Speech evaluation?

[anjsmama]

Has anyone had their toddler's hearing and/or speech evaluated? My DS was a late talker, and it was mentioned to me that if he didn't know 50 words at 2 y/o, he may need to be evaluated. 2nd birthday came and went, and he knew about 10 words. But his pedi wasn't concerned because he was communicating extremely well in other ways and understands several-step instructions.

Then at 31 months - BAM. He started talking. Like he woke up, speaking in full sentences. He woke up one day and started stringing words and phrases together, asking whole questions, and now at 35 m/o (3 years in 3 weeks) he talks about EVERYTHING. He talks about what he does, what he wants to do, things that could be, what he wants to do when he grows up, what his favorite things are, what he's saying to his sister, what he "members" (remembers) , etc etc. The kid talks ALL. DAY. LONG. 

So I was pretty taken aback when he was at his well-check today and his new pediatrician said she thinks he ought to have his hearing and speech evaluated. I am not quick to jump and think that she's wrong... so far, she has been ABSOLUTELY wonderful. She speaks to my children as the human beings that they are, she is well-informed on the nutritional aspects I think are very important to their well-being, she is very AP/NFL friendly..  it's kind of like having a moderator here on MDC with a medical degree as the kids' doc  . So I am not prone to think she is just going along with the mainstream "this many words, these type of phrases" blah blah.

She was in the room with us for a good hour today and said she understands him with about 60% clarity. She realizes that I understand him at all times, but thinks other adults should be able to understand him about 90% of the time at this age. Here's an example of the way my DS talks: "Look, Mom, there a trac-trac (tractor). When me grow up, me want do that. Me want drive trac-trac. That be a fun job." But she was saying not being able to pronounce whole words like tractor isn't necessarily typical of his age..

What is normal, in your experience, for an almost-3-year-old's speech clarity? I guess I am so surprised because my DS is MUCH more verbal than any other 2.5 - 3 year olds that I know.... but perhaps I know relatively non-verbal children? I'm trying not to be upset about the referral but it sort of makes me feel like I missed something - or like we're going back to an issue I thought we'd passed . 

[~cassie]

To me it sounds like he is fine. But it won't hurt to have a speech therapist look at him and see if he is having any particular trouble with certain sounds.

[mommyofgb]

My dd is 34 months old and also is a lateish talker. She had a huge language explosion at 30 months all in one week starting asking questions, using more pronouns, and speaking in short sentences, but she is still not at the same level as her peers. I am still worried about her although I have been to 2 speech therapists and both said she is totally fine. The private speech therapist I went to said she would like to work on her pronunciation skills which sound similar to your sons but I do see a lot of improvement and most people understand what she is saying these days. I personally enjoyed the SLP meetings because even if your child doesn't need the therapy, they gave me awesome tools to use with her at home.

[Geofizz]

Aren't you in C'bus?  Columbus Speech and Hearing takes insurance and can see you within a week -- a year after our discharge, I just scheduled my DS for my choice of appointment slots next week.   I think our first visit was paper work done ahead of time, and a 1 1/2 hour visit.  He enjoyed the eval after hating his visit to OSU S&H, and all in all it was quick and painless.  We got a useful written diagnosis and initial home plan in the mail in a matter of days.

[nia82]

That sounds fine to me. My DS had no words at 24 months but communicated with signs. I did agree to have an eval done and he was a little delayed technically, but since he is bilingual they didn't feel like it was bad or anything. He suddenly started talking at 25 months, and at 30 months he started sentences, questions and now at nearly 3 years he even sings along with songs and memorizes poems and rhymes in both languages. We did another eval just now and he's not even considered delayed at all anymore :D What I took away from this experience is that kids do not develop according to a chart or book. If mama feels kiddo is alright, it's usually the case. LIke I felt nothing was wrong, and I was right. He was just doing it on his schedule.

[pbjmama]

I think it is important to clarify that "language" is the number of words he has - sounds fine but "speech" is articulation of those words. From the example you gave he sounds fine. But an evaluation isn't going to hurt anything. In the states most children will not receive any sort of state funded therapy until after 3 years old for articulation because so many problems clear up naturally.

[MeredithA]

Hi anjsmama, it sounds like your little one has made a lot of progress. Its great that he had a little "language spurt" and suddenly started speaking more at 31 months! It sounds like your doctor is more concerned with articulation (how he says the sounds) than language (vocabulary, stringing words together, etc.) because she could only understand 60% of what he said. At 36 months, you typically want about 75% intelligibility. Between 48-60 months is when, children typically become 100% intelligible. Saying "trac-trac" instead of "tractor" is more typical of a younger child (2-ish) but if he uses the "real word" for objects more often than not, I wouldn't be overly concerned about that either. Also, from the example you provided, it sounds like he is calling himself "me" instead of "I" - at his age I would expect him to start using some other pronouns. It is great that he is able to string several sentences together about a single topic. The evaluation is a good idea because he might have some weak areas and the speech therapist will be able to identify them, along with his strengths and give you specific strategies and things to do at home to help him if necessary. 

Don't feel bad about the referral or feel like you missed something. Kids speech and language develops and changes so rapidly (like you noticed at 31 months!) so their skills compared with their peers is seemingly constantly changing as well. Its hard to keep up! You seem like you are really on top of it 

I have a speech development chart somewhere on my computer...can't find it right now, but if I do, i'll post it for you...or I bet you could google one or there might be one on the ASHA website. Good luck, mama! 

[Skippy918]

I'm curious too about DS's speech and grammer.  He uses 'my' instead of 'I'.  He has trouble with the TR sound and pronunciation of words with a hard C. 

[anjsmama]

Woo mamas! Thanks so much for lots of thoughtful, helpful responses. 

Now that I think it through, she was just talking about pronunciation and clarity. I see no harm in taking him to get evaluated and seeing what sounds are hard for him and how I can help. I learned in linguistics studies in college that most children begin to enunciate properly on their own as they develop (so I haven't done anything to try & change his sound-making habits), but now I also remember it was between ages 3-4 so I guess he is getting close to the age where he should be speaking clearly.

@Geofizz, thanks so much for the info... I was really hoping to avoid the OSU medical scene. 

@Skippy, That's interesting, those were some of DS's first good sounds .. but he doesn't do "Fr" or a hard initial "S".  He uses the right pronouns as far as whom he's referring to, but not in the right situations... Like instead of saying "We went to the playground" he'll say "Our went to the playground" or "Us went to the playground" ... He sometimes refers to himself as "I" , but he also uses "Me" alot;  he seems to think it carries more emphasis. 

He also loves to repeat sounds.. Carrot = care-care, Tractor = trac-trac, Jeana (DD) = Jee-Jee. It's not that he CANT make those sounds... if I break it down, he will say car-rot, and then carrot, but if I ask him again in 2 minutes, he says care-care. 

[mommyofgb]

Originally Posted by Skippy918 

I'm curious too about DS's speech and grammer.  He uses 'my' instead of 'I'.  He has trouble with the TR sound and pronunciation of words with a hard C. 

DD also says ''my do it self'' when I know she means I do it myself. Sometimes she will say ''my want it'' she knows how to use I,  but I think all those pronouns are hard to get straight! That is her biggest hurdle!