Speech delay and speech and language therapy

[fireflies]

My son is 2.5 and not talking yet, I had been bugging the health visitor since he was about 16 months old and finally got his referral for speech and language the day after he turned 2. Unfortunately we then had to wait about 20 weeks to be sent an appointment which is booked now for next month.

Just wanted to see if anyone else had been through this with their child? What sort of things can we expect from speech and language? People who have gone through it how quickly (or not) did you see improvements? Has your child now caught up or not?

Also every time I Google about my son all I get back is autism. Now if that is the case then that’s fine we will do whatever we can to help him but I wondered if there is any chance it’s not something as serious as that? Obviously we would all rather he didn’t have a lifelong disability but are we kidding ourselves? Should I be starting to bang down more doors to get more help?

Guess just looking for anyone with relevant/similar experiences as I like to gather as much info as I can so I can help my son as best I can.

Hi lala
Just wanted offer my vast 10 years experience with my son.

He was baby no 3 so his older sister 20months older and his big sister around 5 years older and was school age when he was born..

I had a feeling by 18months his speech wasn't right.
Health visitor fobbed me off with hes a boy they typically lazy and he has so older sibling at home that speak for him.
At age 2 I put him in local preschool attached to eldest primary 2 afternoon a week they were very concerned about his speech.
Locally south west they wouldn't refer to until age 3 think he was nearly 3.5 before he was seen by speech and language therapist at local health clinic who were concerned.
I tried going to gp as his temper tantrum/ anxiety and refused go toiliet outside house was hard.
We moved preschool s and again they were very concerned.
Finally they agreed added him at early years development nursery i assumed he would score for autism as he was rigid around routine and doing specific things.
He was diagnosed with verbal dyspraxia and speech delay disorder so 2 separate speech and language disorders..
He started reception 4 .5 years only saying 10 words and in pull ups.
Took most reception year persuade council sen give him ehcp which then meant he had one to one ta year 1 and 2 plus weekly speech and language therapy big improvement on speech and language communities which was block 6 sessions then months of nothing.

All I can say is keep pushing.
Knew something was wrong.
Biggest regret was not paying for private speech and language diagnosis.
Took until he was nearly 5 have definitive private assessment which helped me gain ehcp the NHS now run by sirona health locally were the worst and still are.

I still remember how depressed and lonely hv and schools made me feel.
How i felt odd , sad even jealous taking him to toddler groups knowing something was amiss and no one listening.

 

[Mrs Cucumber]

my son has speech therapy, whilst he could talk, he would often only say half a word or just duh duh for anything he couldn't say. I asked our health visitor when he was 18 months who said as he was physically very active and forward, his speech would catch up. I had my daughter when he was 2 and mentioned to the health visitor who looked after her about his speech and she helped me self refer him for therapy, (the wait time was shorter!) He was diagnosed with expressive speech delay, we were told to play blowing bubbles, blowing them fast and slow as it helped him learn to form letters and mouth movements. Also look up Mr Tongue, it has exercises that help them really focus on their tongue/mouth movements.

We were advised to repeat everything he said to us back to him so he heard how it was meant to be said. He is now 8 and been signed off from speech therapy for about a year now as has caught up with his peers and listening to him you would never know he had so much trouble!

good luck x

 

[Suzesnooze]

One of my sons didn't talk until he was around 4 and even then it was his own sort of language and he would just point at things he wanted. He had speech therapy until he was about 6 and even then, he would still pronounce things oddly. He's an adult now and I've always wondered if he has Aspergers as he has a lot of the signs but he's also very, very shy, so I think it might just be his shyness. My other son was OK with talking at first then at Nursery he suddenly went backwards so he was referred to speech therapy too. He was also given a hearing test because as I say his speech was OK to start with but the hearing test was OK. He didn't need as much speech therapy as my other son. They normally play games with them and have them pronounce the sounds like 'shh'.

It used to be that by 2 they had to be saying upto 20 words but my daughter wasn't so they said they would come back in 6 months time but then she just suddenly started talking in full sentences when she was about 2 years, 2 months. So my girl was OK, my boys had trouble but their Dad was same when he was young although didn't have speech therapy but he had his own little language for a while!

