late talking 28 month old

[aimeemac]

hi. i am not sure where to go here, but i was wondering if anyone out there has a 28 mo. old or 2 yr. old that has delayed expressive speech?

my ds was an early walker and talked according to age level until his sister was born last Christmas. he regressed a lot and didn't talk much for about 4 months. he then started talking more but is not near what his peers are doing. he'd rather throw a tantrum than try to talk. his doc said she wasn't all that concerned and that we'd talk again at his 2.5 year old checkup.

my question is, do you think i am being overly anal w/ this and to wait until he is closer to three to be worried? he understands so much but seems "afraid" to be wrong when he talks (he'll whisper). he hates to be wrong and to fail at anything and is very stubborn (high spirited child).

Any thoughts or info would be appreciated.

-Aimee

[wemberly]

I never understand why pediatricians are reluctant to refer children to early intervention. There are 0-3 programs in all 50 states, and they are designed to meet the needs of late talkers, and other kids with developmental delays.

I would definitely seek a speech and language assessment now, rather than wait. If speech therapy isn't recommended, really, what harm has it done? The assessment is play-based, so your little one should enjoy it, and if there is a need for therapy, the earlier the better, in my estimation. Your post definitely raised some red flags for me--the regression of language, 4 months without speech, and the perfectionism may really be a challenge for your little guy.

Goood Luck mama!

paige, adoptive mama to Elliott

[aimeemac]

paige,
thank you for your input, i didn't know the assessment is play based.....
he is doing better w/ expressing himself in the past month but we have made an appt. w/ his ped to get a referral for a speech evaluation.
thanks for your input, always appreciated.
aimee

[wemberly]

You shouldn't need a referral to get a speech assessment through your state's EI program. If you tell me the state, i should at least be able to find you and 800#. It seems also that WIC always has the number handy, even if you aren't a WIC client.

Let me know how things turn out.

paige, adoptive mama to Elliott (currently in his 3rd year of speech therapy)

[FreeRangeMama]

I think that you know your ds better than anyone and if you feel there is a problem then get him assessed. If you don't feel there is a problem then wait it out a bit longer.
My ds is also around 28 months and hardly talked at all until about 5-6 weeks ago. He went from speaking only a handful of words (and never in combinations of 2 or more) to speaking 4 word sentences in less then a day (including big words like "excavator"). In a week he was speaking complicated 6 word sentences. He is a very bright child and accomplished everything else much earlier than his peers, but he just didn't talk. We chose not to push it or worry about it at all because we knew it was not a problem. If we had a feeling there was a larger issue at work in his "delayed speech" we would have approached it differently. Its another case of mama knows best, so go with your gut :)

Laurie