Speech delays

[Alyssa]

I'm pretty sure this thread has existed before (I might have even started it!) but I want some fresh answers. I've been reading posts from several of you in recent days about speech delays, and so many people say they wish they got their kids evaluated sooner.

Seamus is 18 months today. His receptive language is great. His expressive language...not so much. He's got a handful of words, and he makes tons of different sounds and "talks" constantly. My gut is telling me he is fine, as I freaked out like this with Colin too...and at the advice of my pedi, we waited until 2 to see how he was. Sure enough, right around age 2, Colin started talking in phrases. I don't think he's shut up since. :lol: The difference with Shea is that he's had more EIs, and I wonder if that is actually affecting him.

We go to the pedi in 3 weeks for his 18 month appt, and of course this will be discussed then. (The original appt was Monday with a different pedi than our normal one, who is just returning from maternity leave - that other one is known in the office for being the most strict on speech and I wanted to see my normal, more relaxed pedi. I've long trusted her and she knows my kids better, and she was right on Colin.)

But, again...where so many of you feel you should have done evaluations sooner, is there any advice you can share? Were there any big markers to you that your child was speech delayed that maybe I'm missing?

[stass]

Well Saxon was much more behind than Flynn is and I am not super worried about Flynn but I did have him evaluated recently because he doesn't say mama or dada. I get the results of his eval on Tuesday. As soon as i called about having him evaled, he started talking a lot more. :rolleyes:

I guess what I am saying is it couldn't "hoit" :dunno: so I went for it.

[WendyK]

Alyssa you can read our journey with Evan in the special needs journal. However, If I were you I wouldn't panic just yet. 18 months is still very young. If I were you I would wait until he's 2 and if you don't see improvement I would start the evaluation process at that point. I think it's a good idea to have his hearing checked. I am not sure how NH handles I.E.P's or if you have a birth-3 services. The whole process took us about 6 months to get an evaluation and speech therapy in place. I wish I would have started at 2 years of age instead of 2.5.

I went through this with both TJ and Evan. TJ started talking at 2.5 and Evan didn't. However, I knew in my gut Evan's speech wasn't going to "catch up" like TJ... I should have trusted it. We would be 6 months ahead of where we are now if we didn't wait.

[Karri]

Alyssa -
My pediatrican was formerly a speech pathologist and what she said to me was that if the receptive language is age-appropriate, then wait until age 2 to have the expresive language evaluated. Its really when receptive is lagging that you need to be worried sooner.

[Alyssa]

Thanks everyone. :) I think hitting the 18 months milestone today without that many regular words and then reading in the Special Needs journal caused a little extra panic in my head.


Stacey - I'll look forward to hearing how Flynn's appt goes. And isn't that always the way...you get the ball rolling on something and the problem corrects itself. :nod:

Wendy - I like your idea about asking for a hearing test. :aok: I think we have 0-3 but I'm not sure. I know Mass. does. But I have to keep reminding myself I don't live there and I should know more about NH. :blush:

Karri - That's a really good tip about the receptive language tie to waiting for doing an eval on the expressive language, and makes me feel better. :)

[Bonnie]

Alyssa: I think Tatum sounds a lot like Seamus in both receptive and expressive, only I don't even think she has as many words, and I am not worried. I am not going to worry for a while, maybe in the next 6 months, but I do have a child with a fairly major speech delay and one who spoke well before age 1, so I think that has helped me understand how very different they all are in reaching different milestones. Even with Courtney, who I knew would have a speech delay, I really did not think they could do a lot before age 2. It was only after Courtney was 2 that I felt she might benefit from intervention, and that was with a known delay. I think you should wait until he is closer to age 2 before you worry too much about this.

[Girlo]

I'd have to go with waiting until the 2 year mark to really make a decision on EI. :)

Alex has only had 1 very minor ear infection in his life.....and he also only said about 3 words at his 18 month appt. Based on what the books said, he was behind! Then, at 20 months, he started enunciating "yes" really well.....still keeping the same handful of words. He also started singing ALL the time. :lol:
By his 2nd birthday, he was talking in full sentences that anyone could understand! It was like he woke up one morning and decided to start talking. :dunno: Also, at 18 months, he was doing all the stuff that Seamus is doing - understanding what we said, "talking" all the time, etc.

I hope it's all just normal mommy worrying. :hug99:

[MrsPeacefrog]

I was nervous about Jacob too as he is doing the same as Shea, I actually spoke to Aiden's speech therapist about it and she told me for this age the normal range of speech is anywhere from 1 to 200 words, so she wouldn't worry because he says a couple and that is in the range. I think that we can get hooked up on the top of the spectrum and expect our kids to do what our other kids did. I guess because I have had one with speech delays and one with out that I have had both ends of the spectrum.

I waited till Aiden was 2 to get evaluated even though I knew he had problems well before that. I am fine with that, he has come along great and has responded well to therapy.

I hope that helped.

[Brooke]

I had Rebekah tested at 21 months and she was delayed then (only at the 14 month level) for expressive language but all of her motor skills and her receptive language was advanced so the evaluators suggested we wait until she turned 2. They said that the 2nd birthday was an ideal time to start speech therapy. So I waited and right before her birthday, her speech exploded and she was on track.

Daniel is now in the same situation. He only has 3-5 words at 17 months, but all of his motor skills and receptive language is advanced. So I will wait impatiently until his 2nd birthday and hope he's caught up by then. He has had alot more EIs than Rebekah did and he is tongue-tied so I'm a little more worried about him. His tongue will probably cause articulation problems and we might have to have it lasered when he's older.

I did have Daniel's tongue looked at by a speech and language pathologist 2 months ago and she said he was right on track for speech development at that time.

[Shel]

Do it now :)

[Jillian]

I personally don't see a reason to not do the evaluation, just cause it can't hurt, and it is actually pretty fun for the kid, and then you know...if they do put him in speech therapy, that's pretty fun as well.

We got Caid evaluated at 15 months, and then again when we moved at 20 months I think is how old he was? He started therapy right away after the second eval.

ETA: Kincaid's receptive language is actually more behind/delayed than his expressive language. I'd never heard of waiting if it is just expressive that is behind, but it does make sense.

[Karri]

The one thing about doing it now is that if he doesn't qualify (whatever your state or county's standards...here its a 25% delay), then you may have to wait until longer than 24 months for another evaluation, depending on what age they say his language is at (because he still wouldn't be delayed at that age). Does that make sense? I am not sure how to convey what I am trying to say clearly :lol:

[Alyssa]

After reading it a couple times, I'm pretty sure I'm with you, Karri! :)

Appreciate more of the stories, ladies. I was with my mom all weekend and she (fellow mom of 3) thinks I'm nuts. :crazy: I'll report back what Seamus' pedi says in a few weeks.

[Clare]

Here you can't get them evaluated until 2. I've read and been told by doctors, that you can't tell before 2. 18mths to 2yrs is when their language starts to explode.