Toddlers' Speech & Talking
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Toddlers' Speech & Talking
May 2003
My pediatrician just voiced some concern over my 15 month old
son who is not saying any words yet. He does babble (mama,
dada, baba, nana, and various other hard to describe sounds),
likes to shout at his toys, seems to understand what is said to
him, uses two baby signs (more and all done), and comes to me
with his thumb in his mouth when he needs something (nurse,
eat, diaper, too hot, etc etc). He doesn't point to things or
wave bye bye despite much modeling from parents. I read to my
son every day (and he loves books), talk to him in a steady
stream, and he also has chances to interact with caregivers and
kids at daycare 3 times a week. He loves to play alone and can
do so for long stretches, and seems to prefer a quiet
environment, gets stressed when he's around a bunch of kids or
a lot of commotion. Should I be concerned? At what point is
it worrisome if a child is not speaking? What are the signs to
look for of a child who has a speech/language problem or even
an autism issue? (I have no idea if autism is even in the
picture but it is something I worry about!)
Thanks for your advice!
concerned mom
Your concerns must be so painful and frightening. Please take
some relief in that it's a very long way from what you are
talking about to even a language problem (let alone autism),
especially at 15 months. To gain more clarity, probably the
best thing is to have someone with a lot of experience with
infants see your son. But you need to be careful, as well-
meaning experts can have very different assessments when
presented with the same child, and you need to guard
against ''pathologizing.'' One of the best people to see is Brad
Berman, developmental pediatrician, of ''Progressions'' in Walnut
Creek. His name comes up here a lot. But he is usually booked
well in advance. Perhaps his office can refer you to someone he
trusts if he cannot see you in a reasonable length of time.
Hopefully others will have recommendations as well.
- been there
You can ask your pediatrician to give you a referral to have
your child evaluated and he may qualify for early intervention
(play based speech therapy). The therapy is often supplemented
with weekly coaching for parents to encourage speech. I was
worried sick when my son didn't start talking until almost 2 1/2
and I obsessed over every little thing. There are 2 good books
on late talking children that I would encourage you to read(The
Einstein Syndrome and Late Talking Children). Also realize that
children make dramatic changes during the first few years of
life. One day your child may appear a certain way (borderline
autistic for example) and then 3 months later, no signs. Or your
child may be saying nothing, then really take off a little
later. It sounds like you are doing the right thing (reading,
etc.) You're not alone..good luck!
anonymous
I can't give you really comprehensive advice, but my son only used a
very small handful of words by 14 and a half months (bah for ball, duh
for duck, maybe one or two others). No mama, no dada. No baby signs,
despite modeling. He did point to lots of things (seeming to want their
names rather than want them), but wasn't terribly keen on waving. He,
like your son, seemed to understand what was said to him, and loved
books.
He turned two this week, and talks in complete sentences: e.g . ''Daddy
come play blocks with Jeff,'' ''Mommy, I need a sharp knife,'' :-) and has
a vocabulary of hundreds of words (fragile, violin, frustrated...). His
language skills literally exploded between about 16 and 20 months. We
did find out that he had a bit of hearing difficulty due to repeated ear
infections (and retained fluid in his ear), so this might have affected
things, but he's caught up just fine.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't be concerned about your son -- just that
in one case similar to yours, it turned out there was nothing to worry
about.
Feel free to call or email me if you want to talk more.
Karen
My 28 month old is finally beginning to sound like a talker.
He is just now able to link two words together, like ''blue car''
and ''pine-apple''. He really has to think hard to do it. At 15
months I think he may have said only a few words, if any.
Talking just didn't happen swiftly for him. I take care of a
little boy his exact age and that little boy was talking at 1 year
old. He was very different than my boy though. While mine
was very active and physical, the other little boy seemed
passive and serious. I think the other boy was taking in all
the verbal stuff so he could talk so young. Now he is an
amazing talker, so it was always hard to see the difference
and wonder if anything was wrong with my boy.
I wouldn't worry if I were you. I decided to look at my son in 3
month developmental intervals and see if there was a
difference. He really lagged for a long time. I did see
differences though. And I really was paying attention
because even my husband would ask if something was
wrong with our boy.
I really am so excited that this talking is finally happening, I
was worried sometimes.
But really, I talked to alot of people about it, including his
doctor, and it really does seem to be a different story for
every baby. I have two nieces born 1 week apart. One spoke
at one year and the other didn't utter a word until 3 years old,
not kidding. Now they are both 4 years old and the late talker
talks more and pronunciates better than the early talker.
everyone is different.
anon
Hi, my 16 month old also isn't talking, except Mama, Dada, poo
poo, & uh oh, and those last two are more heavy breaths than
spoken words. At our last pediatrician visit the doctor
reassured me that most kids DON'T have 30 words at 14 months,
like my first daughter did. She told us to look for more talking
with daughter #2 at 18-20 months, and I know several kids who
weren't very verbal until age 2...don't worry too much; it sounds
like you're doing everything right!
Autism has definitive signs to look for; look it up on the web if
you're concerned. My nephew, now 4, was diagnosed at 2 1/2; he
talked normally early on, and then stopped talking. Sounds like
yours might be just a late talker.
Heidi
Your son sounds *exactly* like my 16 month old; he likes to play alone for
long periods, gets stressed out by crowds, babbles a lot but doesn't make
any sense, doesn't point or wave, etc. My pediatrician has not expressed
any concerns with his behavior; I guess every ped. has their own standards,
and we need to take it all with a little grain of salt. I think that some kids
are just much more laid back than others and as a result will do everything
on their own time. It's taken me 16 months to realize this, but eventually
he gets around to everything, just later than everybody else. All I can do is
model good behavior, keep him healthy and give him all the love in the
world, and be patient because he's got his own timeline. On the plus side,
though, he slept through the night at 3 weeks and is very very mellow and
easy; it's just in his nature, and I can't change that, which helps me to not
worry about him, especially when the other kids his age and talking and
running around already. Hope that helps.
Jill
I also have a 15 month old boy and your toddler sounds pretty
normal to me. Part of it is how you interpret the noises your
son makes. My son also says mama, dada, baba, and some other
strange sounds and I consider those words. He is using sounds to
communicate so he is saying words. Additionally, your son is
using some sign language to communicate. You might have too
narrow a definition of what speaking is for a toddler. I really
wouldn't worry if I were you.
Danielle
Given that Albert Einstein did not start talking until he was
three years old, I don't think you have too much to be concerned
about. There are many possible reasons for delayed speech, and
most are completely innocuous. I wouldn't start worrying
yet.
Peter
Kids develop at different rate. But GET A SPEECH EVALUATION NOW
anyway!!! And an evaluation by a developmental pediatrician.
(Both can be done at children's oakland -- your pediatrician can
refer you.) It may be overkill but if there is a problem, the
earlier you intervene the better! If you do get an evaluation
and there is a speech delay, you will be eligible for free
speech therapy and other services through the Regional Center of
the East Bay.
