Speech delay for 2 and half years old

My 2 yr and 6 months old cannot say many words.She tries to imitate some words from me but its not clear.Should I consult speech therapist or any othe solution?Please advice.

20-month-old's speech delay due to hearing loss

My son is 20 months and his speech is very delayed. It is at the 6-9 month level. He is working with a speech therapist and we are scheduled to see an audiologist in several weeks. Has anyone *not* realized that their child had a hearing loss until someone convinced them to see an audiologist? I am 99.99% sure that he hears just fine but he does point to his ear all the time, and he has wax pouring out of it constantly. It seems like he wakes up when a pin drops so I doubt it is his hearing causing the speech delay. Just curious if anyone didn't realize their child had some hearing loss, or if anyone has had experience with ear wax being an issue. And if your child did have an issue with wax or fluid causing hearing loss, did your pediatrician pick up on it? Thanks! Another worried mom

They drained the ears during the surgery and there was a improvement in his speech. More important though in his case was finally being able to sleep deeply at night and not have to mouth breathe (which btw, I didn't even notice he only breathed through his mouth until I checked, then it was obvious). My son also went through periods where he produced masses of ear wax. If I were you, I'd take you son to a natural pathic type of doctor - a conventional doctor will dismiss this but in holistic medicine this is seen as a sign of something. I would also remove all casein (dairy) and see if that improves things. anon

Making my 24-mo child talk more clearly

Hello, My 24-mo child seems to be a talker, all day nonstop. However many times I do not understand half of what she is saying. I would like to hear tips on how to help her speak more clearly. What books are out there that could guide me? Happy to hear from you

''Iwangogosto''
''You want to go gosto?''
Shakes head.
''I didn't understand where you want to go. Can you say it again
more slowly?''
''I want go gocy sto.''
''Oh, you want to go to the grocery store.''

When my daughter was a baby, I had a habit of repeating everything I said to her two times, or at least repeating the key parts. ''Look at the doggie. Look at the doggie.'' ''Would you like an apple? An apple?'' I can't know for sure, of course, but I think this helped her receptive vocabulary. I dropped the habit naturally as she got older and her comprehension improved. Your child is probably beyond that stage, though Carrie

I got some handouts from the Regional Center of the East Bay about what normal language development is. They suggest encouraging any type of speech, keeping requests and sentences very simple and praising effort. Don't correct using the word no. If your child says ''doos'' for the word juice, instead of saying ''no, say JUICE'', say ''You said juice, let's get some juice.'' If you constantly correct her, she'll never figure it out. Modeling the correct pronunciation is the best thing.

Be thankful your child is talking. Enjoy it. She's right where she should be. It takes them much closer to 3 or even 4 to really start perfecting their speech. It's the journey that counts. Mom of a babbler too

22-m-o not talking, almost deaf from fluid in the ears

Hello all..
My son had a hearing test a couple of months ago and had severe fluid in both ears that made him almost deaf. After a short run of antibiotics he passed the 2nd test. The problem is that he is now 22 months old and very behind in his speech development as he couldnt hear before and lost critical time. He WAS in his ''own world'' for those months, happy to play indepedently despite all of the friends surrounding him, not answering to his name etc. There was something off, i even thought(and apparently now that things are out in the open and people are being candid) he could have some form of autism, but learned that the symptoms of someone with autism and someone that cannot hear are similiar(in own world etc) and they suggest you get hearing checked first anyway)- we thought he could be just active- but I pushed for the test, despite our overly flippant pediatricians recommendations and I'm glad I did. He is making small progress as I work with him constantly pointing out every little thing, reading to him and not letting him drift into independent play. where he doesnt have to interact.