 

[bubbadabut]

My sons were all slow to talk. Had SALT involved with the first one but they did very little so didn't bother with the others. They all came on leaps and bounds once they started school/nursery. All of them understood more than they said. They've been lazy in other areas too, toilet training, etc. Figured I just have lazy kids, but they all got there in the end and there's no autism. My daughter was a lot more forward than any of them.

 

[Lht30]

My little girl is 3 and has a relatively mild speech delay. We gave up with the Health Visitors when Preschool arranged an assessment for her with their SLT. We ended up paying privately for sessions, she's just done a block of 6 and the difference has been phenomenal. I wouldn't want to wait a year on the NHS and her be so close to starting school with such a problem.

 

[Lalalalaaaaaa85]

My son is 2.5 and not talking yet, I had been bugging the health visitor since he was about 16 months old and finally got his referral for speech and language the day after he turned 2. Unfortunately we then had to wait about 20 weeks to be sent an appointment which is booked now for next month.

Just wanted to see if anyone else had been through this with their child? What sort of things can we expect from speech and language? People who have gone through it how quickly (or not) did you see improvements? Has your child now caught up or not?

Also every time I Google about my son all I get back is autism. Now if that is the case then that’s fine we will do whatever we can to help him but I wondered if there is any chance it’s not something as serious as that? Obviously we would all rather he didn’t have a lifelong disability but are we kidding ourselves? Should I be starting to bang down more doors to get more help?

Guess just looking for anyone with relevant/similar experiences as I like to gather as much info as I can so I can help my son as best I can.

 

[lexle]

My son had speech therapy (still on going but they’re nowhere near as involved, maybe twice a year if that) He does have autism, but there were many other signs that led to his diagnosis, not just speech delay alone. In terms of his appointments with the therapist, at the start when he was little (around 2) they would interact with him and sit on the floor with him etc, very informal and play based. As he got older and was at nursery and then onto primary school, they only visited him to observe and advise and set a plan for his teachers. Honestly, I don’t think it made a difference and he just started speaking in his own time when he was ready. I definitely think being around other children massively helped though. He is 6 now and I can’t shut him up

 

[Hellofromtheotherside]

Hi, sorry to jump into the thread when should I be concerned about talking? My little boy is 19 months and he doesn't say very much at all he makes animal noises and understands everything you say but as for speech he's not quite there yet, I've seen some children his age say alot and it's made me quite paranoid I should be doing somthing about it

 

[Lalalalaaaaaa85]

My son is 5 and has been diagnosed with autism and Global Developmental Delay at aged 3 1/2 - please don’t think I’m insinuating your wee one will be the same but that’s why we’re involved with SALT.

Our experience has been woeful but I suspect each Trust is different. When we were referred, they only wanted us to attend a Hanen course - a Canadian model of communicating without words. I was struggling to deal with the diagnosis and the course was on a day I worked so I asked if there was an alternative and they allocated us a worked for more complex needs who was lovely - she came to our home (pre-COVID) but then my son got a place at a developmental nursery so we were moved to the worker there. She only spoke to us once and told us what nursery we’re doing with him but we would have more online meetings with her - she never got in touch again before leaving.

We are now on SALT #4 and she seems good, plus she’s allowed to go into the nursery. We’re moving at the pace of my son and they think he’s ready to try PECS, so we’re all on board with that. He starts school in August and he will have another SALT there .

I hope this isn’t a horror story but out of the whole diagnosing process etc with my son, SALT have been the most disappointing. Like everything, they are stretched to the max but I’m not convinced, in our area anyway, that they are actually helping anyone.

We looked into private SALT but the truth is for us, nobody can make my son talk and I’ve seen a few posts on Facebook suggesting they’re not much better, if any, than SALT.

I think it’s great you’ve got a referral at a young age and wish you and your son all the best. Please come back and let us know how you get on

Thank you Lennie. It seems no ones had an amazing experience with SALT which is disappointing.

