2 yo and speech therapy?

[Osmosis Mom]

Ds 2 yr 4 mths really seems to not only be slow in catching onto speech, but also to have real issues with repeating words. He is surrounded by three languages, but everyone talks to him and are actively engaging him. He is defnitely trying to use language, but for the most of the time then his pronounciation is extremely off. At times I would say he is lazy to pronounce words. Fx. he might be able to better enounciate some words, but chooses to go the easy way and pronounces them very lazily (and thus incomprehensibly). Fx. instead of calling his sister by her name "Hu-da", then he says "Hu-a". He finally began calling his other sister her name "Dee-ma" after refuding to give that "dee"-sound. He won't say cookie, but calls it something with t instead. He is beginning to really want to express himself and I just cannot understand what he is saying (one word uses only, rarely two word uses).

 

Is there anything I can do at home for him?

[gingersmom]

Take him for speech therapy. The sooner the better.

 

My daughter had a minor speech delay and within 4-5 months of therapy she was babbling away.

 

At his age he is eligible for early intervention (through the state, until age 3). After age 3 he will be eligible for another program (whose name escapes me), until he is kindergarten age.

 

It might also be helpful until he is speaking clearly to have him speak in one language only.

[Osmosis Mom]

Thanks for your input. I am not sure whom to contact re. early intervention in our school district, but I'll try to call someone in Special Ed Monday. I have older kids and they were all exposed to several languages at once so I don't really want to bug off on that one. This morning e was saying "fife and drum" with a very lazy f pronounciation until I fooled around with him and he actually pronounced the word perfectly. But he is lazy to retain the sound which is why I feel I could do something with him here at home.

[Mergath]

My dd does the same thing. She'll say pi-a for pizza, or ain for train. Stuff like that. She's in speech therapy through EI (she has a genetic disorder that causes some of her problems) and though she's been learning more words, her pronunciation isn't improving yet. She does have low muscle tone, which I think is why she has trouble with the pronunciation. I've heard her say things correctly a few times as well, but it's like it's too hard for her to do all the time.

 

I've heard that problems like this often fix themselves in time, but I'd recommend seeing your doctor and trying to get into private therapy, if necessary, along with what EI offers. I'm sure it's different depending on where you live, but around here, the EI people just don't have the expertise necessary to deal with stuff like this, and I've heard people in other areas say the same thing. Private speech therapy is definitely the way to go if you have a way to pay for it.

[Osmosis Mom]

Mergath, We are on medicaid so I guess that is self-explanatory! I mentioned it to our (new) doctor who had his secretary scribble down a number for EI in my state (NH and not MA). I would really rather work with him. I doubt there is anything with muscles. He has had a few ear infections so I might go back in a few weeks to get his ears checked as the doctor did suggest I do to rule hearing problems out.

 

So, does anyone know of any suggested programs I could do at home? I am trying now to emphasize clear speech my self and do repeat English words more often to him so he can be understood by the greater public. I am also thinking I should start making the time to take him to story hour so he gets forced to focus on the language (he is very athletic and doesn't want to stay still for books in general).

[gingersmom]

This site might be helpful-

 

http://www.nectac.org/contact/Ptccoord.asp#NH

 

Also, at his age they should come to your house. At least that is how it worked in New York and in New Jersey.

 

A good therapist will be able to give you things to work on with your son.

[nono]

Is there anything I can do at home for him?

 

Someone else posted this link in the past, possibly on the general board:

 

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#

 

My children are a bit older than yours, however, they found it very helpful to watch the animations the correlate to certain troublesome sounds. We visit this site on an irregular basis, but it always seems to help. Perhaps it will for you as well. :)

[Cortana]

My 20 month old is in speech therapy. Her next appt is tomorrow and I'm going to sit down with her therapist and have her tell me what I need to do at home (she has mentioned before reading with my dd a lot, pointing to things in the pictures and naming them then having dd repeat the words). Also my cousin is an SLP and she's going to give me additional exercises for all 3 of my kids (all of them have various speech delays/issues).

