Does my son have a speech problem?

[Belia]

DS is 25.5 months old.

He didn't start to speak until he was about 22 months. Even now, he only has about a dozen words.

He goes to a Montessori school FT for daycare, and whenever I would talk to the teachers last year they always told me not to worry and that it would come.

This year his teachers are a lot more concerned (in their gentle, Montessori way.) I don't know if its because these teachers have a different style, or if its because DS is truly lagging significantly behind. I'm always the first parent in the class to pick up their kid, and DS does speak much, much less than the others.

His teachers suggested that I have his hearing tested, and that appointment is Monday.

DS's receptive hearing is very good- he can follow specific directions and appears to understand EVERYTHING. I talk to him all the time and I know they work on it a lot at school.

Do any of you wise mamas have any insight?

[APToddlerMama]

That is great that you're getting his hearing tested. My son is in speech therapy and I also used to work in Early Intervention. Typically in our area the speech therapists like to see at least 50 words by 24 months or they suggest doing speech therapy. You can refer your son to EI in your county yourself and they'll come out and evaluate him for you. Speech therapy is usually pretty fun for kids. Good luck.

[confustication]

He's about the same age as my son who has been involved with speech, OT, and PT for several months now. He has (over the past couple weeks) picked up about 10 words total. While I celebrate this, he is still very delayed and it has taken a lot of work to help him find even those few words. I would definitely get in touch with EI for an assessment.

[LynnS6]

A 25.5 month old who has only a dozen words is considered to be delayed for language. It's great that his understanding appears to be good, but I agree wholeheartedly with getting a hearing test. After that, he should be evaluated by a speech-language pathologist to determine what his strengths and weaknesses are. It could well be that it's time for speech therapy.

Now is a good time to get speech therapy because if the gap between what he understands and what he can say increases, he'll get much more frustrated. Also, if he can increase his expressive language by 3, then when he starts to enter the stage where he wants to play with other kids, he'll be able to take part in the verbal negotiations that are an important part of that.

[Belia]

You guys aren't telling me anything horrible.... and yet tears just sprung to my eyes. No one wants to hear that their perfect baby isn't perfect.

I'm not too late, am I? I haven't scarred my child for life by delaying, have I?

[noralou]

Originally Posted by Belia

I'm not too late, am I? I haven't scarred my child for life by delaying, have I?

No way!!! I'm an SLP, and you're doing great getting him checked out at this stage. This is a fine time for him to start getting some extra help with language development, if he needs it.

[Belia]

Originally Posted by noralou

No way!!! I'm an SLP, and you're doing great getting him checked out at this stage. This is a fine time for him to start getting some extra help with language development, if he needs it.

Thank you for this. I know so many mamas have bigger challenges than me, but its still a punch in the gut, y'know? I've had tears in my eyes all night. I suffer from depression and have been having a HARD time with that lately as well, which is making all of this harder.

Hearing test tomorrow.... then phone call to EI on Tuesday if necessary....

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by Belia

Thank you for this. I know so many mamas have bigger challenges than me, but its still a punch in the gut, y'know? I've had tears in my eyes all night. I suffer from depression and have been having a HARD time with that lately as well, which is making all of this harder.

Hearing test tomorrow.... then phone call to EI on Tuesday if necessary....

I know the feeling. Kids can make fast and surprising progress though. My son went from being at a 6-9 month level in his espressive language skills back in April to a 24-27 month level in September. He has quite a few other issues going on too, but I just want to point out that changes can happen quickly! This doesn't mean your son will always struggle.

[noralou]

Sounds like a really tough time. So sorry. I hope all goes well with his assessments.

[jnet24]

Originally Posted by Belia

I'm not too late, am I? I haven't scarred my child for life by delaying, have I?

You are not too late at all. When I was concerned about my son's speech, my ped and the first SLP I went to said they like to wait till they are over two to really assess for speech problems. Because at 2 is where alot of kids have a huge language explosion.

Also my son is speech delayed due to fluid behind his ear drum. He never really had problems with ear infections, so we never knew that it was happening. His hearing test helped to find the fluid.

Sorry if all jumbled my toddler is climbing all over me

[~ Wonderful Life ~]

I know how you feel.

We just had my 22 month-old evaluated by EI last week. The initial evaluation indicates an expressive language delay and they are referring us to a speech therapist for further evaluation.

My son also understands what is being said to him. In fact, the lady who conducted the eval said he's on the high side with receptive language and delayed in expressive, which she said is somewhat unusual.

It's a little scary. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge deal. But, if you're anything like me you are continually running worst case scenarios through your head, which doesn't help matters.

It feels good to be taking action. It feels good to be doing something to help him.

I have been impressed with EI so far. The folks I have dealt with have been professional, helpful, friendly and extremely quick to respond. They responded to my voicemail the same day and were out to my house to see my son within a week.

[Belia]

Just a quick update-

Had the hearing screening today, and he does have some hearing loss and his language development is significantly delayed. Luckily, it doesn't look like there's anything congenital (is that the right word?) causing it, but rather he has a ton of fluid in his ears. He has been prone to ear infections and when he's at school, he always has a cough and runny nose, so I'm not entirely surprised.

The assessor (SLP?) saw no other areas of concern and really recommended tubes. I talked it over with DH and we agree. We'll run everything past his ped and assuming she has no concern we'll start to explore that option.

I'll also put in a call to EI tomorrow to get that ball rolling as well.

Poor little guy. I had no idea.

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Belia

Poor little guy. I had no idea.

one of my DDs had chronic fluid, too. The tubes only took a couple of minutes to put it. It was super easy and solved that problem.

You caught this REALLY early.

[LowFlyingAnimals]

My ds had exactly the same kind of thing happen. He got the tubes, and he caught up in no time. Although the words he did know and mispronounced took a longer time to correct.

His older sister did have/does have severe language problems not based on hearing problems, so I was totally on top of him. I think you caught it at least as early as I did, if not earlier. He'll be fine once you start treatment for the physical problem.

[Girlprof]

You're doing everything right by catching this now. I know 3 or 4 kids who had a similar situation and tubes made a *world* of difference. For one little boy, he started speaking more just a day or two later. Of course, every situation is different, but it's so great to get our little ones the help they need.

Your post about your perfect baby resonated with me so much. Our daughter had a gross motor delay and I felt so sad and angry even though it was a pretty mild delay. This stuff is really hard!