Is there an increase of children with speech delays?

[Janna]

Last night I got together with a group of friends. All together there were 6 of us, sitting around the fire pit sipping coffee, hot cocoa and eating LOTS of chocolate.

 

The conversation quickly went to our children, as most conversations with mothers who are away from their children seem to gravitate towards.

One of the mothers was updating us on her 15 month old's progress with her low muscle tone and inability to stand, causing the need for orthotics. It came up that not only is she getting PT for this weekly, but she's also seeing a speech therapist - that when the government program (First Steps) came to evaluate her, she actually scored lower on her communication than her gross motor development. This sparked more conversation about the speech because there were 4 ladies with concerns for their children, all in the 15-22 month age range. It turns out that 3 of the 6 of us have children in some sort of speech therapy, and a 4th who thinks she needs to get her child some assistance (which I would agree because she's 22 months old and I've never heard her say anything, though she will point, which is a from of communication).

 

I was completely shocked that 4 out of 6 of us have children with speech issues! I brought this up, how interesting it is and do we care to speculate the reason, to which one mother seemed convinced it was vaccinations. While I do think vaccinations should not be so easily and quickly dismissed as a possible factor to a lot of ailments, I have not heard anything possibly linking it to speech problems. Only one of the 4 works full time and has her child in day care. One of them works part-time and the other 2 are stay at home moms. Of the four children with speech problems, only 1 is a boy, while the other 3 are girls (this surprises me).

 

Is there something going on? Is it just coincidence that there was such a large percentage? Between us there are 17 kids. 4 of them have issues. That's over 75%, right (seriously I ask - math is not a strong point here :blushing:)?

 

Have you noticed anything? Any speech therapists here? Is this on the rise? Do YOU care to speculate? I just find it so very interesting....

[hsmamainva]

I would guess that it has something to do with the increase in autism spectrum disorders. As to why that's on the rise is open for debate.

 

My 6yo has autism and a severe speech disorder.

[Renee in NC]

Is it possible that it is simply because there are therapies available to you?

 

I would not seek speech therapy for a child under 3. As a mother of 6, I can attest that the range for speech acquisition is very broad. Most articulation issues are outgrown by 8 or so (in my experience - research may show otherwise.)

 

My now 4yo did not walk until she was 21 months old! I did not seek therapy for her because I figured she would walk in her own time. Her foot also "turned in" quite a bit when she was an infant.

 

I am not saying that I wouldn't seek help for a very obvious, serious problem, but rather that insurance and government programs allow much more access to therapies that in the past would have been cost prohibitive to most. More families would have simply "waited it out" for most children.

[ma23peas]

I am not one to cry foul...okay, yes I am now that I think of it! Here is my experience...

 

My first born (son) was saying 10-15 words before he had his shots at almost 2 years of age...he ran a high fever after the shots, which lasted for 3 days...the doc said it was just a reaction to them...my son did not utter another word for 15 months...he would point to things and understood what we were saying but could not say the words he used to say. I have no doubt that the innoculations have a severe impact on autism/speech development and other relative disorders....whether it is the thimerosol or some other 'inactive' ingredient or preservative...I believe we have harmed our children. My son finally began speaking at about 3.5 and has had no problems with his speech since...

 

I just pray they'll find the answers soon.

 

Tara

[Jennifer3141]

I'm a parent of a speech delayed son on the autism spectrum. We did therapies like crazy with him from 16 months - 2 years, 4 months. It didn't appear to me that DS acuired any skills any faster in private therapy than he does without it.

 

He just started 2 word sentences last month. And his spoken vocabulary is very stunted. but he signs the ABCs and has fabulous receptive language skills. He's also my freaky little pattern maker.

 

So from that perspective, I understand why the government and parents are pushing for "early intervention" because we're pushing our kids younger and younger to do more and more. And a lot of children come into this world with apathetic parents. But there's a big part of me that is worried that we are intervening in kids who just process and present information differently than the "norm."

 

I decided to just have fun with DS, teach to his interests, try to refine some of his weaknesses, and see what happens.

 

Jen

[Janna]

Is it possible that it is simply because there are therapies available to you?

 

I would not seek speech therapy for a child under 3. As a mother of 6, I can attest that the range for speech acquisition is very broad. Most articulation issues are outgrown by 8 or so (in my experience - research may show otherwise.)

 

My now 4yo did not walk until she was 21 months old! I did not seek therapy for her because I figured she would walk in her own time. Her foot also "turned in" quite a bit when she was an infant.

 

I am not saying that I wouldn't seek help for a very obvious, serious problem, but rather that insurance and government programs allow much more access to therapies that in the past would have been cost prohibitive to most. More families would have simply "waited it out" for most children.

 

I would agree with this. I was listening to the mother who is concerned about her 22 month old and was thinking that she herself is rather quiet and reserved. Couldn't her daughter be this way also? I didn't mention that, however I did bring up that none of these children are firstborns, so couldn't it be related to the fact that they are either 1. not getting the same attention their first born did, or 2. that their other child(ren) are talking over, on top of, or FOR the child with the issue?

 

I would agree with you that it seems a bit early for their Dr.'s to be crying out that help is needed, but on the other hand, they said that if you wait too long it becomes all the harder to get proper speech developed. :confused:

[Janna]

I didn't think about it being linked to autism. I will think more on that. From what I gather, none of my friends have mentioned their child being autistic, or being tested for autism yet. But maybe they are keeping it to themselves for the moment? Hmm...

