well we're back to it being just a speech delay......

[HappyLady]

I posted previously how my almost 3yo DS has been going through his evaluations to transition to the CPSE program and they suggested he could be on the spectrum.  That's what the one psychologist said (I don't know if the other two people who evaluated him had the same thought).  So to be thorough, she wanted us to come back so their other psychologist could evaluate him.  Long story short, at this time he didn't meet the criteria to be considered on the spectrum.  In fact, the new psychologist drew a bell chart and showed me that my DS would be way over to the left tail end of the chart if he were compared to children with autism.

 

So, that being said, we're back to him just having a speech delay.  I'm hoping some of you ladies that have gone through a child having a severe speech delay can help me out.  What are some things I can do to help him?  When did your child finally "grow out" of it?  My DS does talk.  In fact, he has a pretty extensive vocabulary (he's right on par for the number of words he knows compared to other children his age), but he doesn't really talk in sentences and doesn't use words to convey feelings.

 

Anyone BTDT and have any advice?  His speech therapists just keep telling me, "Do what you're doing," but I'd like to do more.

[Catwoman]

This may not be a popular opinion, but my best advice to you is to back off and not make your ds's speech delay into a big deal. If you over-emphasize the importance of getting him to talk, you may just stress him out to the point where he's too nervous to even make an attempt.

 

Many very bright, perfectly normal kids are late talkers. It's not necessarily a "severe speech delay," in terms of being something awful. Thomas Sowell wrote an interesting book called, The Einstein Syndrome, and you might want to see if your library has it. There is a free preview on Amazon -- I'd post a link, but I'm on my iPad. There have also been many articles written about late talkers, and it's interesting how many of those kids share some similar characteristics. If you read the info and discover that your ds has some similarities to those children, it might help calm your nerves a bit. Based on everything you have told us in the past about your ds, I truly don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

Whatever the case, if your ds tends to be a perfectionist, he may not want to talk very much until he's certain he will be good at it -- and then all of a sudden, he will be speaking in complete, complex sentences and you will be amazed.

 

With a lot of kids, constant work on speech amounts to nothing more than a lot of pressure being placed on the child to perform, and it can end up backfiring on even the most well-intentioned parent.

[Occasionally]

I personally wouldn't think that a 3yo that doesn't use words to convey his feelings would be unusual at all. I mean, my DS3 will far more often cry, yell, or pitch a fit because he can't express himself otherwise. I think that's pretty common. I can't speak (no pun intended) to the sentences thing. 

 

The story in my family is that my brother (1 year older) would never say anything but T-O-M (spell his name.) Until I spoke words. Then, not to be outdone, he spouted complete sentences. He's a lawyer now  :lol:

[Annie G]

 Reading Sowell's book Late Talking Children changed my son's life. He was 3 and had no words. Speech therapy was just stressing him out. Doctors tested him using a typical verbal IQ test, which of course he bombed.  After reading the book, we backed off the therapy and helped him learn to talk at his own pace, teaching him sign language to help with his frustration. 

 

He's just turned 19, is in the honor program at the college he attends, and is doing well.  His favorite class this semester is speech and he loves to do musical theater. So...there's plenty of hope for your little guy, who like our son, was simply a late talker. 

[HappyLady]

Oh, thank you, ladies!  You're making me feel a whole lot better!  :)  I'll definitely check out that book.  It's just so hard for me because my DD is the COMPLETE opposite of my DS (she's always been advanced) and he definitely challenges me each and everyday.  LOL

 

My mom always tells me the story how I was 13 months old and refused to even try to walk.  Then she said I saw some neighbor of ours walking and she said it looked like I thought to myself, "Well, if you can do it....."  I got up and started walking like I had been doing it for months!  So maybe my DS is just waiting for the "perfect time" like I did.   :lol:

[Joker]

My youngest went from hardly talking at three to reading (taught herself). :huh:  Blew my mind and I realized I shouldn't have worried at all.