After a month and 1/2 of waiting his speech assessment(herrick Campus) is this Thursday. I know they will recommend some kind of therapy based on his personality type to help him catch up. My question is has anyone been through this/ and or have any tips on who to go to/ things to try at home. The biggest problem is that EVERY place has a VERY long wait list. i know about East Bay regional center that helps with cost and he is on that list, although getting my son help is my top priority so I will take him to the first great place that can help regardless of the fact that our insurance is not going to cover this at all until we reach our very high deductible. It seems sad to me that people keep mentioning how early i'm catching it( really how early am I with NO words(only babbling whih started back up when he could hear again) at 22 months) so I shouldnt worry that every place has a waitlist of 2 months, mostly more..It's like they're forcing us to wait until he's so close to preschool age that he WILL be behind when it matters most and more importantly when he's old enough to really know it! Thanks in advance for any advice/support/resources you have to offer! Thanks in advance for any advice you have to offer

First of all, yes, the symptoms of autism and a hearing problem can look similar to the untrained eye, and getting a hearing test is always going to be the first step. It's GREAT that you've found a problem and were able to fix it!! One thing that can rule out autism: Does he point, with one finger, to indicate either something that he wants or something he wants you to see? He should point to something, look at it and then look at you. If the answer to this question is no, you have reason to worry. You can also test this by getting his attention, pointing to something and see what he does.

The Regional Center is required by law to respond to your inquiry within a specified number of days. You should, at the very least, get an assessment with them to learn where you stand. You can always go the private doctor route, I recommend Dr. Erica Buhrmann in Albany. By the time you read this you will have had your speech assessment and should know a little bit more. Feel free to contact me directly if you need to talk to somebody about what to do next. Jill

You should bug Regional Center, because unfortunately after he turns 3, they aren't responsible for early intervention.

In the meantime, call Loren Siegel at Happy Talkers. Besides the Dublin office, Loren has immediate openings for her Oakland office. She's worked a lot with little kids, although she has experience with older students. I'm really impressed with her because she uses a lot of tools, including PROMPT and Links to Learning. Contact info is: loren[at]happytalkers.com Betsy

~ Slow your speech and limit the amount of words that you string together when interacting when you are thinking about .

~Aim for face to face contact, where your mouth movements are very visible and big. Exaggerating the movements of your lips, tongue, and jaw will make the sounds more visually apparent and interesting ('What is mommy doing?! Hmm, I can do that!') to your little one.

~Think about introducing some simple sign language paired with words. You can find these signs on many websites if you run a Google search. Signs won't prevent speech from happening, or slow it down- they will actually accelerate it. They may also alleviate some of the frustration your little one may be feeling in attempting to communicate with you.

~Use music and other motivating play to demonstrate sound production. You might identify favorite songs, and substitute certain sounds in place of parts of the song. Combining sound play with things your child finds motivating will ensure that speech learning is fun and exciting.

~Label everything in your child's environment using your slow, deliberate voice with clear and exaggerated enunciation. Using a singsong voice might help, as well, to make the words sound more interesting.

~Offer a lot of praise (hugs, kisses, smiles, etc..) for all imitations and tries. Regular encouragement will make your child excited about trying new sounds and words.

~Use mirror play- when playing with your child, position yourselves in front of a mirror so that you can see each others' faces. This can be a great time to demonstrate sounds and get some imitations.

~Expose your toddler to a number of interesting activities like the zoo, picture books, walks in your neighborhood, etc... and use these special times as opportunities to show him sounds and words in a gentle way.

~Don't let worry consume you in regard to your toddler's speech delay. Worry might interfere with your positive and natural interactions with him. And remember that this is a 'delay', which means that your baby will eventually catch up, and faster if he receives some therapy and the right kind of interaction at home.

~Though you will also get help with therapy, it will also help a lot if you remain loving and patient, while trying to be a great teacher at home. All of these things should set the right tone for catching up to happen naturally and quickly.

I hope that this has helped. If I can answer any questions for you, please contact me. Deirdre

18 mo. Signing but Not Talking

My daughter just turned 18 mos. She started signing at 14 mos. and is up to 100 signs. She's very communicative with her signs, intonations, and babbling. She's also signing 2 word ''sentences'' to express what she's just seen and also about past events. My worry is her lack of talking. We know she's capable of speech because at 11 mos. she could say dog, downstairs, and upstairs. However, now that she's signing so much she doesn't even say dog. We also know that she doesn't have any problems hearing since she can sign what the next songs are when we're listening to CD's. We take a signing class, which happens to be taught by a speech therapist. She thinks that this is just a case of a late-talker, and she points out that I should be happier with a 100 word signing baby than a 20 word talking baby. I'm bringing this up with her pediatrician at the 18 mo. well-baby visit. However, should I push to get a referral to a speech pathologist? Should I just stop worrying as advised by our signing teacher. Please help! Betty

When to worry about 17-month-old not talking?

