more speech questions...

[Unreal]

I've read through as much as I can of threads about speech and what is acceptably normal speech development..
and I'm still just not sure about our situation

Ds, who just turned 26 months, can hear just fine--well we are assuming he can, since he can follow very complex, multiple-step directions.
But he hardly talks at all.
He does sounds for things like cat, dog, bat (that annoying thup,thup,thup sound they make when flying arounf :LOL), firetruck, monster (roar!), etc
mom is mama
dad is Daaad
Grandma is lala
grandpa is lolo
His big brother Alex is a weird a slurred Duh sound
eating is neenee (it was numnum, but isn't anymore)
drink is a slurping sound

They are almost all sounds that he uses for things...

The last two weeks he added two words..
blue = bue
and mail...that is maw
Both are really slurred, like certain sounds are missing, ya know?

I think that is about all he says at this point...
I haven't been worried about the not talking and using sounds--he has added so many signs in the past 6 months, we hardly have a problem communicating
but the slurring the few *words* he has tried kinda worried me

should it?


tia

[USAmma]

Honestly it sounds normal to me. You should only worry if he's not using any words. It sounds like he's being very consistent with his words that he is using.

My oldest dd held on to a lot of baby words long after she was capable of saying them in a more grown-up way. Eventually she heard other kids saying them the right way and started to.

If it makes you feel any better I *still* call my grandmother "Minor" and my grandfather (whose name is Berkley) "Berky". It just kinda stuck. Now my kids call them Minor and Berky too. :LOL

[Unreal]

danke

It really is funny that I didn't worry until I heard the slurring--mostly because he is communicating



gah...just spilled coffee on my keyboard

:

gotta go let it dry.....

gah!

[captain optimism]

We had a big spurt of language acquisition this past month. (My ds is about a month older than yours.) He has a lot of words but there are still a lot of things he can't pronounce clearly.

For example, he can say that our upstairs neighbor has pet geckos and that's why there's a cricket chirping in our kitchen. She has also planted a peachtree in the backyard. It comes out like this:

"lee, lee (2nd syllable of her name) peh geh-oh, crick, tweet. Lee lee, plan, PEA-cheh-tree! back-ya."

A very complex narrative, hampered by inability to articulate. I believe this is all normal, if absurdly charming. All of these words, by the way, he acquired within the last month.

If you are worried, contact Early Intervention for a developmental assessment. But I would not be worried just yet.

[angelpie545]

My daughter(two) has the same problems. She, however, has a obvious speech impedement; there are some letters that she just can't pronounce; which makes her speech muddy and sometimes impossible to understand. For example: Daddy is Daaeee, mommy is mommy, she has trouble with s, t, r, the difference between long a and short a, and long o. We know she does not have a hearning problem b/c like your son, she can understand and carry out complicated directions. However, it honestly sounds like your son is normal; lots of kids pronounce things like that and the suddenly add more words and clarity to their pronounciations. With my daughter we aren't doing any speech therpy yet; we are waiting until she is older and to see if some of it improves on its own, which is in my opinion is the best thing to do with an otherwise normal child.

[Unreal]

thank you all so much

I'll just wait it out and see how it goes.
And we'll keep encouraging the sign language--that is often all that saves us from an unending chain of tantrums!

Capt'n--I would probably feel better if he was stringing some words together. The most we get now is "mama lolo" which translate into "Mom, get yer but over here--I want to go see Grandpa NOW" (seriously...when he talks, it is an immediate NEED hehehe )

I'm so glad to hear no one in a panic "*GASP* You haven't had him evaluated YET?? WHAT are you waiting for???!!!"
you know what I mean?

I'm pretty relaxed about most everything with this kiddo...but sometimes I just need a little support to stay relaxed


Oh..and I realized he does have a few more words/sounds
Hot
dat (that)
and dit (sit)
a raspberry means he has to poop or someone tooted :
and psst means he has to pee

Maybe I should keep track of this somewhere, eh? :LOL

[Marsupialmom]

He could be well in the norms but my dd started slurring when her hearing started to go. So not trying to freak you out but take him to an Pediatric ENT/audiologist and have his hearing tested. It is relatively simple procedure. Best done in the booth not at a doctors office.

********This could be completely normal experimental issue also.

[Ravin]

Some of my DD's words I only know are words because they sound the same every time. But they're such high pitched little squeaks that I can't make anything out unless it's combined w/ signs and pointing.

As long as communication is good and his speech isn't frustrating him, I wouldn't worry yet, either. DD's lack of communication was frustrating her, which is why we started w/ signs, which you're already doing.

[Linda KS]

Originally Posted by Marsupialmom

He could be well in the norms but my dd started slurring when her hearing started to go. So not trying to freak you out but take him to an Pediatric ENT/audiologist and have his hearing tested. It is relatively simple procedure. Best done in the booth not at a doctors office.

********This could be completely normal experimental issue also.

ditto.

My older DD had so much fluid in her ears that everything she was hearing was muddled, but since she could hear enough to understand what we were saying we thought her hearing was fine. Our dr. couldn't see the fluid -- the ears were so full of clear liquid that just by looking, one couldn't tell if they were empty or full. He sent us to an ENT "just to be on the safe side." It painless and my DD didn't mind a bit. Our ENT thought that part of the reason that no one, including our Dr., realized something was wrong sooner was because she was so healhty. She had only had 1 ear infection. She ended up with tubes, which helped her a great deal.

Your child could be just fine, or there could be a problem.

The advice we got was to have her hearing checked at 2, and if it was normal not to do anything else until she was at least 3. I'm glad we followed that advice.

Getting a hearing check isn't "worrying" "pushing" or "not being relaxed." It is just providing basic medical care.

[ILuvMyBaby]

Totally normal Maybe just go get a hearing test so you can put yourself at ease in that sense.

[captain optimism]

When this came up on MDC before, I was worrying about my ds' language and I googled and found this:

http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_B...quisition.html

It has a chart for when you should expect your child to make different speech sounds. Angelpie, I really doubt your two-year-old has a speech impediment, if you check the chart you will see it's developmentally normal to omit certain sounds.