is so severe, such as the kid is not talking at all by the age of 4, they really are not qualified to make a developmental assessment.

A speech and language assessment by itself takes a couple of hours. The pediatrician cannot make that assessment in the 15 minutes you are in the office.

We have a friend who had their pediatrician tell them "they will grow out of it." Luckily, they went and got a second opinion with a SLP. Turns out the child had pretty severe word retrieval problems. He often used the wrong word for something. The child started speech at 3 and was staffed out by the end of kindergarten.

If the parent had waited until kindergarten, the child would have started 2 years later and would have had many, many more years of speech therapy due to the delay. Because he was young, he was able to end speech by the time the pediatrician had advised to "wait and see."

 

[golfgal]

Doesn't your state do preschool screening? In MN all 3 year olds go to a preschool screening to check for things that can hamper doing well in school, speech is just one of them. Also, our preschools have speech therapists come in and evaluate all the kids and make recommendations as appropriate. Call your school district and tell them you have concerns about your 4 year old's speech and can you get an appointment for an evaluation.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

I'm quite sure that my doctor would be the last one to call me a "put head in the sand" type parent. That actually made me laugh out loud!! However, I trust him, I trust his judgement and it worked. If she feels her daughter needs help then by all means get it. However, I would take my MD's advice over my MIL's any day of the week. That was my line of thought. And yes, her hearing was evaluated prior to him making his assessment. Her medical history, her social interaction, etc. It wasn't just a "hey, what do you think" conversation.

Glad it worked for you. Not everybody would be so lucky.

I guess I have a different perspective. If somebody cared enough about my child to venture into that parenting minefield and mention that my child was hard to understand, and my pediatrician told me to just wait it out, I would definitely want a second opinion from a speech and language professional. Somebody who could do a full and thorough evaluation just to set my mind at ease.

Just like I would get a second opinion from a heart specialist if a murmur was detected or a second opinion from any specialist if any problem was suspected.

 

[Becky2005]

Just like I would get a second opinion from a heart specialist if a murmur was detected or a second opinion from any specialist if any problem was suspected.

Which is a good idea! I kick myself for listening the "wait & see" method for my DD. She has scoliosis, it was caught at her physical, the doctor didn't think it was too bad and basically did the wait and we will check it again next year.

So that is what I did, the next year it was checked and had gotten worse so off to see a specialist, by the time we saw the specialist, she was basically in the "will probably need surgery" area as her curve was already at a 40 degrees.

Always makes me wonder if I had just gone right away to see a specialist and didn't do the wait and see, if we could have been more proactive about it. It might not have made any difference but I will never know and you can bet if any of her brothers start showing a "slight curve" I'm not fooling around waiting for a year -- I'm going straight to specialists.

My doctor has never even checked for speech issues other than "do they talk?" -- my kids issues are articulation and I'm 99.9% sure the doctor would never have caught their particular issues.

My younger two also get occupational therapy for their fine motor skills, again not something my doctor particularly checks for (i.e. holding a pencil correctly, using the correct pressure, etc....). I had to fight the school system 4 years for them to check my oldest boy -- I was told in Preschool he was behind, I thought they were crazy because it had never been an issue and I figured he would grow out of it. He didn't and was behind and it took forever just to get an evaluation (not even services, just checking to see if he even needed services). Once he got the evaluation, it was deemed he did indeed qualify and was behind enough.

When they briefly mentioned it for my 2nd child, I JUMPED on it, I wasn't going to just wait and see.

Then again, when my DD was in 1st grade the teacher asked permission to test her to see where her reading was because she was ahead & wanted to see just where she was. Apparently, lots of parents say no to such evaluations, I was surprised by that. Reading this thread I can now see why, the evaluations don't hurt and trust me if the school doesn't HAVE to give you services they aren't going to. It costs them money and once you HAVE services, they have to continue with it for as long as necessary, which will continue to cost them money.

 

[luvmyfam444]

Doesn't your state do preschool screening? In MN all 3 year olds go to a preschool screening to check for things that can hamper doing well in school, speech is just one of them. Also, our preschools have speech therapists come in and evaluate all the kids and make recommendations as appropriate. Call your school district and tell them you have concerns about your 4 year old's speech and can you get an appointment for an evaluation.

I have no idea - only lived her a few years - dd wasn't screened that I know of in 4yo preschool - but it was a church - not sure if that matters

and this DD doesn't go to preschool

 

[luvmyfam444]

I wonder why on earth then kids aren't automatically checked for their speech @ 3 by a specialist if its that important for every child to be screened? Or at least before starting kindergarten? have it a requirement just like shots...

 

[We_love_WDW]

My dd 4 was a late talker and went to speech around 22 months for a year or so..until she was within the "normal" range of words for her age. When she was in 3 yr old preschool, the teacher never mentioned anything about her speech, this year in 4 yr old preschool, the teacher suggested we have her evaluated at the school and it turns out she has a hard time with her blends and some of the sounds made in the back of the mouth - we never even thought about this because we understood everything she said. SO now she is getting 30 min of speech a week and next yr when she is in K she will start receiving speech at her new school right away. Is your dd going to k next yr? You could wait and have her evaluated at the school or ask your doc for a recommenation and your insurance should pay for a good portion of it.