I know because a pediatrician was concerned about my son at 18
months, and we thought he was over-reacting and we were
concerned about labeling our son. When speech did not improve
as we had hoped, we finally had a speech eval at 28 months.
They said speech delay but didn't address other behaviors that
seemed a little strange (repetitive play, for one). At 34
months when we finally took him to a developmental pediatrician
he was diagnosed with autism (PDD-NOS). I don't want to scare
you -- your child may be completely fine but I do want to
encourage you to start the evaluations early. They are very
emotionally draining but from my perspective they are very
important. These professionals have seen so many kids, and as a
first time(I'm assuming) parent it's hard to know what is normal
versus not. My son starting talking within weeks of starting
speech therapy, and other areas (social) have greatly improved
with other therapies and he may even lose the diagnosis in a few
years. I only wish someone had pushed us to get him evaluated
earlier. If you need more advice feel free to contact me.
Judy
I am not a child expert at all but I thought I would write to
sympathyze. I believe my son is totally normal and at 14 months
he is pretty similar to what you describe. Although he know
about 30 baby signs, he only used about 3 to communicate
actively with us. He does point to things he wants but when I
ask him to point to the tree or the flower or things I know he
knows, he usually won't and if he does, I'm not sure its not a
random point. He also doesn't wave good-bye and LOVES books and
reading. It is one of his favorite things to do. I guess I was
a late talker and so was my husband so it doesn't occur to me to
think autism at all. Besides my son seems very curious and
explores lots and while he can play well by himself, can also be
quite social and interactive demanding attention and playing
games with us. I have just come to believe that it is partly
his legacy from us and partly he fact that he is a first and so
we pretty much cater to his needs so he hasn't felt such a need
to talk to communicate though he also babbles a ton. I don't
know if this helps at all, I will be eager to see the replies
but my gut is if you are worried, definitely check it out, and
if you aren't worried, it can't hurt to check it out but don't
let your pediatrician take away your mothering instinct that all
is well.
Mother of another babbler not talker
When I was worrying that my 19 month old son literally used no
words -- not even mama and dada, my pediatrician said I shouldn't
begin to worry about it until he was 2, especially because he was
communicating non-verbally by pointing, babbling, etc., just as
it sounds like your child is doing (maybe not pointing, but still
making his needs known). At 20 months, my son finally uttered his
first word, the next day he uttered like 5 more, and by 24
months, was speaking in full sentences. I'm told that this is a
fairly unusual pattern, but apparently it's the way I began
talking (everyone always said I didn't talk till I was two
because I was waiting till I had something important to say).
Now, of course, my problem is getting my little 4.75 yr old to
shut up. I say, don't sweat it (esp. cause he's a boy) till he's
two. If there's still no speech, then I'd talk again to the
pediatrician for further evaluation
Susan
My son was saying single words at age two but seemed way behind
his other friends (especially the girls). If his cousin hadn't
been the same I might have been more worried. Well, shortly after
turning two he began sentences and using language more to
communicate and he caught up quickly. In fact he is much more
articulate than other children his age. If you are really
concerned you could speak to your pediatrician about getting his
hearing checked. The important thing to know is that it is not
that unusual to be slower to talk. I have learned that the range
of developmental milestones for kids is much wider than you would
think. My son was slower in some things than friends and faster
in others.
Susan
March 2005
i have this question, my 18 month old daughter won't talk. i know she is smart, she
responds to me. she does simple tasks if i ask her, she waves and laughs. she
seems happy. she does have quite a temper though. she points and grunts, i
respond and we usually resolve the problem. but no words! not one. am i
responding to her pointing too fast, so she never needs to talk?
or could she have a learning problem. i've tried talking
about it with her. she looks at me then continues on her way. she is not mute by the
way. she ocassionally dedededede dadadadada etc. what should i do? does anyone
have an idea for me? i am worried now.
michelle
I would talk to your pediatrician. Our daughter seemed delayed
but our Dr. wasn't worried. She told us that our daughter was
talking, we just didn't understand her. We tried the Signing
Time videos and that helped her communicate with us. But the
thing that seemed to help the most was enrolling her in a
toddler program so that she spent a few hours every day with
other kids who were talking. Now she talks -- nonstop some
days :)
anon
Feb 1999
I would love to hear words of encouragement (or other words if
necessary) from other parents of kids who didn't start to talk "on
schedule."
My daughter is now 19 months old, and has not one consistent word that
she says. Her receptive vocabulary is great--she can point to probably
more than 50 named things--i.e. where's the bird, the sun, your nose,
Mommy, etc., and she's learning the names of colors, and even of
letters, so I know she isn't mentally retarded or anything, and her
hearing must be fine too. And she doesn't seem autistic, because she is
tremendously social and responsive. So probably it's just the way she's
growing, but for now it's become a great source of worry. Seems that
most kids say first words at around 12 months--that was a Loong time
ago.
We live overseas at present, but will be in the Berkeley area for a
couple of weeks in April. By what sort of person should we consider
having her evaluated? Psychologist? Psychometricist? Neurologist?
Speech Pathologist?
Meg
Re late talker: Talk to your pediatrician for confirmation, but I don't
think you have to worry. My son didn't use words til he was about 20
months, and then his speech was limited. But at a certain point, he
"took off," and now, at age 8, he is incredibly verbal and has a
vocabulary that puts most adults to shame! He is an only child and
seemed to be able to get whatever he wanted in early life with various
noises and squeals. In other words, we were really tuned in and just
"knew" what he wanted. Also, he's a kid who likes to watch and take
everything in before he ventures out, and this was the approach he took
to speech, too. If your child has a good passive
vocabulary and understands what people say to him, I wouldn't be
concerned.
Re: talking late. I'm sure other people will mention this, but it
is a fact that Albert Einstein did not begin speaking until he was
4 or 5 years old. And there was certainly nothing mentally deficient
about him! His parents were worried too, and consulted a doctor when
he was 3 and still hadn't said a word. But I guess he just began
talking on his own sweet time. It's even thought that this delayed
speech, when he couldn't ask about things that intrigued him, led him to
try to come up with answers on his own, which resulted in him having a
very creative mind, not so bound by conventional wisdom as many others.
Dianna
Please don't be offended by this question:
Has she been given an official hearing test? My daughter wasn't saying
anything but "mama"&"daddy" at 24 months. We were certain she could
hear, since she would do what we told her to do. I was constantly
testing her hearing myself (by sneaking up behind her, whispering, etc.)