My son is 17 months old, and doesn't say anything -- not even 'mama' and 'dada'. He babbles constantly and I can tell that his hearing is good. I wasn't worried about the non-talking, but I just read a post in the 'Advice wanted' newsletter from a parent whose child started early intervention for not speaking at 15 months. So that made me wonder whether I should be looking into therapy for my son. I've been figuring that he's just a late blossomer and will follow his own timeline (he's a late walker too), but am I missing a crucial developmental window by not pursuing speech therapy? Don't want to be over-anxious, but don't want to be negligent

Some other things, though, that you should be concerned with at this age: Does he point, with one finger, to indicate something he wants or something he wants to show you? (An outstretched arm and finger combined with eye contact; looking at the thing and then looking at you, and then back at the thing.) Does he hand you things or bring you things from across the room? Is he able to communicate his needs and wants with grunts, yelps and hand gestures rather than words? If he doesn't do these things, in combination with not talking, then you should definitely get him evaluated by the Regional Center or by a Developmental Pediatrician. If he does, he'll most likely get to talking eventually.

Having said all that, absolutely no harm can come from getting an evaluation, anyway. When my son was that age I always said that I'd rather be labeled an overprotective, overanxious new mom than be right. Unfortunately I was right, but maybe you're just an overanxious mom! Getting an evaluation can eliminate worry, and that's absolutely fine. Feel free to contact me directly if you have more questions. Jill

We did do about three months of speech therapy before deciding it wasn't for us. I just didn't like having my relationship with him turn into a language lesson for everything. Yes, mama, MMMMM, can you make that sound? Besides, he resists being forced to do things he doesn't want to do. We changed pediatricians when he was about 28 months. We were nervous about stopping the speech therapy, so we found a pediatrician who had a different view of intervention! Our son said a number of words by that time, but he wasn't talking as his primary means of communication. By the way, he didn t say mama until he was about 22 months old. The new pediatrician said a minority of children, especially boys, learn to talk between 2 and 3.

Our son finally started really talking at 2-1/2. He still doesn't say some sounds correctly, but he has a great vocabulary, is creative with words, and talks all the time!

Some people, including the first pediatrician, argued that speech therapy couldn't hurt, so why not do it if it might help? But because we didn't see any other serious issues, we found that our relationship with our son was always better when we relaxed about his development and let him proceed at his own pace.

I think the trend to try to catch problems early has good intentions behind it, and may help autistic children, but I think it has gotten out of control and can make new parents completely neurotic about milestones if their child is one who does not fall on the early-to-normal side of the curve.

Not talking yet - 23 months

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!!!!

23-mo-old talks in her own babble language

My 23 month old daughter has been talking nonstop for months but in her ''own babble language''. She sings many songs in tune and reads to herself but in babble. Her babble does consist of phonetic english sounds. She understands everything we say. Her intonations, hand movements and facial expressions seem to be in context. She can be very passionate about what she is telling us. She does use some signs and does say a few words - “bye bye Daddy”, ''hi'', ''mine'' and ''mommy'' but does not always use them. My pediatrician suggested I take her to a speech therapist because she is talking in sentences but in babble. The therapist did an evaluation and her development is on track with some things exceeding her age but her expressive skills are behind. Overall she was not overly concerned. So we need to do exercises with her like repeating words over and over with an object next to our face so she follows our lips and mimics us but most of the time she looks at us like we are nuts and goes about her business. I feel like she is just taking her time and I am not overly concerned as children develop at their own pace. Would like to know if anyone else has had a similar situation and how you handled this. Thanks!!!! Sue

2-year-old talks a lot but is is hard to understand

does anyone know about 2 year old words developement. My daughter Hannah is still missing a lot of words from her vocab. she will be 3 in August. she talks all day, but her words are hard to understand. i'm not worried about her intelligence at all. i just wonder why she is so delayed in speech. has anyone else gone through this? thank you

Speech/Language pathologist for toddler

Does anyone have a current phone number for Martha Waegle? She is a speech/ language pathologist who was associated with Faltz and Assoc. but, according to the most recent postings, is now in private practice. The phone number in the posting is out of service. Additionally, does anyone have other recommendations for a sp/lang delayed toddler? I'd love to hear your experiences with other SLPs. Thanks a million! anon