 

[Mummy2bee]

Hi there, I am a speech and language therapist and to be honest at your sons age most of the work needs to be done through parents- ie SLT giving parents advice on strategies to be implemented in the home/nursery environment. At 2.5 it is very difficult to engage a child in any sort of 1:1 therapy as they don’t usually have the required attention and listening skills. Children absolutely do develop at different times and in different ways, milestones can be really useful measuring tools but also great sources of stress for parents so looking at the overall picture of how a child is developing is often most useful. For that reason an initial SLT assessment of a 2.5 year old is likely to be very play based, looking at all of their skills and interaction and involving parents a lot to gain a picture of what the child is like in various environments. There are loads of lovely resources online about how to help create a language rich environment at home which you could try in the interim while you wait for your appointment, this is a good place to start.

The Communication Trust

www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk

Services are different depending on where you live, but they are generally really really stretched which is so rough for families and therapists alike. Good luck with it all!

 

[quinzel]

Just wanted to add in my experience too. I also have a 19 month old and like the previous poster he doesn't say very much but has his own little language. I had a chat with my health visitor about it and they wouldn't take any action on it until they are at least 2.

OP, I hope your little one gets on ok and please let us know how everything is.

 

[LennyBriscoe]

My son is 2.5 and not talking yet, I had been bugging the health visitor since he was about 16 months old and finally got his referral for speech and language the day after he turned 2. Unfortunately we then had to wait about 20 weeks to be sent an appointment which is booked now for next month.

Just wanted to see if anyone else had been through this with their child? What sort of things can we expect from speech and language? People who have gone through it how quickly (or not) did you see improvements? Has your child now caught up or not?

Also every time I Google about my son all I get back is autism. Now if that is the case then that’s fine we will do whatever we can to help him but I wondered if there is any chance it’s not something as serious as that? Obviously we would all rather he didn’t have a lifelong disability but are we kidding ourselves? Should I be starting to bang down more doors to get more help?

Guess just looking for anyone with relevant/similar experiences as I like to gather as much info as I can so I can help my son as best I can.

My son is 5 and has been diagnosed with autism and Global Developmental Delay at aged 3 1/2 - please don’t think I’m insinuating your wee one will be the same but that’s why we’re involved with SALT.

Our experience has been woeful but I suspect each Trust is different. When we were referred, they only wanted us to attend a Hanen course - a Canadian model of communicating without words. I was struggling to deal with the diagnosis and the course was on a day I worked so I asked if there was an alternative and they allocated us a worked for more complex needs who was lovely - she came to our home (pre-COVID) but then my son got a place at a developmental nursery so we were moved to the worker there. She only spoke to us once and told us what nursery we’re doing with him but we would have more online meetings with her - she never got in touch again before leaving.

We are now on SALT #4 and she seems good, plus she’s allowed to go into the nursery. We’re moving at the pace of my son and they think he’s ready to try PECS, so we’re all on board with that. He starts school in August and he will have another SALT there .

I hope this isn’t a horror story but out of the whole diagnosing process etc with my son, SALT have been the most disappointing. Like everything, they are stretched to the max but I’m not convinced, in our area anyway, that they are actually helping anyone.

We looked into private SALT but the truth is for us, nobody can make my son talk and I’ve seen a few posts on Facebook suggesting they’re not much better, if any, than SALT.

I think it’s great you’ve got a referral at a young age and wish you and your son all the best. Please come back and let us know how you get on

 

[lexle]

Thank you for replying

Ok we don’t have the same issues, our concerns with our son are he’s not very sociable, he prefers to play alone than with his peers. Ironically he’s everyone’s favourite at nursery so he has a little gang of kids that pretty much follow him around as he just tries to play on his own . Also he didn’t point until recently which is apparently a sign and he didn’t respond to his name till he was about 18 months. He doesn’t play pretend or babble during play either, just likes to roll cars back and forth.

We had his hearing checked last year luckily when things opened up again during the summer. They didn’t find anything wrong there.