But we got a hearing test anyway (since this is step 1 before seeing any
other specialists) and, sure enough, she had moderate hearing loss
(which was easily fixed.) In a silent room,
she could understand words just fine, but not when there was ANY
background noise. So during 7-8 hours of daycare every day, she was not
picking up any language skills. I was so mad at myself for not
realizing she couldn't hear. I wished someone had warned me. But
things have turned out fine. She had to get tubes in her ears, and
has gone to a speech therapist 8 times. She is almost 3 yrs old, and
as caught up with her classmates in expression/comprehension. Her
pronounciation is the only thing that has suffered, (she cannot make
"k","s" or "g" sounds), but this is not permanent. Good luck!
Lara
I'm not any of those -ists, but I think there's no problem here. I have
never known a kid who talked at 12 months, and would regard one who did
as remarkably precocious. In my world kids walk, not talk, at 12 months
(and some of them don't even walk, and that's okay). It sounds to me
like your daughter is doing just fine.
John
We have a 2 1/2 year old son who is a late-talker. Aside from numbers
and letters, Sam says about ten words consistently. He certainly does
not communicate verbally at the level of most of his peers. Sam tries to
compensate by opening the refrigerator and pulling out the carton of
milk when he wants to drink. This morning, he brought me the box of
Cheerios. Oddly, while he for-the-most-part does not talk, Sam is able
to count to thirteen in both English and Spanish. He is fascinated by
numbers. He can also say most of his ABCs. Still, we have been worried
for awhile. Sam's older brother
started talking well before he turned one. Our pediatrician recently
evaluated Sam and convinced us he is not autistic. She suggested we see
a speech therapist, who may be able to help get him started. (We are
concerned with his frustration level).
I want to recommend the book LATE-TALKING CHILDREN by Thomas Sowell. It
gives an anecdotal look at a group of late-talking children who may be
super-bright in math & science. Mathematician Julia Robinson, and
scientists Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and Albert Einstein were all
late talkers. I personally think 19-months is still early. Kids are
often on their own schedules. Hang in there. You may have a genius on
your hands!
Diana
NEWS FLASH: Sylvia can now talk! Yesterday she carried on an entire
conversation with one of her dolls. Here is a complete transcript:
Baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby.....
Well it's a great start anyway! And the 19+ months of wondering about
what and when her first word will be are now behind us.
Thanks to all who wrote their support to us.
Cheers, Meg
March 2002
I have a question about my son's lack of speech (he's 20 months old). Can
anyone tell me their experience in taking their young child to a speech
pathologist or an audiologist? My son has a very limited vocabulary. I
guess I am not so worried about that (I have heard countless stories about
boys who don't start talking till their 3rd birthday). But, he doesn't follow
instructions really well (i.e. give me the cup) and I am not clear how much
he understands.
He will be having a 21 month check up with his doctor soon. She said that
if his speech hasn't picked up by then that she will recommend getting his
hearing checked. But, I've also been reading about speech pathologists &
wanted to get some input on other's experiences before his check up.
Thanks.
You need to get your son to an audiologist immediately! If it turns out his
hearing is fine, then you've lost nothing, but if you don't find out now,
you will lose PRECIOUS time.
I went through all this with my daughter.She will be 4 next month and we
just found out she is hard of hearing and needs a hearing aid. At 20 months,
she was not talking or following directions, in fact, she didn't even say
MOM until she was well over 2 and then it sounded like BO.I don't want to
frighten you, but it is true that the sooner you catch a hearing problem, or
any other problem, the better. Keep in mind that if you make an appointment
now, it might take a few months to get him in to see an audiologist. By the
way, the audiology clinic at childrens hospital in oakland is superb,and
there is also a speech therapy clinic there. You can find that number on the
UCB Parents Network Website.
poncho
i would definitely get a hearing test done just to eliminate one possible
cause of speech delay. my daughter had a hearing test done at age 2 at
Children's Hospital. it was in no way a traumatic experience for her ...
they made the whole test rather fun.
my daughter had a speech delay and the best thing i ever did was to put her
in speech therapy. within six months her speech improved tremendously and
her her level of frustration in not being about to communicate her desires
dropped significantly.
if your insurance does not cover speech therapy i suggest contacting the
Regional Center of the East Bay (http://www.rceb.org/)
mom of 2 big talkers
Hi! I'm a speech pathologist responding to your request for advice. Your
child should definitely get his hearing checked as SOON as possible. If a
hearing deficit is ruled out, then I strongly recommend hooking up with a
good speech therapist in your area who works with infants. Your son will
soon be getting to an age where it may be difficult to recover from such a
late start, so it's good that you are looking into this now. Good luck to
you!
I would get a referral for both a hearing and a speech evaluation right
away. The reason to get both now is that it takes about 6 weeks to 3 months
to get into see someone. I went with the hearing test first on the doctor's
recommendation -- which I knew would be fine -- and then when it was fine,
had to wait another 8 weeks to get a speech evaluation. Then we had to wait
another 6 weeks to get a regular slot with the speech therapist and have the
insurance authorize it. You really need to be aggressive with the doctors
to make this happen based on my experience. Good luck.
I recently took my daughter to a speech therapist. She is just turning two
next week, and she saw the therapist last month so (at 23 months) she is
about the same age as your son. I got a referral from my pediatrician so
that my insurance would cover the cost of the evaluation. It took about a
month from the time of the referral till we actually got in to see the
speech therapist, at Alta Bates. The evaluation session took about 1 hour
and consisted mostly of play with different toys. The therapist would both
give my daughter instructions, to test her comprehension, as well as ask her
different questions to test her speech. A formal hearing test did not take
place during the session, although the therapist did recommend that we also
do that so she could be sure we had thoroughly evaluated all posibilities
regarding the cause of her speech delay. My daughter does speak but
probably not as many words or as clearly pronounced as her peers. At the
end of her session, the therapist discussed her findings with me, advised me
on ways that I could help my daughter with her speech development and told
me she would recommend some additional therapy sessions because she
considered my daughter on the border for her age regarding her speech
development. About a week later I got a written report outlining the things
the therapist had discussed with me. Regarding her recommendation for
additonal therapy, she said that although my daughter was on the border and
she could go either way on recommending more sessions or not, the reason
she
chose to recommend additional sessions was because she didn't want to look
back, if my daughter didn't catch up on her own, and regret that she hadn't
recommended intervention sooner rather than later. (Hope that makes sense
--
it did to me.) Anyhow, overall, I would say that the speech therapy
evaluation was beneficial and I'm glad I did it.