HMO denied coverage as medically unnecessary

Our son is 19 1/2 months old, and was recently evaluated by a speech therapist at Alta Bates Herrick Campus for his speech delay. She said his receptive language is fine, but that his expressive language is at approximately a 9-11 month old age level, and she recommended speech therapy. We have been given two routes we can follow: 1) The Regional Center for the East Bay, which will provide state-funded therapy for our son, if their evaluator deems he qualifies for it (if he doesn't, then apparently they are not an option); 2) therapy through Alta Bates Herrick Campus, if our insurance will agree to cover it.

Our problem is that we have already received a letter from Alta Bates/our HMO saying that we have been denied coverage because they feel the report submitted by the therapist who did the eval of our son doesn't show that therapy is 'medically necessary'. We plan to follow the grievance/appeals process, because if the Regional Center declines to work with us and we can't get our HMO to cover us, then we would in effect be stuck in limbo.

My question after this long ramble is, Has anyone successfully appealed something like this with their HMO (specifically, trying to get coverage for something that is technically called ''developmental delay'', and therefore is not deemed a medical necessity by the insurance company)? We are with HealthNet, and have an Individual/Family plan. We want to help our son catch up as soon as possible, and help him find his words. Any advice/experience from other familes who have been through something like this is greatly appreciate! Mama of Late-Talker

We were in a similar situation with our son. He was 20 months, with still a vocabulary of maybe 3 (understandable) words, and he still did not say 'ma-ma' (which I think now was stubbornness).

Our pediatritian of course reccomended the audiology and speech evals. - which we were told by our HMO would be covered. We had the audiology test, which was just fine - absolutely no hearing problem!

Then our pediatrition wanted us to follow with the speech eval. Meanwhile, we were often told by friends, family etc. that this was not something to worry about yet, and that it was not unusual for boys to develop later speech. In some cases the brightest kids had speech delays.

Yes, I was still concerned so I did make an appointment (at Children's Hospital) for the speech eval. We were given a report that my son had moderate ''expressive language'' delay, and that therapy was reccomended.

We were also denied coverage for the therapy sessions by the HMO, due to the fact that his audiology was fine, and it was not due to an injury or other 'medical' reason. I may be wrong, but I think it is fairly common for HMO's to exclude this coverage. In the end ?....We gave it time instead of paying out of pocket, or fighting with an HMO (which would have given me more grief than the worry I had about his not saying 'ma-ma' yet.

At about 2.5 years the words finally started to come. I was home with him more, and I also finally got a MA-MA. Each day improved more and more.

Today, he is almost 3.5 and language skills are not an issue at all. He is very bright and talking just fine. I think that being home with him more, and letting him play an age appropriate computer game (the Fisher-Price Computer Learning System, http://shop.fisher-price.com)really helped him a lot.

My advise? I'm not a MD, but I would say give it a little more time. You can begin a fight with the HMO, but by the the time you win, give up, or spend lots of $$ you may find that the words start coming. Eileen

However, we did go the Regional Center route and have been extremely pleased with the help our son is getting. He's light years ahead of where he was just a few months ago, and he loves going to his appointments. It takes quite a while to get the Regional Center process completed & you have to be good about following up to push it along. But it's totally worth it.

If the Regional Center approves your son for speech therapy then you can still use Alta Bates Herrick. They paid for my son's speech there till he was 3 years old, at which point I was hoping the insurance company would pay. We now pay out of pocket.

Best of luck! mary

Consider this, maybe wait until your child is about 2 1/2 years old before dropping tons of cash on co-payments. Often times, kids DO grow out of delays. There can be other things in your child's growth that help him/her excel as a developing person... and right now, speech might not be on the top on the list.

This could be an opportunity for YOU to look into speech therapy options at home. Practicing sounds, sentence structure, over-pronunciation tecniques. These are all part of the therapy processes they do and what becomes integrated daily as you interact with your child. You could be a step ahead of the game in the long run. (Hint: LeapFrog has some great beginner phonics programs... and we think they helped our little girl a lot)

In the end, we were glad we waited a while longer. This gave us an opportunity to do some research, pick up tips, apply techniques... and in the end, we found out we were doing it right all along!