[Guest submarines]

I'm sorry, but how does a TWO year old have a "severe" speech delay, if his vocabulary is on par with his peers? Many 2 year olds, especially boys, don't speak in full sentences. Expressing emotions in words comes much later for most children. I'm not picking on the OP, but on the entire sub-culture of finding what's wrong with children and lining them up with a specialist after specialist. 

 

I wouldn't do anything "special" for his speech. Talk to him, read to him, play with him--like with any other 2 year old

 

FWIW, DS didn't speak in sentences until he was 3 (and it never occurred to me to consider this a delay) and DD spoke in sentences at 10 months. Guess what? By the age of 5, no one would know the difference. 

 

 

[redsquirrel]

I was also told my son was prob autistic and mentally delayed, but that was when he was 15 months old. Given how things were at the time, I understand why they said that. FWIW, my son is absolutely not autistic, totally typical in his social development, and has a vrey high IQ. He does have a mild motor delay and that causes his speech delay.

 

Why the discrepancy? Well, it's hard to test someone who won't talk or mimic. I understand why they made the determination they did, but it was upsetting at the time

 

Things can change a lot when they are that young. You should be prepared for things to keep changing for a while. However, if there is a delay I think you should address it. Kids with delays that go unaddressed tend to stay behind. Speech delays can correlate with lots of other kinds of delays. Once they are behind it can be difficult to make it up.

[Momling]

I had a 3 yr old foster son who was pretty close to non-verbal. His speech therapy goals were "2 word sentences" when he came to us. I saw him last week - now 4 1/2 and he was talking absolutely appropriately for his age. I think it was a readiness thing for him.

[redsquirrel]

I'm sorry, but how does a TWO year old have a "severe" speech delay, if his vocabulary is on par with his peers? Many 2 year olds, especially boys, don't speak in full sentences. Expressing emotions in words comes much later for most children. I'm not picking on the OP, but on the entire sub-culture of finding what's wrong with children and lining them up with a specialist after specialist. 

 

I wouldn't do anything "special" for his speech. Talk to him, read to him, play with him--like with any other 2 year old

 

FWIW, DS didn't speak in sentences until he was 3 (and it never occurred to me to consider this a delay) and DD spoke in sentences at 10 months. Guess what? By the age of 5, no one would know the difference. 

 

That is a big chance to take with a child's development. My son wasn't speaking well at 2. At 8 he still needs speech therapy several times a week. I am so very glad I didn't wait to start getting him the therapy he needed.

 

To the OP, if you feel like your son needs help with his speech development then you should pursue it. If you feel like everything is ok, then don't. But, the speech therapy won't hurt and could very well be what he needs.

 

I remember how it felt, to be worried about my child because I felt something was not right, and to have people dismiss my concerns or tell me about their aunt who didn't speak until she was 8 and went on to be a world famous anthropologist. It made me second guess myself and made me worry I was hurting my child or being overly concerned. And he still couldn't speak and it wasn't getting better.

 

Seeking out help for this isn't a bad thing. You aren't being a helicopter parent. You aren't going to damage him with speech therapy. If you feel like something isn't right, then keep pushing. He needs you to help him.

[Occasionally]

Oh, thank you, ladies!  You're making me feel a whole lot better!   :)  I'll definitely check out that book.  It's just so hard for me because my DD is the COMPLETE opposite of my DS (she's always been advanced) and he definitely challenges me each and everyday.  LOL

 

My mom always tells me the story how I was 13 months old and refused to even try to walk.  Then she said I saw some neighbor of ours walking and she said it looked like I thought to myself, "Well, if you can do it....."  I got up and started walking like I had been doing it for months!  So maybe my DS is just waiting for the "perfect time" like I did.   :lol:

 

It's REALLY hard not to compare two kids, but please don't. Especially a girl and a boy. They're just different people. I had a girl first. She became my benchmark, but I should never have done that. 

[HappyLady]

I'm sorry, but how does a TWO year old have a "severe" speech delay, if his vocabulary is on par with his peers? Many 2 year olds, especially boys, don't speak in full sentences. Expressing emotions in words comes much later for most children. I'm not picking on the OP, but on the entire sub-culture of finding what's wrong with children and lining them up with a specialist after specialist. 