It would do no harm in getting the paediatrician involved, the spectrum is so wide and no two children are the same (autism or not) And if they find there’s nothing to be concerned about, then great you know and if they think there may be something, then you’ve started the process. My son did very similar things to what you’ve listed, but as he’s gotten older, they’re things that have disappeared. The best thing for him was being around other children (I know that’s not very easy in these covid times!) but I think him observing how others were really made something click in his brain. Probably sound like a lazy parent here, but YouTube helped massively too which my sons speech, I could tell because he now has an American accent as most of what he watches is American but he learns visually and it has to involve his obsession, which is dinosaurs and that’s just how he learns best. I don’t know if I’m being much help but I always like to share mine and my sons experiences just in case

 

[monga]

Its hard not to worry isn’t it. I just don’t want him to struggle his whole life. Really hoping he’ll catch up eventually and all this worry will have been for nothing.

My eldest son attended ST from age 4 -6 his speech delay was eventually put down to glue ear, he had an op to help with that and came on leaps and bounds from that but it is a worry when they’re not developing as they should. The speech therapist will rule out a physical cause before anything else and ask what their understanding is eg, if you asked him to fetch his shoes or close the door would he know what to do and if he has a sense of danger like knowing to stop before crossing a road etc .I hope you haven’t too long to wait for an assessment but most kids speech comes on once they start school ,your son is still on the young side and it wouldn’t be a big deal until they’re at least 3-4 in ST terms . I had this app pop up on Insta I don’t know what it entails but maybe there might be something on it could help or just get some picture books where he can point out what things are, speech delay isn’t only about forming words it’s understanding the world around them...good luck x

 

[Northeast1988]

my brother was a late bloomer talking wise but the health visitor said its quite common in children who have older brothers and sisters , she still put a refferal in for S&L as he was saying a few words wrong and wasnt placing his tongue correctly.

no issues now

 

[Hellofromtheotherside]

Just wanted to add in my experience too. I also have a 19 month old and like the previous poster he doesn't say very much but has his own little language. I had a chat with my health visitor about it and they wouldn't take any action on it until they are at least 2.

OP, I hope your little one gets on ok and please let us know how everything is.

This is really helpful thanks

 

[Lalalalaaaaaa85]

My kid is 3.5 and we’re waiting for our appointment. He had a pre-assessment a few weeks ago but I’m in Ireland where everything is very slow. He has the language skills of an early 2yo currently.

Its hard not to worry isn’t it. I just don’t want him to struggle his whole life. Really hoping he’ll catch up eventually and all this worry will have been for nothing.

 

[Idkk]

My kid is 3.5 and we’re waiting for our appointment. He had a pre-assessment a few weeks ago but I’m in Ireland where everything is very slow. He has the language skills of an early 2yo currently.

 

[Lalalalaaaaaa85]

Thank you everyone who has responded, it’s helped me feel a little less alone. It’s always a bit disheartening to see other kids at my sons nursery chatting away and my son is still just making grunts or eeeee sounds.

Disappointing to hear SALT isn’t amazing, I think my boyfriend and I had it in our minds that would sort everything out and we’d see vast improvements quickly. Hopefully he starts to pick things up himself then as he gets older.

My son had speech therapy (still on going but they’re nowhere near as involved, maybe twice a year if that) He does have autism, but there were many other signs that led to his diagnosis, not just speech delay alone. In terms of his appointments with the therapist, at the start when he was little (around 2) they would interact with him and sit on the floor with him etc, very informal and play based. As he got older and was at nursery and then onto primary school, they only visited him to observe and advise and set a plan for his teachers. Honestly, I don’t think it made a difference and he just started speaking in his own time when he was ready. I definitely think being around other children massively helped though. He is 6 now and I can’t shut him up

Could I ask what other signs your son had? If you would rather not share that’s fine. Just my son also has a couple of other things that have led us to wonder if he is possibly autistic, not just the speech. What was the process for getting the diagnosis and what has having a diagnosis meant for your son? As in does it help in getting better support?

 

[Begborrowsteal]

My son couldnt talk remotely coherently til he was just over 4. SALT waiting times were a joke. He had a couple group sessions and that was it. He has thankfully caught up and been discharged.

My youngest has only just been referred when hes about to go into Year 1. Im not impressed, as god knows how long the wait will be now and what help will they give anyway