I had an issue with my son stuttering and repeating words from when he first
began to speak. One person I spoke to said they usually wait until after
they're three before referring children to a speech therapist. She
suggested I should work on a developmental gym program with him, which I
wasn't really able to do because we were travelling, but would have been
valuable. I finally took him to a speech therapist when he was five and she
did a lot of tests, including some that related to hearing and to cognitive
issues. It hadn't actually occurred to me that something else could have
been going on (it wasn't) but the speech therapist was very thorough in
ruling it out. It seems to me that, particularly if the problem could be
hearing, it would be important to have it checked out. In terms of
''understanding'' you MAY just be suffering from the syndrome whereby a
child is totally unable to hear or understand an order shouted at them from
three feet away, but knows all about!
the packet of corn chips being opened at the other end of the street. You
have to trust your gut feeling on the seriousness of this and many other
issues. Most likely, you have plenty of time yet to worry about this and a
lot of other things... which is parenting, right?
fiona
I would definitely recommend the Children's Hospital Speech- Language
Center. It is a wonderful group, and we were lucky enough to work with Gage
Herman for a number of years. She is an inspiration, gifted in working and
communicating with toddlers, and has great rapport with parents. You
couldn't find a better resource. She is in demand, and it might be tough
getting in to see her. Try. Maybe your pediatrician is able to help with a
referral.
We had evaluations done at Herrick at some point and saw Angela Korpela.
She was impressive as well. I think you'll be satisfied at either facility.
Good luck.
Gale
I suggested bringing your toddler in for a hearing test ASAP because the
most recent research suggests the earlier children are identified with
hearing problems the quicker they get aid that significantly helps their
speech and language development. At the same time more than one study has
indicated that the older the child at time of diagnosis, the less positive
the outcome. If a child is developing speech slowly because of hearing
difficulties during an age range when other children are rapidly progressing
(24-30 months) that child will keep falling farther behind.
The test is quick, easy, and painless though I found it took a while to
SCHEDULE the appt. If there isn't a problem at least you have something
less to worry about in this great parenting adventure we are all on.
Luckily I have a great pediatrician (Dr. Charles-Mo) who fully trusted my
instincts and gave me referrals. My daughter didn't have a hearing problem
but MUCH needed speech therapy.
Because of strange insurance reasons we had the hearing test done at
Children's Hospital and the Speech Therapy at Herrick. Each experience was
great.
Mom of 2 big talkers now
Your doctor probably is just being cautious, after all who says ALL kids
start talking before their 2nd birthday? It's hard to say what is
''normal''. It sounds reasonable to wait until he's 2, but listen to your
instincts.Really, go ahead and make all the necessary appointments right now
for soon after his 2nd birthday, that way you will be one step ahead. And
then if he starts talking, you can just cancel. I only know about Children's
Hospital, and I thought they were great. I don't think you'd go wrong with
choosing them.
If you need someone to talk to about this,feel free to email me.
Rachelle
Don't wait! Early intervention is important, whether it's a hearing problem
or other sort of speech delay. I'm the mom of a speech-delayed toddler. He
had his hearing tested at Children's at around 20 mos. (it was normal), and
then we did a speech eval at Alta Bates - Herrick Campus. Now he's been in
speech therapy at Herrick for about seven months, and he has gone from 3
words at age two to more than 120 currently. Early intervention has made a
big difference.
Sarah in Oakland
Feb 2004
Hello,
We are the parents of an adopted boy from Taiwan. He is 22 months
old, and is about four-to-six months behind on his speech
development, with a vocabulary of only about 25 words. Our
pediatrician said at his 18-month exam that we shouldn't be too
concerned about this until he is two years old. If he hasn't
shown significant progress by that time, we would discuss what
should be done. However, we're becoming more concerned by the day
about his slow development, and it is difficult to ''let things
happen'' when there may be something inhibiting him that we could
correct.
I have heard from others about Early Intervention for Speech and
wondered if a) anyone had some experience similar to ours, b)
could explain a bit about E.I., and c) can point us to other
resources in the East Bay (Walnut Creek) area.
We have tried many techniques to encourage his development, and
although he seems to be gaining words at a faster pace in the
last month than previous months (two or three per week), it still
seems very slow. His pronunciation is more grunt-ish, but his
hearing is normal and he picks up on inflection and syllabic
emphasis. His communication input is above average and he
understands all of what we say, but his verbal output is limited
and most of the verbal utterances are unclear to us which
frustrates him.
Any recommendations would help!!!
Thanks!!
Kevin
i just wanted to say that my son did not say his 1st word until
age 18mo. and it was slow going after that. he is now one of
the smartest kids in his kindergarten. i, too, was worried and
had his hearing checked. he was exposed to multiple languages
during his first few years and maybe that had something to do
with it. anyways, your son could be normal.
anon
I think it's too early for you to worry so much. There is an
enormous variation in speech development in toddlers - to only
know 25 words or even less by 22 months is by no means unusual.
My own sister had a very limited vocabulary until about 3, when
she suddenly started speaking in full sentences (and she's now,
at 19, an incredibly eloquent young woman).
anon
Hello:
I would like to suggest that you have your child evaluated by a
speech and language pathologist. A wait and see approach
frequently works, but an eval by a specialist couldn't hurt.
I know that Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland has
a speech and language department and does evaluations. I also
believe that they have a speech and language clinic in Walnut
Creek. I'm sure that there are other good resources out there
as well.
Best of Luck!
Michelle
You need to call the Regional Center of the East Bay (RCEB). (If
you can't find the number in the phone book, email me.) I was
in the exact same position that you are in. I knew that my son
had some issues with speech, but listened to my pediatrician who
said to wait to see how he developed. My mistake. Your
pediatrician is NOT an expert on speech!! I wish I had called
RCEB as soon as I felt there was an issue.
The Regional Center will assess your child & provide speech and
occupational therapy at no fee till your child turns 3. At 3,
the school district will do another assessment & provide
assistance (again at no fee) if required.
RCEB & the school district have been life savers. They
identified issues with my son & the services they have provided
are top notch. I live in Danville and my son is currently in a
special preschool that provides both speech and OT.
Do not wait. Hopefully there is no problem, but if there is,
the sooner you identify it, the better!
rosalind
For free assessment and possibly information about Early
Intervention, if you live in the Mt. Diablo School District you
can call the Mt. Diablo School District's Preschool Assessment
Center at 925 825-0144 to see about a language asessment. I
believe that if you are outside the Mt.Diablo School District,
you can get assessment and services through the CC County
office of Special Education, 925 942-3376. Hope this is of some
help to you. Best wishes.
Mimi
My daughter is two years old and also has a speech delay, so I
totally understand what you are going through. We were told the
same thing by our pediatrician (not to do anything until she was
two), but decided to go ahead with speech therapy when she was
21 months old. We figured -- no harm, no foul. It's been
great. The speech therapist comes to our house once a week, and
my daughter loves playing with her. We've definitely seen an
improvement in her language skills. We used the Regional Center
of the East Bay, which is a state agency. California provides
free intervention for children with delays like this, and RCEB
administers the program in our area. The program has been
great. You should really check it out, because it's free, it's
high quality and it's well run. I don't have the contact
information at my fingertips, but I'm sure you can find it on
Google. Good luck.
Anon
Hi,
I'll be interested to see what other people have to say on this
topic.