 

I wouldn't do anything "special" for his speech. Talk to him, read to him, play with him--like with any other 2 year old

 

FWIW, DS didn't speak in sentences until he was 3 (and it never occurred to me to consider this a delay) and DD spoke in sentences at 10 months. Guess what? By the age of 5, no one would know the difference. 

 

 

The people who initially evaluated him (for the EI program) classified his speech as "severely delayed" which is why I used that term.  I honestly never thought he was, but then I started paying attention to how his peers talked (in sentences, spontaneous speech, etc) and then watched videos of my DD when she was his age and I was having conversations with her so that's why I guess I believed them when they told me he was "severely delayed."  To add to that, he cries and has tantrums ALL. THE. TIME.  I've always said it was because he couldn't verbalize his wants/needs/feelings, but his behavior compounded with the speech delay is what raised the red flags for the people evaluating him.  Again, I didn't think it was that bad, but they did.

 

I'm glad your DS was talking by 5 without anyone realizing anything.  That makes me feel better!  :)

[redsquirrel]

Boys do tend to develop a little later on the spectrum, that is true. But if a boy isn't on the spectrum of typical development then follow up is warranted. For example by two a typical child will have approx 50 words. So if a child had 30-70 word that would be great. My son had maybe 5 sounds we called words and I was the only one who could understand him. That isn't in the range of typical.

 

 

[Mergath]

My dd had a speech delay for a variety of reasons.  She made drastic improvements after we started giving her fish oil.  I can't say that was it, of course, but it certainly seemed to help.  At eighteen months, when we began the fish oil, she had two words (down from four, because she actually had lost a couple).  She began putting words together regularly at about two and a half.

 

She turned five at the end of May, and at this point, she talks in novels. ;)  She has had speech therapy, but they've focused on articulation only.

[Cinder]

My nephew had a significant speech delay and it turned out he had major earwax blockage that wasn't discovered until he was nearly 5yo! Once his ears were clear and he got some speech therapy things got much better.

[Annie G]

I want to make it clear that when I say the Sowell book was life changing, it's because we had sought professional help, ruled out other disorders, and were not seeing improvement from therapy. Ds was thought to have autism or dyspraxia/apraxia.  But those were dismissed once specialists evaluated him. His hearing was tested and found to be fine. 

The book describes a certain group of kids who are late talkers with no apparent reason for the delay. These are mostly boys, their parents/grandparents are often engineers or scientists, often the parents or grandparents have musical abilities. The kids themselves are often exceptionally good with puzzles and directions. There is more to it...it's been 14 years since I have needed to refer to the book so I don't remember all the details.   But these kids have a serious speech delay that speech therapy doesn't seem to improve. 

 

I'm not against speech therapy- our middle daughter needed therapy to help with her articulation issues. But when other issues have been ruled out, sometimes therapy helps and sometimes a kid just has to mature.  For those of us who tried speech therapy and saw no improvement, the book's encouragement to relax a little and give it some time can be such a relief. 

[Tranquility7]

So, that being said, we're back to him just having a speech delay.  I'm hoping some of you ladies that have gone through a child having a severe speech delay can help me out.  What are some things I can do to help him?  When did your child finally "grow out" of it?  My DS does talk.  In fact, he has a pretty extensive vocabulary (he's right on par for the number of words he knows compared to other children his age), but he doesn't really talk in sentences and doesn't use words to convey feelings.

 

Anyone BTDT and have any advice?  His speech therapists just keep telling me, "Do what you're doing," but I'd like to do more.

 

So if they say, "Do what you are doing," what is it that you are doing?  Anything in particular?  Do they mean just interact with him like you would any child and he will grow out of his delay?  Are you doing any therapy with him now?