 

Whatever I learn, I will be very happy to pass on. :001_smile:

[Mergath]

My 20 month old is in speech therapy. Her next appt is tomorrow and I'm going to sit down with her therapist and have her tell me what I need to do at home (she has mentioned before reading with my dd a lot, pointing to things in the pictures and naming them then having dd repeat the words). Also my cousin is an SLP and she's going to give me additional exercises for all 3 of my kids (all of them have various speech delays/issues).

 

Whatever I learn, I will be very happy to pass on. :001_smile:

 

One thing our speech therapist told us to do that's been helpful with my 22 month old dd is to give her two choices whenever possible, and to try to get her to indicate what she wants verbally, whether that's a word, or just pointing and grunting.

[LilMama]

My DD is now 3 and is now in public school speech therapy. She was in EI (birth to 3) speech from 20 mos. on. In my state, prior to three, they are concerned with language development as opposed to speech articulation. Even if a child said, " ah wah dah guh dah a dah" for "I want to go to the store", he or she may not qualify since they have the language - the understanding of the words in their head. But, call your local EI and get an eval to see what they think.

 

My DD had an expressive language and an expressive speech delay. Her language delay is really mild now as it is now more a function of her speech delay. Meaning, her articulation is so poor that she can not even begin to say what she is thinking in some instances.

 

Having said all this, it is a challenge to do articulation exercises with a two year old. Lots of language exposure - reading, conversing, and modeling are good.

 

Here are some techniques we are currently using. One is called recasting.

 

http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/tx-/mod-recast-with-example.pdf

 

I was advised to recast just one word of sentence my DD tells me. It gives her just that one word to focus on.

 

For example, if she said, "buh bahbah a beh" (put baby to bed). I might just say bed. If I do that, my DD usually will say the word back better than she said it previously. We do that a couple of times.

 

Also, in ST, we are working on speech sounds. We are working on "p" sounds both at the beginning and end of words. So, we've been working on words like mop, nap, pie, pool, etc.

 

Hope all this helps!

 

LilMama

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My now 5 year old son was in speech therapy for 2 years. I just bought a speech therapy program from somebody on here. I looked into it when I saw it for sale and It looks AMAZING. I will let you know the name of it when I get it if you would like. Also, something that really stick out to me from speech therapy, get a little hand help mirror, and have your son watch your lips and tongue when you pronounce words, and have him immitate what he sees your lips/mouth/tongu do then have him do it with the mirror. Start with sounds, then go to troublesome words! It takes time for them to get it but they really do catch on and it is amazing to see the difference!

[Osmosis Mom]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have not called EI as I'd rather not have to for different reasons. I have been more diligent about pronouncing a few words clearly for him and have him for fun try to repeat the words a few times.

 

He certainly uses "words", some of which you can understand clearly, most of which are just the melody of the word. I'll be signing him up for story hour this spring as well and just for now try to expose him a lot more to the use of at least English.

 

Nadia

[cathmom]

I have 3 children in speech therapy and I wish I had started them at the age your son is!

 

I'm concerned that you're using the word "lazy." Just because he can pronounce something better when it's modelled for him does not mean that he can accurately produce it on his own.

[Embassy]

Ds 2 yr 4 mths really seems to not only be slow in catching onto speech, but also to have real issues with repeating words. He is surrounded by three languages, but everyone talks to him and are actively engaging him. He is defnitely trying to use language, but for the most of the time then his pronounciation is extremely off. At times I would say he is lazy to pronounce words. Fx. he might be able to better enounciate some words, but chooses to go the easy way and pronounces them very lazily (and thus incomprehensibly). Fx. instead of calling his sister by her name "Hu-da", then he says "Hu-a". He finally began calling his other sister her name "Dee-ma" after refuding to give that "dee"-sound. He won't say cookie, but calls it something with t instead. He is beginning to really want to express himself and I just cannot understand what he is saying (one word uses only, rarely two word uses).

 

Is there anything I can do at home for him?

 

As a former speech therapist to young children I have seen this many times. If you are concerned or if he is frustrated at not being understood I would take him for a speech evaluation.