Our son was adopted from Guatemala and is now 20 months old. He
only has 2 words, but uses some signs. Our pediatrician has told
us that we shouldn't be worried about speech at this point,
unless there is no progression.
Our son has good comprehension and can follow directions (when he
wants to!), and is babbling more than he used to. So, we are
seeing improvement.
He told us that boys often learn to speak at a later age than
their female peers, and that there is a huge variety of rates at
which they can develop.
Perhaps you should just keep helping him along, and be patient
for the rest...
Good luck!
anon
We have a similar situation. Our son is now 2 1/2 and has been
participating in an early intervention program since he was 18
mos. The program we are in is called Early Start (phone: 925-
743-9710) and we have been very pleased with the progress that
our son has made. Mary Hayward is the director of the program.
They are located in Alamo, but I think they serve the whole area
from San Ramon to WC to Lamorinda. If you call, they will send
a speech pathologist to your home to perform an evaluation and
tailor a program for you if you qualify for services. They have
both speech pathologists and occupational therapists on staff.
Once your child is 3 years old, services are provided through
the school district. (We are in the Lafayette school district,
but I'm sure that WC has resources as well.) Early Start will
coordinate the transition for you. The primary alternative to
Early Start, I believe, is Regional Center. We did not
investigate this since we were happy with Early Start.
The other thing I would encourage you to do is to ask your
pediatrician to arrange for a hearing test at Children's
Hospital Oakland or some other facility that performs an
equivalent evaluation. Our pediatrician also told us when we
had concerns at 18 mos. to wait until he was 2 years old. In
the interim, we started our son at Early Start, but when he was
2, the pediatrician ordered full hearing and speech screening
tests. We had never suspected a hearing problem, but it turned
out that our son had hearing loss due to persistent fluid in his
middle ears. In October, he had tubes put in and that fully
corrected the hearing loss. He has made remarkable progress
since then! We also had a full speech and language evaluation
done at Children's, and the speech pathologist at Early Start
has tailored a program for our son based on those
recommendations.
It's great that you are being proactive about your son's needs -
good luck to you!
Lisa
I have a son with a speech delay and had him evaluated and
signed up for speech therapy when he was 2.5 yrs. I wish I would
have moved on it a little sooner. If your son is 22 months and
hasn't shown significant improvement I would go back to the Dr
and ask for a speech evaluation referral. The tests are
administered by a speech therapist and are pointing to pictures,
repeating words and sentences, naming objects. The evaluators
are usually pretty good at working with that age. The other
thing you can do is request the school district do a speech
evaluation on him. I'm not familiar with W.C. preschool, but you
should be able to get a speech evaluation and therapy for him at
no cost to you. He may have to be 2 yrs old though. If you go
through the school district make sure they do it before summer.
You should have the permission to assess forms signed by mid
April so they have time to do the evaluation and meet with you
to report on the results and recommendations before the school
year ends. Otherwise you'll be waiting until well into Sept.
Since school districts are so slow and overloaded I got a speech
eval through Herrick Hospital who has an early intervention
program. I took the results from Herrick to the school district
and got speech therapy through the school district. You guys are
right on track with your not wanting to wait. If you wait your
son's frustration just increases. I found with my son his
cognition developed faster than his language and he grew very
frustrated. He had lots of ideas, but couldn't find the words to
express them. His behaviors were hard to deal with. There is a
lot of evidence that early intervention is effective and
worthwhile. Whatever route you pursue don't let the dr., speech
therapist or school district put you off. They are all guilty of
that wait and see approach- push them if you have to. You know
your son and what's best for him.
glenda
Kevin,
We have a child on the autistic spectrum and he has speech
delays. We started by getting a speech evaluation at Alta Bates
and an evaluation through the Regional Center of the East Bay
925/798-3001. It can take a few weeks to get an appointment and
you will need to do an intake call (takes a few minutes). They
will direct you from there. Early intervention services are
availble until age three and then you are transferred to the
school district. I suggest you call as soon as possible to get
started.
We work with the Speech Pathology Group on a private basis in
Walnut Creek. They contract with RCEB as well, so you may be
able to use them through RCEB if/when you qualify. They are
great.
Hope this helps get you started. Please email me if I can assist
you with anything. It is great you are working so quickly to
help your son, good luck.
Shannon
Jan 2005
My son will turn 2 next month and I'd like to get some input on
late talking from other parents. He only speaks about 5 words,
and does not use them frequently. He does not combine words
into 2 word phrases yet either. He generally seems to have
little interest in learning to talk. He babbles with the
correct intonation (asking a question, counting, etc.), and
although I will get his hearing checked I do not think his
hearing is impaired.
Otherwise he has met all other developmental milestones, has an
unusually long attention span, understands MANY words and
phrases, can point out pictures of things in a book, etc. He
is also very observant and notices small detail, we often get
comments on this ability even from strangers. He is a little
on the shy/cautious side but I would not say he is withdrawn or
anti-social.
We taught him sign language starting at about 6 months and at
this point he uses them all the time, even inventing signs of
his own. He will now sign the word (if he knows the sign)
instead of saying it verbally if you ask him to try. Sometimes
he can get quite inventive trying to express himself this way,
and will link 2 or 3 signs in a row to make a ''phrase''. When
he was an infant I read that teaching them signs does not delay
their speech, but now it is obvious he greatly prefers signing
to verbal speech. When we noticed this happening months ago, I
have been trying to encourage him to speak instead of sign, but
usually to no success.
His 2 year checkup is coming up next month and we will discuss
this with his pediatrician. I intend on getting a
recommendation to a specialist, just to be on the safe side. I
had not been particularly concerned until it dawned on me his
birthday is coming up and he still has had such little
development speaking. Any advice from parents who have been in
a similar situation?
anon
Hello,
I've heard that it isn't unusual for children, especially boys,
to start talking between the ages of 2 and 3. My son, who also
knew sign language early in life, didn't talk at all until two
days after his 2nd birthday. Now he's almost three and is a
skilled speaker, with a huge vocabulary and excellent grammar. I
remember being worried when our 20 and 22 month old friends could
speak and my same age son could not, but now that he does talk, I
realize that he needed to start using words to communicate when
he was ready, and that the timing isn't so important. Good luck!