 

Our DD also had a severe speech delay.  She was evaluated almost exactly a year ago, just before turning 3 yrs old, and her expressive language was that of a 15 month old.  She basically only spoke in a few single open syllables.  Ma, po, bay, ba - that kind of thing.  She never put an ending consonant on anything, much less put two syllables together.  Many of her "words" for things had nothing to do with the actual word (for instance, calling water "pay").  She would also act like she was saying an entire sentence but would not move her lips or tongue at all, but make the right rhythm and intonation for a sentence - but just using a vowel sound and not actually articulating any consonants at all.

 

Her social skills were typical, and her receptive language skills were actually advanced - she understood virtually everything we said to her, could follow all kinds of complex multi-step directions, and had a large receptive vocabulary.  But expressively, she sounded like a baby and simply could not get anything else out.

 

We tend to be late-ish talkers on my side of the family, but once we start talking, we sound clear and easy to understand.  DS was later than normal (I don't remember exactly how late) and was an extraordinarily quiet child before talking, but once he started talking, everyone could totally understand him, and his articulation, vocabulary, and grammar were always very good.  However, DD was later than any of us were, and she made *so* few different sounds, and the sounds she made seemed completely disconnected to the word she was trying to approximate.  No one could understand her at.all, even me (and isn't Mommy always supposed to understand her kids?!).  DH and I tend to be (very!!) non-interventionist (and we read the Sowell book, too!), but we finally decided we would prefer to get her help and find out she didn't need it, rather than not get her help and wish we had.

 

When we had her evaluated there was a strong suspicion of speech apraxia, and when we started therapy our speech therapist used some PROMPT therapy with her along with some traditional therapy.  DD tends to be a tactile kiddo, and she started making progress within a couple of months of starting therapy.

 

Fast forward almost a year now, and I will honestly tell you it is like we have a different child.  DD LOVES LOVES LOVES her speech therapy and wants to practice all.the.time at home, and I think it is truly because something has clicked and she is figuring out how to make these different sounds.  She loves speech therapy because she knows how much it has helped her.  She is SO HAPPY that people can understand her when she talks now!!

 

(Funny aside - I was recently asking her what theme she wanted for her fourth birthday party this fall, and she said, "I want a Speech party!  And I want a cake that says, 'I love Speech!' And I want Miss Janet [her ST] to come, and we can practice words!"  Is that not the sweetest thing?)

 

Some people will surely say that DD was just delayed and simply needed time, but honestly, I think she needed time PLUS a little explicit help.  She is not apraxic after all, but for whatever reason just needed extra motor help in figuring out how to make different sounds.  She now has a good awareness of whether she is saying something correctly or not, and will ask for PROMPT cues and/or traditional help if she can't figure it on her own!  Sometimes she will even give herself the PROMPT cues (which makes me laugh, but it does help her).  She still has a ways to go, but the progress she has made has been remarkable, and her joy in it is obvious to everyone who knows her.  She still needs deliberate instruction on many sounds, unlike most kids who just "get it" without even having to think about it, but the explicit teaching makes a world of difference for her.

 

So anyway, all of this to say - I really had my doubts when we started Speech therapy with her, but I could not be happier with how much it has truly helped her.  I really wondered if it was "just a delay" when we started.  But as hard as we have worked (and as much as I have learned about how to help her at home through our ST sessions) - I just know there is *no way* she would be where she is now without the Speech therapy we have received and all the deliberate practice we have done. 

 

That is a big chance to take with a child's development. My son wasn't speaking well at 2. At 8 he still needs speech therapy several times a week. I am so very glad I didn't wait to start getting him the therapy he needed.

 

To the OP, if you feel like your son needs help with his speech development then you should pursue it. If you feel like everything is ok, then don't. But, the speech therapy won't hurt and could very well be what he needs.

 

I remember how it felt, to be worried about my child because I felt something was not right, and to have people dismiss my concerns or tell me about their aunt who didn't speak until she was 8 and went on to be a world famous anthropologist. It made me second guess myself and made me worry I was hurting my child or being overly concerned. And he still couldn't speak and it wasn't getting better.