 

It is normal for children to simplify words though. They will often simplify a word that is difficult to say by leaving off sounds or changing sounds so they are at an easier spot in the mouth to say. These patterns to simplify words usually stop as your child grows and is able to produce more complex sequences in the mouth.

 

Also, children who are learning more than one language are slower to acquire language. For some helpful strategies you can apply at home go to http://www.HelpMyChildTalk.com

[Osmosis Mom]

He is not getting frustrated at this point. Most of my older kids were late to talk due to many languages around them. He pronounces some words (Bob the Builder, tummy and others) just fine, but most are not pronounces clearly which is why I used the term lazy. It does not sound as if he has a hearing issue, but that if he has gotten into a pattern of mis-pronouncing a word then he doesn't want to change. He was fx. mispronouncing one sister's name for a long time (eema instead of Deema) until we kept on insisting he pronounce it with a D which he now does. Isn't this defined laziness in pronounciation?

[Embassy]

He is not getting frustrated at this point. Most of my older kids were late to talk due to many languages around them. He pronounces some words (Bob the Builder, tummy and others) just fine, but most are not pronounces clearly which is why I used the term lazy. It does not sound as if he has a hearing issue, but that if he has gotten into a pattern of mis-pronouncing a word then he doesn't want to change. He was fx. mispronouncing one sister's name for a long time (eema instead of Deema) until we kept on insisting he pronounce it with a D which he now does. Isn't this defined laziness in pronounciation?

 

Actually, it wouldn't be laziness because his developmental abilities may not have allowed him to be able to pronounce the word correctly. Laziness would imply that he was fully able to do it and just didn't want to put in the effort. Names also seem to take longer before you get the correct pronunciation because it is a very familiar word that the child has said as "eema" for a long time.

 

My daughter turns 2 very soon and she says "candy" like "tan-nee." This is a normal process. As she grows she will be able to produce more and more complex sound sequences. It is normal for two year olds to be understood by strangers or an unfamiliar listener about 50% of the time. By the time the child is 3 that number should be more in the 80% range.

 

I would just repeat back or expand on what he says emphasizing the incorrect sound without requiring him to say it correctly. Especially when you are dealing with slower language development you want to make sure all language and speech attempts are valued. Correcting the speech directly at that age may make the child feel like an ineffective communicator and impact on his desire to communicate more. For instance if he says "eema" you can say "where is DDDDeema?" or "DDDDeema is silly" and deal with the mispronunciation without directly correcting his speech.

[terrijo]

My ds is now 31 months and we started him in EI 2 months ago... it has been amazing! We contacted the Infant Program which should also be in your area. They have run a barrage of tests on him and not just for speech. Has he had a hearing test? Has he had a lot of ear infections? Sometimes if there is fluid on the ear, they will not hear the sounds correctly.

Turns out that for my ds, the phone call was the best of my life! After making the initial call, he started saying more and more words. One thing you can try is to label everything for him. Fx, point to his shoe and say "shoe". When he brings you a book say "book". Don't ask that he repeat it, just label it and repeat it yourself. Someone else suggested giving him choices, fx "Do you want milk or juice?" (I would hold up each container in my hand). Even if he just points to the one he wants, he is communicating.

The Infant Program can assist until age 3 then they will have to go the school district (if he qualifies) where they will set him up with an IEP (Individual Education Plan??)

After all the calls, my son did not qualify for the speech therapy portion since he did not have a 50% delay (required on ages 2+). But he is getting some wonderful fine motor and oral motor work thru the Infant Prog.

I also purchased a speech curriculum called "small talk" through FIAR. It has some wonderful excercises in it for making certain speech sounds. It is pricey at $150 but if you have to pay for speech therapy, this could save quite a bit.

One more idea is to contact your local Elks club chapter. Each of those clubs supports a different program and the Elks' program is speech and can probably direct you to a speech therapist that would be sponsored through the Elks - no cost to you!

My feeling is that he will be fine. I do wish I had called for intervetion earlier though as I am seeing great strides being made but he probably will not be caught up by his next bday but may not qualify for the IEP. Cross that bridge when we come to it!

Good luck!