Grace
Your post sounds so similar to what happened with a friend of
mine. Her daughter was 22 months old, not talking, but
interested in language and understanding a lot. Her peditrician
and friends were saying not to worry as kids just start talking
at different times, but she felt in her gut that something was
up and that her daughter did want to communicate, but somehow
couldn't. They went to all sorts of specialists to rule out
hearing problems, etc., with no results. Someone suggested
going to an osteopath--she took her daughter to Dr. Thersa Hong
in San Francisco (on Polk--she's GREAT), and she completely
reversed the situation. Her daughter said 15 words after the
first session. Turns out that the daughter was delivered c-
section, which is a problem for some kids as their heads are
not compressed in the birth canal. Apparently this may cause
later issues in the shape of the back of the mouth, throat,
etc. Her daughters mouth wouldn't open as far as ''normal''--she
literally couldn't use her mouth to form words. (my friend had
felt that it was more difficult to get her to open her mouth to
brush teeth than it was with their other child.) The osteopath
was able to painless and gently rework that area to open it,
and the words just started flowing out. It has been about a
year and she is one of the most talkative kids I know now. The
change was dramatic. Just a thought in case your son was c-
section.
nancy
Hi. My son is also 22 months old and says maybe 4 consistant
words. He is my second baby, my first was using full sentences
at 1 year. I have been surprised by my second son's non-
verbalness but I noticed that he understands everything I, his
brother, my husband and other people say to him. I've just
chalked it up to the individual differences between all
children. He has his own way of communicating and most of it
is physical, if he want's my attention he'll put his hand on my
cheek and turn my head so I'm looking directly at him, he'll
take my had at other time to show me exactly what he wants, and
he has his own words for certain things like food (um) and
water (wadee). If your child can communicate his needs and
desires to you then I don't think you need to worry, he'll talk
in his own time. I feel like my son has a good grasp of
language he just prefers not to use it!
Amber
I can't address the issue of signing delaying speach, because
we did not teach our son sign language. However, our son had
only about 3 words when he arrived at his 2 year check-up. A
number of his friends had many more words. His pediatrician did
not make any issue of the lack of language, though she did ask
me if he understood what I said (which he did completely).
Within 2 months he was talking up a storm. Now at 4 1/2 he is
much more articulate than most children his age. Many people
comment on his vocabulary. My assessment of his situation is
that we never talked baby-talk to him. We always spoke to him
like we were speaking to an adult. I think, because our verbal
interactions were more complex, he needed more time to be able
to form conversational speach. Perhaps I'm wrong about this
part, but we knew him to be smart (based on his actions) and we
knew his hearing was OK and that he understood most of what we
said and could follow sometimes complex instructions. So we
were willing to be patient and he is fine.
Wishing you and your son the best.
Karen
I could have written your message a few months ago. I was
concerned with my son too when he was around 20 months and could
only say a few words. I scoured the BPN for previous advise and
recommendations, but I was still not satisfied. I finally made an
appointment to see an audiologist to test his hearing. I was not
concerned about it because I knew he could hear, but went ahead
anyway just for my own piece of mind. On top of that, I had also
made an appointment with a speech pathologist. (Exceptional Tots:
check out your district for the free service). My son I found
out may have delayed speech due to the fact that he was raised in
a bilingual environment for the first two years of his life. And
was told that he may actually know more words than he can say.
Also, the fact that my son's heartbeat stopped during labor and
found cord wrapped around his neck was a factor as well.
During the course (about an hour) of his evaluation, the
therapist was able to teach him to say a few words showing him to
mimic her using a big mirror. We were amazed. I'm using the
technic to help my son pronounce letters and words.
As soon as my son turned 2 we put him in daycare thinking that
being surrounded with other kids may help him. It did. In three
months he was able to recognize and read the alphabets and can
count up to ten and can say two word sentences now.
Good luck to you. I know you will do the right thing for your
child and I am hopeful your child will catch up.
Hopeful Mom
My experience with my 3 1/2 son was the same, and continues to
be the same. he has about 50 words and barely put 2-3 words
together, i was told ''dont worry boys tend to speak later than
girls, (dont fall for that advice) get your doctor to refer you
to a regional center were they can refer you to a speech
therapist and pay for your sessions once a week for an hour,
until he turns 3. If he makes no progress the school district
will then continue to provide him w/ speech therapy. If you
can afford to take him to a speech therapist do it. best of luck!
claudia
Don't worry just yet. My nephew, now 28 mos, didn't talk any
more than your son until his 2-year birthday. And, similarly,
he recognized oral commands and knew what things were. He
didn't know sign language, but he has 3 older siblings. We
surmised that maybe he wasn't talking because he didn't ''need''
to, because everyone could usually interpret his actions and
babble. Then, one day, quite all of a sudden, right around his
2nd birthday, he started using more words. Within a few weeks,
he was making short sentences. Now he talks like a typical two-
and-a-half year old.
I also sign to my 16 mo. old daughter--she produces many signs
but also says a few words, which seems in step with normal
expections for this age, so I see no evidence of signing
inhibiting speech. I wouldn't worry--he will eventually
realize that the rest of the world communicates orally, and he
will want to join in. Best wishes.
fellow signer
My three year old daughter was not much of a talker at 22 mos. I
wasn't too concerned about it and knew we were comparing her to
my older daughter who was very verbal. Also, the words my 3yo
said were very hard to understand. Both the pediatrician and I
were in a wait-and-see mode. But my husband wasn't. He wanted to
do something. So we ended up getting a hearing audigram. Turns
out she had a hearing loss due to fluid accumulation in her ears
(she had not had infections) so she had surgery to correct this
problem, has normal hearing now and just started speech therapy
to work on her articulation issues. She talks a ton but is hard
to understand.
I guess my advice therefore if you are concerned is to get
something noninvasive done like an audiogram for starters. I
would have been willing to wait until she was more like three,
but in hindsight, that would not have been the best decision and
she'd be even further behind I suspect. On the other hand, I
heard tons of stories about late starting talkers who turned out
just fine w/o intervention! Talk with your pediatrician about it
and stay in touch with them about it too. Good luck.
Hilary
I know where you're coming from regarding your near-two-year-old boy not being
verbal yet. I was in the same position a little over a year ago with my boy, who was
then 21 months. At his playgroup and babygym class, it seemed so many of the
children about his age were talking a blue streak, and my son was not. It is soo easy
(and natural, really) to compare your child with others regarding development. I
found myself very concerned, as you do, that something might be preventing my
son from talking. Well, it turns out that he started talking a BLUE STREAK a month or
so after my worries were at their height. Other moms had told me that it all happens
quickly, and it sure did. Now he is considered to be very verbally advanced.
The fact that your son communicates so well in ASL is wonderful, and I wouldn't
worry about it hindering his verbal ability. If anything, he'll just be even more well
rounded when he does begin talking. Please try not to put yourself into a situation
of worrying excessively about his speech development. Remember that every child
has their pace.
By the way, my uncle, a gifted geology professor, hardly spoke AT ALL until he was
almost three. When he did speak, it was in full, eloquent sentence.
---mama of articulate boy
Your child may be on the normal curve for typical kids, but DO get his hearing
checked out and do speak to your pediatrician as well. My kid has special needs and
was a late talker. She learned sign language and if she hadn't, I think she never
would have learned to talk. It absolutely was the bridge to expressive verbal
communication for her. We kept signing, we signed and spoke, we never quit
believing she would talk if she could, and she did. She was 5 when she really started
to talk and she talks wonderfully now. (She's 8.) Along the way, LOTS of people told
me about their kids who started to talk late, some almost as late as my kid and
these kids landed up being totally typical kids in every other way with no special
needs. If your kid is in that group, then it's a good thing he has sign language to
help avoid the frustration of not being verbal yet! Hang in there and try not to
worry too much. Your son sounds like a bright, communicative kid who has found
an effective and creative way to express himself for now.