 

Seeking out help for this isn't a bad thing. You aren't being a helicopter parent. You aren't going to damage him with speech therapy. If you feel like something isn't right, then keep pushing. He needs you to help him.

:iagree:

[Guest submarines]

The people who initially evaluated him (for the EI program) classified his speech as "severely delayed" which is why I used that term.  I honestly never thought he was, but then I started paying attention to how his peers talked (in sentences, spontaneous speech, etc) and then watched videos of my DD when she was his age and I was having conversations with her so that's why I guess I believed them when they told me he was "severely delayed."  To add to that, he cries and has tantrums ALL. THE. TIME.  I've always said it was because he couldn't verbalize his wants/needs/feelings, but his behavior compounded with the speech delay is what raised the red flags for the people evaluating him.  Again, I didn't think it was that bad, but they did.

 

I'm glad your DS was talking by 5 without anyone realizing anything.  That makes me feel better!   :)

DS was talking a storm even earlier than 5, maybe 3.5-4. My point was that early speech patterns can be very different, but when kids are 5 or 8 or 18, you wouldn't know who was talking in full sentences at 10 months, and who didn't talk in sentences until 3.

 

Go with your gut, but also don't "age" him (if he's two, he is two, not "almost 3") and try not to compare him with your DD. They are different people with different personalities. Tantrums are not uncommon at this age. My oldest had many, many tantrums, but my younger two hardly had any. Each kid is different. 

 

Just an example about so called specialists. When my oldest was 17 months she had one word less than "average" for an 18 month old, but used a lot of ASL signs. I was told by a specialist that  I was hindering her speech development but using sign language and that she is already "behind" and that I should look into speech therapy. I laughed it off and was lectured about not taking this seriously.

 

Interestingly, exactly on the day she turned 18 months she gained a dozen new words, and her vocabulary (both sign and spoken) just exploded. 

 

It seems that what you are saying is that his speech is on track but he tantrums a lot. I'd be looking into allergies and sensory processing much more than into speech. It could also be his personality. DD is still a person whose cup is almost never full, and she is able to tell me now, "Mom, remember when I was 4 and I screamed and screamed? That's because I couldn't find the right words to tell you that this and that bothered me."  :lol: She was very verbal at that age, but also very emotional, and obviously she has the memory of an elephant. She's 11 now and still can describe her tantrums and why she was so upset and out of control.  :coolgleamA:

[GoVanGogh]

That is a big chance to take with a child's development. My son wasn't speaking well at 2. At 8 he still needs speech therapy several times a week. I am so very glad I didn't wait to start getting him the therapy he needed.

 

To the OP, if you feel like your son needs help with his speech development then you should pursue it. If you feel like everything is ok, then don't. But, the speech therapy won't hurt and could very well be what he needs.

 

I remember how it felt, to be worried about my child because I felt something was not right, and to have people dismiss my concerns or tell me about their aunt who didn't speak until she was 8 and went on to be a world famous anthropologist. It made me second guess myself and made me worry I was hurting my child or being overly concerned. And he still couldn't speak and it wasn't getting better.

 

Seeking out help for this isn't a bad thing. You aren't being a helicopter parent. You aren't going to damage him with speech therapy. If you feel like something isn't right, then keep pushing. He needs you to help him.

 

I am going to cross-post comments from here to the "screwed up" post on the General Education forum. 

 

I totally agree with resquirrel, especially the bolded part. We have a middle school age child that I have fought to get therapy for since he was one year of age. Countless doctors and friends have told us along the way not to worry. But that attitude of "Don't worry..." cost us years of much needed therapy for our son. Now we are past two crucial times in regard to brain development (age 2 and age 5) and find ourselves with a crazy amount of therapy before puberty alters brain connections even more.

An outsider can say "Don't worry" when their own child turned out fine. But it really stinks to be on the losing end of "Don't worry."

There was actually an article in a medical journal earlier this year that said that speech, hearing issues, autism and cerebral palsy would all be caught 1-2 years earlier if only pediatricians listened to mothers. One to two years of extra therapy at a young age can make a considerable difference in a child's development.