 

[luvmyfam444]

The thing is we don't see (rather hear) a problem in her speech - so we weren't concerned until last week. We all understand her (dh & her sisters) my parents understand her, cousins, aunt & as far as I knew so did MIL - she talks to her & is always telling me stories of what dd said to her whlle on the phone or when they are together.

I only wondered 'cause she said something. I guess if it had come from someone else maybe I wouldn't have questioned it...but because we just don't see eye to eye on things...LOL she believes in meds for everything - we never take anything other than for a headache - if dh sneezes she tells him to get a Z pak or some other drug. (sadly, I'm NOT stretching the truth).

We're the kind that don't go to the dr often - unless truly needed. My older dd hasn't been to the dr in 4+ years (actually don't know when she went last) & my MIL thinks we're wrong for that.

 

[luvmyfam444]

Is your dd going to k next yr? You could wait and have her evaluated at the school or ask your doc for a recommenation and your insurance should pay for a good portion of it.

NO -she's not going to K next year - she has 1 more year - she's still 3 for a few more weeks

 

[We_love_WDW]

I wouldn't worry about it then...I would wait until she starts school and see if the teacher picks up on something and recommends it.

 

[MnMomtoboys]

I wouldn't worry about it then...I would wait until she starts school and see if the teacher picks up on something and recommends it.

If she has a problem now it will be much harder for them to correct it.

Voice of experience here call your school district and get her evaluated if you are at all concerned about it. The worst thing you could do for you child is to wait and see. If I listened to our stupid doctor and wait and see John would not be where he is today. I also didn't hesitate to get Bryan checked out either. He is talking just fine now and its only been 2 months but I'm so glad I checked.

 

[Sleepy]

The thing is we don't see (rather hear) a problem in her speech - so we weren't concerned until last week. We all understand her (dh & her sisters) my parents understand her, cousins, aunt & as far as I knew so did MIL - she talks to her & is always telling me stories of what dd said to her whlle on the phone or when they are together.

I only wondered 'cause she said something. I guess if it had come from someone else maybe I wouldn't have questioned it...but because we just don't see eye to eye on things...LOL she believes in meds for everything - we never take anything other than for a headache - if dh sneezes she tells him to get a Z pak or some other drug. (sadly, I'm NOT stretching the truth).

We're the kind that don't go to the dr often - unless truly needed. My older dd hasn't been to the dr in 4+ years (actually don't know when she went last) & my MIL thinks we're wrong for that.

Personally, I think getting a regular check up is important for everyone. There are things like heart murmurs, etc that the doc can detect that you can't.

Just because a person can tell you conversations your daughter has had, doesn't mean your daughter is speaking properly. Often, people listen to a child pronouncing words a certain way for so long that they pick up on what the child is actually trying to pronounce. My brother and SIL did it with my nephew. I could not understand anything. My mother could understand a bit more because she was around him more than I was. That did not change the fact that he wasn't pronouncing words properly and needed speech.

 

[golfgal]

I wonder why on earth then kids aren't automatically checked for their speech @ 3 by a specialist if its that important for every child to be screened? Or at least before starting kindergarten? have it a requirement just like shots...

Here they do check all preschoolers that go to preschool or if they have parents that call in for appointments as well as during the preschool screening they have. You can't start kindergarten here without the form from the preschool screening. Just call the elementary school your kids would attend and they will help you.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

The thing is we don't see (rather hear) a problem in her speech - so we weren't concerned until last week. We all understand her (dh & her sisters) my parents understand her, cousins, aunt & as far as I knew so did MIL - she talks to her & is always telling me stories of what dd said to her whlle on the phone or when they are together.

I only wondered 'cause she said something. I guess if it had come from someone else maybe I wouldn't have questioned it...but because we just don't see eye to eye on things...LOL she believes in meds for everything - we never take anything other than for a headache - if dh sneezes she tells him to get a Z pak or some other drug. (sadly, I'm NOT stretching the truth).

We're the kind that don't go to the dr often - unless truly needed. My older dd hasn't been to the dr in 4+ years (actually don't know when she went last) & my MIL thinks we're wrong for that.

What are you afraid of? You have to be afraid of something because you are coming up with every excuse in the book to not go have an evaluation.

A speech evaluation is free and completely non-invasive.

Somebody has mentioned a problem with your child. And since your pediatrician/family doc doesn't see your kids regularly, he/she probably has not had the opportunity to recognize .a speech impediment. Isn't it better to just go and find out for sure?

Are you afraid of what the results may be? Do you have concerns about image if your daughter would need speech therapy? Is it the stigma of having to contact the special education department? A speech problem is NOT an indicator of intelligence or any kind of developmental delay.

Waiting is not going to make the problem go away if there is a problem.


And if there is a part of speech that needs attention, once again, the earlier the intervention, the quicker and more successful the results.

 

[marcyinPA]

We're the kind that don't go to the dr often - unless truly needed. My older dd hasn't been to the dr in 4+ years (actually don't know when she went last) & my MIL thinks we're wrong for that.

Really? No well-visit checks? Wow. We don't go to the dr. often either, unless the kids are truly and visibly sick, but I do make sure they go for their well visits yearly. It's good for the dr. to build a relationship with them, and to make sure that everyone is growing properly and is up-to-date on shots, etc. I have to agree with your MIL on this one...