Keep signing!
My now 4 year old boy did not talk until he was 2 1/2. Yes, he
said a few words. He also knew sign and that helped. I did
not and do not think it is a problem. My son was always only
interested in the phsysical aspects of life. He walked at 9
months. The only problem i found with it was that due to his
lack of verbal skills, he became frustrated often and would
be physical, bite, when he was frustrated.
When he did talk at 2 1/2 it was fine. He started slow and
just kept going. I had a neice who didnt speak until she was
3 years, and when she did you'd have thougth she had been
talking allalong.
Do not worry is my advice. Dont' get pulled into the ''normal''
world. Every kid is different.
I am glad today that I did not freak out about my son. I am
not saying you are freaking out either. I probably asked for
advice about it here too. Just enjoy your child.
yancy
Contact your local elementary school district and ask who
handles the ''Birth to 3'' early intervention program. Your
school district offers all kinds of speech, behavioral and
occupational therapy, but only for children 3 and up. However,
since 1995 a federal mandate requires these same services be
offered to younger children UP TO age 3 (possibly state or
county funded). It may not be in your city, but it will be
somewhere nearby.
I live in Lamorinda, and my son started speech therapy at age 2
1/2 at a school in Alamo. That program was affiliated with the
San Ramon Valley Unified School District but covered several
other districts/municipalities. When he turned 3 we transferred
to our local elementary school. He just turned 4 and continues
to receive speech therapy in a preschool-like environment. Best
thing we ever did for him.
Anyway, when you request an evaluation for your son, someone
will likely come to your home (so it's not a scary clinical or
medical setting) and observe his communication skills, both
receptive and expressive, as well as lots of other things. They
will then recommend speech therapy if needed. Did I mention
that this doesn't cost you anything? Yes, it's *free*. Well, I
suppose it comes out of tax dollars, but costs nothing out of
pocket. Call today! Good luck!
kathi
I'm sure your pediatrician will tell you this, but the first
place to start with a possible speech delay is to get his hearing
checked, and then go from there.
good luck
My daughter also took only very short naps when she was that
age. She would often sleep only 30-40 minutes at a time. As
she has gotten older, she has begun to take longer naps and at
10 months she now often naps an hour and a half at a time. She
is generally not a great sleeper, and never has been, but is so
easy going during her considerable awake time that I have just
always figured that she is getting all of the sleep that she
needs. If your baby seems really tired then maybe you should
investigate some causes of his short naps (too hot/cold, wet,
hungry, too much noise etc.) but if he seems generally happy
then he is probably sleeping just like he needs to and I
wouldn't worry.
Annie
April 2007
Hello everybody, I am concerned about my little boy..he is going
to be 2 years old on May, and he is not talking yet..he is just
using a few words ( duck, dog, dad, momma) but nothing else..
the doctor keep pushing us about this. but we are doing
everything we can to help him...rigth now he is going to child
care (pre-school) to see if he imitate from the other kids
because at home he is our only child..
any advice????please...some times i feel like i,m not doing a
good job as a mom..
thank you
worried mom!!!!
You should contact Early Intervention. this is a county by
county agency that will provide you with a speech therapist that
will come to your home and work with your little one. speech
delays are common, and usually pretty workable, but the sooner
you get your little one some help, the better off he'll be.
You can reach early intervention by calling your local
school and asking them, or google it on your computer with the
name of your county.
margaret
We had the same concern. Our Pediatrician reccomended speech
therapy and we took it. (as well as hearing tests) Not to be
irreverent, but, it was like dog training where it is about
training the parent not so much the dog, ooops! Child!!!
It was very soothing to know for medically proven sure that he
was OK and to learn how to help him get verbal skills.
Quit worrying and just do what ever it takes.
Call your child's local regional center or school district for a
referral to the regional center and get your child's language
evaluated. You have nothing to lose. Services are free before
the age of three and the earlier you act the better if there is
a delay. If nothing is wrong, you lose nothing but a few
hours. Good luck!
Sam
Some kids are just “late bloomers,” and they start talking
without any special help. Others have language learning
disorders, and it’s best to get help as soon as possible. In
either case, it would not be a reflection on your parenting.
You’re clearly worried, so why not find out if he could use some
speech language therapy to help him catch up (at his age, the
''therapy'' would be play-based and should be fun for him). When
children are late to start talking, it’s always a good idea to
get their hearing checked too. You can talk to his pediatrician
about getting referrals for both a hearing assessment and a
speech language evaluation. A speech language pathologist would
also be able to give you some specific ideas for ways boost his
language development at home (not because you’ve been doing
anything wrong, but because your son has not been picking up
language skills as quickly as other kids do from regular
interactions).
Here’s a website with some easy activities you could try right away:
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Parent-Stim-Activities.htm
An SLP and mom
Our now 6 year old started at 29 months. He hasn't stopped yet (ever???) and is even
a
great ''discussion leader'' in kindergarten.
Give it time.
Since your child is not talking and is now 23 months old, I would suggest that you
have
him evaluated by a speech therapist. You can do that privately or you can go through
the Regional Center of the East Bay (510-383-1200) which may take some time but it
is at no cost to you. Try to get the help now so that he does not get frustrated.
good luck. Been there.
anonymous
March 2004
My 24-month old son seems completely uninterested in talking. He
makes all kinds of sounds, babbles, says ''mamma'' and ''babba''
(for daddy) and occassionally we think we hear some words in the
midst of the babble. But he doesnt seem to comprehend much, or
chooses not to respond (hard to tell which), and doesn't mimic
words (although he does mimic raspberries and other sounds that
he finds amusing). When he wants something, he'll grab our
hands and pull us to the fridge, or to the playroom, or
outside. He's very good at non-verbal communication. He can
hear fine -- he comes running when we put on a Teletubbies or
Thomas the Tank video. He can happily entertain himself and is
very independent. His play seems normal -- he puts his dolly to
bed, pushes her around in the play stroller, drives cars in and
out of the ''gas station'', throws balls, builds with blocks and
lego, loves picture books, but he isn't much into interactive
play or having me read aloud to him. But he does love to be
chased, play hide & seek, peek-a-boo, bounce on the bed
together, and he is very affectionate. He is also very curious
and an excellent climber -- no problem with gross motor skills --
he gets into everything! He is with his grandmother most of
the day, 4 days/week, who speaks Farsi with him, but doesn't get
much interaction with kids his own age. We speak a mix of Farsi
& English at home. He has an older brother (4.5yrs) who is very
verbal and bilingual. We've got an audiology appointment at
Kaiser set up in 2 wks and a speech assessment at the Regional
Center at the end of April. He'll be going to preschool in Sept.