[Guest submarines]

That is a big chance to take with a child's development. My son wasn't speaking well at 2. At 8 he still needs speech therapy several times a week. I am so very glad I didn't wait to start getting him the therapy he needed.

 

To the OP, if you feel like your son needs help with his speech development then you should pursue it. If you feel like everything is ok, then don't. But, the speech therapy won't hurt and could very well be what he needs.

 

I remember how it felt, to be worried about my child because I felt something was not right, and to have people dismiss my concerns or tell me about their aunt who didn't speak until she was 8 and went on to be a world famous anthropologist. It made me second guess myself and made me worry I was hurting my child or being overly concerned. And he still couldn't speak and it wasn't getting better.

 

Seeking out help for this isn't a bad thing. You aren't being a helicopter parent. You aren't going to damage him with speech therapy. If you feel like something isn't right, then keep pushing. He needs you to help him.

 

My point is that it is important to trust your gut and not look at "specialists" as the panacea for a diagnosis / label and treatment. You sensed something was wrong and you followed through.

 

According to what the OP stated her DS is actually on track with his speech now, but she's still applying the old label of "sever speech delay" and is worried about his speech, which can actually impede his speech. 

 

I can't agree that speech therapy is always benign. I've seen children who hated their speech therapy sessions and were stressed out by needing to practice at home. It is one thing when a child really needs it, and quite another when the parent thinks "oh, it is a free service provided for me, it can't hurt." Because it actually can, when it is not needed.

[redsquirrel]

My dd had a speech delay for a variety of reasons.  She made drastic improvements after we started giving her fish oil.  I can't say that was it, of course, but it certainly seemed to help.  At eighteen months, when we began the fish oil, she had two words (down from four, because she actually had lost a couple).  She began putting words together regularly at about two and a half.

 

She turned five at the end of May, and at this point, she talks in novels. ;)  She has had speech therapy, but they've focused on articulation only.

 

I have given my son a teaspoon of fish oil (nordic naturals peach flavoured) in a bit of yogurt every day since he was 18 months old. When we started he made a big leap in ability. I remember because I didn't say anything to anyone about it. Then after about 2 months the therapist said "I don't know what you are doing, but keep doing it because I have never seen a kid progress so quickly" Now that he is 8.5 it doesn't seem to be as easy to get it into him. He isn't too into his little dish of yogurt these day. I am hoping to get back to it next month when school starts and things are more regular. It has only been this summer that has been irregular.

He also needs articulation help.

He also gets OT and has had PT for many years. It was last year he skilled out of PT.

 

 

I want to make it clear that when I say the Sowell book was life changing, it's because we had sought professional help, ruled out other disorders, and were not seeing improvement from therapy. Ds was thought to have autism or dyspraxia/apraxia.  But those were dismissed once specialists evaluated him. His hearing was tested and found to be fine. 

The book describes a certain group of kids who are late talkers with no apparent reason for the delay. These are mostly boys, their parents/grandparents are often engineers or scientists, often the parents or grandparents have musical abilities. The kids themselves are often exceptionally good with puzzles and directions. There is more to it...it's been 14 years since I have needed to refer to the book so I don't remember all the details.   But these kids have a serious speech delay that speech therapy doesn't seem to improve. 

 

I'm not against speech therapy- our middle daughter needed therapy to help with her articulation issues. But when other issues have been ruled out, sometimes therapy helps and sometimes a kid just has to mature.  For those of us who tried speech therapy and saw no improvement, the book's encouragement to relax a little and give it some time can be such a relief. 

 

I think what you said about the Sowell book and exploring other options first is so, so important. I can't tell you how many people have told me to read that book (I did, I read everything!) and said that if I read it I wouldn't subject my kid to speech therapy. I am pretty sure those people haven't read the book themselves. His book isn't an indictment of speech therapy. He just says that they explored all options and nothing seemed to be particularly wrong with his boy so they waited. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I believe there is a part at the end where he goes out of his way to state that most kids with speech delays do benefit from speech therapy. He was addressing the situation of a small number of kids. I don't know if it was in the book. I know I saw it at some point and remember thinking that I wish I had seen that first, because it was clear from the first that my son did have a real delay.