Hope this helps! And good luck! Alena

We live in El Cerrito and therefore had access to the Early Intervention Program at Cameron School in El Cerrito through the West Contra Costa Unified School District when one of our children needed speech and language services as a preschooler.

I believe that it's especially easy to get school district services before a child reaches 36 months, because the idea is to reach out to children who just might have a condition that qualifies them.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Brenda

18-month-old with expressive language delay

My son is 18 months old and is a late talker. He uses a lot of different sounds (consonants and vowels), gestures a lot, tries to echo back when we sing songs like ABC to him (comes out as ''Ah Ah AH AH''), and it's very clear that he understands what we're saying - he just doesn't use words himself. We talk to him constantly, read to him every day, all the things that we were told to try, but still there's been nothing (except for an increase in the types of sounds he makes when he babbles.) His pediatrician recommended that we have an audiologist and a speech therapist examine him, and the previous postings regarding this on the sight have been really helpful (he was referred to Herrick/Alta Bates). I'm anticipating that it may be a while before they fit us in, and I'm wanting to do things to help my son now, but haven't had much luck finding actual recommendations for exercises to try, etc. Has anyone else out there dealt with this? What sorts of things seemed to help? I am so desperate to help my little boy - he's sweet natured, and seems pretty bright and inquisitive (loves puzzles, books, figuring out how things work), but he just won't/can't talk. I'm afraid this is gonna set him back really far when it comes to being able to go to preschool, playing with others, and so on. Any words of experience or reassurance for a paranoid parent? Thank you so much. Late Talker's Concerned Mommy

I followed the wonderful advice on BPN and called the Regional Center for the East Bay http://www.rceb.org/. Took a few weeks to get an appointment but so totally worth it. Do not wait for a hearing test from Alta Bates - they had a three month wait when I tried to get an appointment. The RCEB does not require a hearing test for evaluation purposes. We had one done at Valley Audiology in Concord and as we knew all along he could hear just fine.

The RCEB evaluated my son in a fun play session and determined that he had expressive language delay but was in line or ahead in development in all other areas. We started speech therapy a few weeks later and it made all the difference in the world after only a few sessions - heck after two sessions I could tell a huge difference and he was participating in circle time. Now four months later he still has some intelligibility issues and isn't completely up to speed but the difference is amazing. I don't know what diagnosis my child falls under and it may be that it would have happened eventually but I know that contacting the RCEB is one of the best things I did. As a mom I know I'm doing everything I can to help my child, I'm not stressed about it anymore, and I'm seeing a huge difference in my son's development - and the best of all - the RCEB services are all free (we did have to pay for the private hearing test). The only regret is that I didn't start the services earlier when I first had concerns so he would be even more on track by now. They have milestones that they can tell if your 18 month old is on track - it is not too soon to have it checked out. You are not being paranoid - your child deserves to be evaluated and get what help is out there. Mom of a Late Talker

So, we did 2 things. First, we got a few Signing Time videos, which helped tremendously. She learned some basic signs like ''more'' and ''drink'' and ''cookie'' :)

Then we enrolled her, at 19 months, in a toddler program a few days a week. Being with other kids (many who were almost 2 and talking) opened the flood gates. Her language exploded. Now, at 2, she has over 300 words. It's incredible. Good luck! anon

Good luck and keep on keeping on. Don't give up on your son, because you make a HUGE difference, and he IS learning and he WILL get there. Once I read a book about a man who went blind at age 7. He said of his school career, that he was glad for his blindness because he didn't waste any time finding out who his true friends were. They were the only ones willing to make time for him and extend themselves in order to know him. I have found the same for my son as he has been in preschool.

Some teachers, parents and children are receptive to him, and others aren't. We find out pretty quickly. Then, we just go on with all that is good and keep on trying to develop those parts of his situation and development that are still challenging. I wish you all the best. Julie

18 month old who doesn't talk

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

22 month old late talker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Early intervention for 22 month-old?

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 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

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

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

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

Late-talking 2-year-old

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

Speech therapy for autistic 2-yr old

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

When to expect 15-month-old to talk?

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

2-year-old won't talk much

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

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

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

Speech pathologist for 20-month-old's lack of speech?

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.

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

19-month-old understands but doesn't say words

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