Has anyone else had this experience? Can you recommend speech
therapists? Should I be trying to get an assessment from a
neurologist too? What are the things to be looking for to
determine if it's just a delay in speech or a more serious
disorder? I've read The Einstein Syndrome, but it seems pretty
flaky and gives false security that everything's OK. I'm
currently reading ''The Late Talker'' by Marilyn Agin which is
making me more concerned. Any advice is appreciated.
Mary
My daughter had the same problem and she is also a bilingual kid. (
Japanese-
English). I can talk about it if you are interested in. Please emal me
and I can send
my phone number.
Rie
My now 6 year old son was also a late talker. He barely said
two words when he started preschool at age 2. Like your child,
he spent his days with a non-English speaker, and he has an
older talkative brother who took joy in speaking for his little
brother. Within a few months of preschool, however, he began to
talk and quickly caught up to his peers. NOthing like a little
peer pressure and battles over toys to motivate a little one to
talk. My 6 year old is now incredibly verbal with a great
vocabulary and no speech impediments. I hope you have the same
outcome.
Supportive Mom
Oct 2003
Hello there,
My two-year old does not use words and was diagnosed a couple
weeks ago with an autism-spectrum disorder. I am now trying to
decide whether to put him in therapy at the Children's Hospital
Autism Intervention (CHAI) program in Oakland, or at Alta Bates'
Small Voices program. Might anyone have any advice/ experience
with either of these organizations? Or perhaps any other
recommendations for toddlers with special needs (or for their
parents!)?
Thanks so much for your help!
Aileen
My son is now 4 and went through the CHO PIP program when the
CHAI program was just being set up. He is not on the A.Spectrum
so I can't speak to that part of your question. However, I also
looked at the Small Voice program and felt that I needed the
family support group that PIP provided and Small Voice did not
have. (Don't know if CHAI has this.) Looking back I think my son
would have benefitted from either program and the quality of the
therapy/intervention, but our choice was based on the best fit
at the time. We still see many of the Herrick therapists
privately even though my son was in Early Intervention through
CHO. I wish you much luck and strength during this journey.
Anon.
Jan 2003
My daughter was 2 years old but she do not speak anything else
except 3 words: ''Papa'', ''Mama'', & ''Byebye''. Whenever she want do
something or go somewhere, she just pointing with her finger and
saying ''Papa'' or ''Mama''. Whatever we teach her to say, she just
do not want to learn. Suggested by her doctor, we had her
hearing checked and it's no problem. Is there anything else we
can do?
Carson
A couple of different things you might try. The first is to just become
slower and slower to do what she wants when she asks with the
pointing method -- or even stop. I'm not suggesting don't feed her, but if
she's after a toy, just tell her you don't know what she wants, and ask her
to tell you with words. If her comprehension's on target, she'll know what
you mean.
Another possibility is to try ''baby sign language''. This method is often
suggested to help younger kids (around a year old) learn to talk before
they have the physical ability to enunciate -- but it might work with a
slightly older child. There is a book called Baby Signs (available in the
Oakland Public Library) that explains the extremely simple method.
Karen
A good friend of mine didn't talk at all until she was three
years old. She is brilliant. I hope that helps!
anon
It doesn't sound so unusual that a 2-year-old has only a handful
of words. I wouldn't worry about it.
Mom of 3
If your toddler is learning/ being spoken to in more than one
language, this is totally normal, as long as she communicates in
other ways. Even if she is not learning more than one language,
some take longer. It sounds like she is trying to tell you what
she wants, needs, sees... just not with words yet. Ask your
pediatrician if a Speech and language evaluation should be
considered.
Lisa
Start right away making appointments to have your daughter
evaluated for a speech delay, as the waiting lists are often
quite long. You can refer yourself to the Regional Center of
the East Bay, 383-1200, a government agency with friendly
people who will set up an assessment for you. Alternately, a
developmental pediatrician, such as Veronica Daly at
Children's Hospital, can also do an assessment. Call the
intake coordinator, Dee O'Hara, at 428-3351 x4353.
We took our son to Dr. Daly first, then became a Regional
Center client, and my son was able to go to a fantastic
early-intervention preschool and get speech therapy on the
government's dime.
If you feel lost in the maze, e-mail me or call the nice staffers
at the Family Resource Network (in the Bananas office),
547-7322.
Sarah
I remember a story I heard (YEARS ago) about a neighbor's daughter,
who didn't speak at all until she was 4 years old. When she did begin
speaking, to everyone's amazement, it was in complete sentences. Also,
as another poster said about her friend being brilliant, so was my
neighbor's daughter.
Joan
I son is almost 3 and has been in speech therapy for about 8
months. When he turned 2 I ask his doctor about his lack of
speech and he refered me to the Early Start Program. The phone
number is 1-800-6infant. I suggest you call right away! My son
also only said about 2 or 3 words at 2. The Early Start Program
has been wonderful, my sons gets 3 hours a week of therapy and
the cost is covered by the state. They will do a complete
evaulation on her and check for any other problems with her
development. Again, I suggest you call right away to get
started for your daughers sake. Good luck!
dana
I had the same problem with my daughter at the same age. And
EVERYONE had a story about how Einstein didn't talk till he was 4. The
most valuable advice I got was to pay attention to my gut. I knew
something was wrong. First, I went through the school system. BIG
MISTAKE. She was in speech therapy for more than a year with no
noticeable improvement although the school system kept saying she
was doing great. Finally, someone said call Faltz Associates in Oakland.
They are expensive ($90/hour and insurance probably won't cover it),
but worth it. They were right. My daughter started speech therapy there
last January at age 4 1/2. At that time her speech was incomprehensible
to me, by summer her speech was so good that we knew she could
move on to kindergarten in the Fall. By the Fall her speech was even
better. So much better that her kindergarten teacher was stunned to find
out she had any speech disability. I must admit even I can hardly tell
anymore. And she talks non-stop like any 5-year old and it just delights
me. She barely spoke at all till 8 months ago. Your child could just be a
slow developer, or they could have a disability. There is no way to know
at that age, but if they have a disability they will not improve without
intervention. You are obviously concerned. Pay attention to your
instincts. if nothing else an evaluation by Faltz will put your mind at rest,
but if it is a speech disability they will help.
A Mom
Our 2 year old girl hardly said a word until after her 2nd
birthday. She had developed her own sign language that she used
to communicate quite effectively with us. She seemed quite
normal in every way. A month after her 2nd birthday, she started
to talk and within a another month or so was talking as well as
any other toddler that age. I wouldn't worry about it yet--they
all develop so differently. And, frankly, all this ''speech
therapy'' for 2-year olds sounds like a big scam to me.
-another mom
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