[GoVanGogh]

 When did your child finally "grow out" of it?  My DS does talk.  In fact, he has a pretty extensive vocabulary (he's right on par for the number of words he knows compared to other children his age), but he doesn't really talk in sentences and doesn't use words to convey feelings.

 

Anyone BTDT and have any advice?  His speech therapists just keep telling me, "Do what you're doing," but I'd like to do more.

Without knowing or understanding why a child isn't talking, you can't really say when they will 'grow out of it.'

Our DS had severe speech delays at 2. He started talking right at 3rd birthday. But at 11, we are told that he probably had apraxia and didn't receive the right type of speech. We are about to re-eval for speech. Up until a year or so ago, I would have said his speech was normal, with a very high vocabulary. But he tends to get stuck in his train of thought and that is getting more and more noticeable and impacting his academics. (That is my own experience, so why I don't like comments that say not to worry.)

 

[PeterPan]

 

I can't agree that speech therapy is always benign. I've seen children who hated their speech therapy sessions and were stressed out by needing to practice at home. It is one thing when a child really needs it, and quite another when the parent thinks "oh, it is a free service provided for me, it can't hurt." Because it actually can, when it is not needed.

This becomes more a commentary on the quality of the speech therapy than whether the dc would have benefited from good speech therapy. 

 

This may not be a popular opinion, but my best advice to you is to back off and not make your ds's speech delay into a big deal. If you over-emphasize the importance of getting him to talk, you may just stress him out to the point where he's too nervous to even make an attempt.

 

Many very bright, perfectly normal kids are late talkers. It's not necessarily a "severe speech delay," in terms of being something awful. Thomas Sowell wrote an interesting book called, The Einstein Syndrome, and you might want to see if your library has it. 

I absolutely agree that a dc who is struggling will get very frustrated at being asked to do things they can't do.  Doesn't matter if the person doing the asking is a parent or therapist.  Praxis involves an inability to imitate, and most therapies given for apraxia are still imitation-based, which is why they don't work.  Look at how many therapists advertise they do Kauffman.  Flashcards, oh yeah, flashcards for my kid with apraxia.  So then our decision on whether therapy was good or not and whether it was a timetable thing is whether the therapy worked??  When the therapy was CRAP and based on imitation??  

 

Bad therapy, no results doesn't mean good therapy wouldn't have gotten results.  Sowell is not a speech therapist and wrote his book BEFORE the best therapy for apraxia (PROMPT) was even developed.  In the last 10 years the lid has totally come off this issue, and therapists now have MUCH better access to training for diagnosing apraxia, treating apraxia, and getting to the heart of the motor control issue.  There ARE situations where it's being called apraxia and it's NOT, totally agree.  I've met a situation where they happened.  But then who likes to be told that their precious has a developmental delay?  So no, the therapists suck the family for ST $$$.  It's a system with no accountability.  Therapists don't have to be trained in the best techniques, but they still get the same price.  

 

So what really burns *me* up is therapists who don't care enough to learn the best techniques for what they're treating but will give (sometimes errant) labels and take a parent's money.  That burns me up. Sowell has no accountability in his data for the *consequences* to his ideas.  It's just lots of blanket statements.  IF your kid has a developmental delay, that's different from praxis.  Praxis isn't going away and isn't improved by waiting.  They need totally different therapies.  And, as VanGoh said, the effects filter out later.  The first therapist we went to totally blew us off, gave us the worried mother routine, and said she'd work on "communication."  When we went to the apraxia expert, she picked up his jaw, told his brain how to work the muscles, and he SPOKE in his very first therapy session.  The first therapist was full of crap and had no clue how to diagnose and isolate the praxis.  She had been in business for years, but these are new techniques that SHE DIDN'T BOTHER to learn.  So if someone goes there and gets told it's hard to treat, it's a delay, just wait, you can't prove it, blah blah, what does that prove?  

 

All it proves is therapists aren't taking the time to learn the current best available techniques.  So I don't trust 'em one split nickel to sort out anything.  The parent needs to research and ask the questions, because the therapists AREN'T.  They'll take your money, and it won't matter to them ONE BIT whether they're giving you the best therapy, whether they used the best diagnostic methods, etc.  Not one bit.  It's YOUR responsibility to research and figure out if it's praxis or a developmental delay or what.  And I'm sorry, but pipe dreams don't do it for me.  I read Sowell's book, and I concluded my boy wasn't a statistic.  If a percentage of boys have that timetable thing as an issue and it's a developmental delay, cool for them.  But I needed someone who could actually sort it out and tell the difference and who CARED that there was a difference and who had learned the best techniques to identify that there IS a difference.  Sowell doesn't care.  No skin off his hide if your apraxia doesn't get diagnosed.  

 

As for the op, that's a pretty generic thing to say speech delay.  EI and the gov't stuff isn't known for giving the best care.  Sometimes you get real gems and veterans, and sometimes you get some newbie.  If I had used local care, I wouldn't have had a prayer for proper speech therapy for my ds, since there's NO ONE IN MY COUNTY who even is trained in the proper technique.  So what's happening to the moms with kids who go to EI and the kid has apraxia or needs some expressive language work or...  

 

Linguisystems and Super Duper both have products you might find helpful.  There are some ladies over on the LC/SN board who have used stuff from them for speech.  I haven't, so I'm no help.  As far as the # of words, our therapist wasn't counting those at age 3.  I would consider a private eval with someone who does a lot of spectrum and/or apraxia.  I would sit down and interact with him in ways that build sentences.  This stuff gets so complex, I really don't understand it all.  I know in our speech therapy, the big bugaboo is getting parts of stuff but not being able to get it into the whole.  They stress getting words into sentences ASAP. Keep the sentences short.  Sit down and play games that involve repetition so he can have the same language each time, predictability.  

 

----Who goes next?  Mommy.  What do I do?  Mommy spin.  I got a 3.  Hop 3.  [hop the pieces on your board, then repeat with next person]

 

Speech therapy can be AWESOME with the right therapist.  I take a new toy in every time, so my ds has played with sticker books, legos, playmobil, Thomas the Train, hexbugs, Richard Scarry board games, all sorts of things in speech.  He ENJOYS speech therapy.  At age 3 we were doing a lot of cooperative board games.  The Richard Scarry ones are terrific.  Curious George Discovery Beach.  Cariboo.  You get into a routine in the speech.  If he can say single words, then shoot for a two word sentence.  Pick one sentence with just two words that he can say over and over during your game.  That way there's predictability.  You work on social skills during this play time too, so you're working on turn-taking and whatever other social skills you need.  You could do books with faces of children and emotions, same deal. With a book, your sentence might be as simple as "more book!"  That's one we used a lot at that age.  Just to say "more book" was really hard for him, and he had to say it to get us to turn the page.  

 

I'm with GVG that your gut is the biggest meter.  The therapists are the problem and are NOT as good as we would wish.  DON'T trust them, DO trust your gut.  If you think something isn't right, it's not.  When they're blowing you off, that's your big clue that they're not trained to help you and don't know the techniques.  Therapists are NOT all equal.  I drive 2.5 hours each way for ours.  No joke.  Don't believe them and don't trust them when they blow you off.  Better therapy and answers are out there.  

[petepie2]

At 2 yrs old, my DS would only say one word at a time and it was unintelligible. With speech therapy, by age 3, he could put a couple words together and speak them clearly. He progressed rapidly after that and was released from speech therapy when he was just over 3 and a half. Now at age 5, he's my singer! His was diagnosed with a phonological issue, although they toyed with apraxia for a while. All that to say: don't freak out. A lot can happen at that age.