[hsmamainva]

My first born (son) was saying 10-15 words before he had his shots at almost 2 years of age...he ran a high fever after the shots, which lasted for 3 days...the doc said it was just a reaction to them...my son did not utter another word for 15 months...he would point to things and understood what we were saying but could not say the words he used to say. I have no doubt that the innoculations have a severe impact on autism/speech development and other relative disorders....whether it is the thimerosol or some other 'inactive' ingredient or preservative...I believe we have harmed our children. My son finally began speaking at about 3.5 and has had no problems with his speech since...

 

My oldest son had a VERY similar experience!!!! He was talking in sentences until his MMR vaccine at 15 mos and he stopped talking 5 days later. Didn't talk again until he was 4.

 

What have you done about vaccinations for your other children? (If you have had children since this happened?) I ask because we stopped vaccinating after this happened and my youngest child is autistic with severe language delays and she's never been vaccinated.

 

So I never know where I stand in the autism / vaccination debate.

[Quad Shot Academy]

I have four kids, two of which were speech delayed. The first born boy was significantly delayed and the girl slightly. Neither had received any immunizations and are not even slightly autistic. I think, there is more education about the window for speech acquisition, so earlier and more aggressive treatment. After my son started speaking at 3 (with an hour a day therapy), he started stuttering. The speech pathologist told me that if we did treatment before age 5, he would have a 95% cure rate. If we waited until age 6, it would drop to 30%. Most of the children will naturally outgrow a speech delay or stuttering problem, but if you don't seek treatment and they are in the 30%, life will be much harder for them, so I think more people are seeking treatment earlier and the schools are being very aggressive with therapy. If you read the studies out there about the window for speech acquisition, it is quite remarkable and quite scary if you happen to have a delayed child. Most are, just that, delayed, but others need to have the brain "rewired" with intensive therapy and unfortunately no-one knows how to tell the difference until it is too late, so most should be treated. IMHO!

Edited October 23, 2008 by Quad Shot Academy

[Renee in NC]

I have four kids, two of which were speech delayed. The first born boy was significantly delayed and the girl slightly. Neither had received any immunizations and are not even slightly autistic. I think, there is more education about the window for speech acquisition, so earlier and more aggressive treatment. After my son started speaking at 3 (with an hour a day therapy), he started stuttering. The speech pathologist told me that if we did treatment before age 5, he would have a 95% cure rate. If we waited until age 6, it would drop to 30%. Most of the children will naturally outgrow a speech delay or stuttering problem, but if you don't seek treatment and they are in the 30%, life will be much harder for them, so I think more people are seeking treatment earlier and the schools are being very aggressive with therapy. If you read the studies out there about the window for speech acquisition, it is quite remarkable and quite scary if you happen to have a delayed child. Most are, just that, delayed, but others need to have the brain "rewired" with intensive therapy and unfortunately no-one knows how to tell the difference until it is too late, so most should be treated. IMHO!

 

I am glad that I didn't know those statistics when my now 10yo was young! He didn't speak until 3 and then he stuttered for a year or so. We didn't do speech therapy because it wasn't an option, really. I would have worried more if I thought that he might not outgrow it!

[ma23peas]

My oldest son had a VERY similar experience!!!! He was talking in sentences until his MMR vaccine at 15 mos and he stopped talking 5 days later. Didn't talk again until he was 4.

 

What have you done about vaccinations for your other children? (If you have had children since this happened?) I ask because we stopped vaccinating after this happened and my youngest child is autistic with severe language delays and she's never been vaccinated.

 

So I never know where I stand in the autism / vaccination debate.

 

hsmama....It was very hard as a parent to go through this, I was told that when my daughters (3 years later) came that they had 'changed' the vaccination or who that particular pediatrician ordered it through, I was in pharmaceutical sales for 8 years so I knew a thing or two about the companies and how the shots were manufactured....I also did a lot of praying about it and researched as much as I could find at the time...I was reading about similar reactions before there ever was a tie to autism and preservatives in the shots.

 

I have refused the chicken pox vaccine, and the hepatitis shots...I have received flack (sp?) for that but I put my children above flack. My children had already ALL had chicken pox and ped's still tried to push the vaccine on me...I learned a long time ago that I have to be the guardian over my children's health not some school requirement or government mandate...I'm just thankful I homeschooled and could look into the doctor's eyes and say "NO, I don't want that vaccine." He'd always respond "the schools require X, Y, Z"..I'd smile and say "well, then I'm so glad the schools don't have my children."

 

Hsmama, it's very tough to make those decisions..did your child that you refused the shots (your youngest) have the shot they're given at birth to help with their platelets? I think it was a "K" shot or something like that? I was angered that my kids had to have that or they wouldn't let us leave the hospital....I think some hospitals give a round of shots routinely and the parents aren't asked what they are...those concern me.

 

Tara

[hsmamainva]

hsmama....It was very hard as a parent to go through this, I was told that when my daughters (3 years later) came that they had 'changed' the vaccination or who that particular pediatrician ordered it through, I was in pharmaceutical sales for 8 years so I knew a thing or two about the companies and how the shots were manufactured....I also did a lot of praying about it and researched as much as I could find at the time...I was reading about similar reactions before there ever was a tie to autism and preservatives in the shots.

 

I have refused the chicken pox vaccine, and the hepatitis shots...I have received flack (sp?) for that but I put my children above flack. My children had already ALL had chicken pox and ped's still tried to push the vaccine on me...I learned a long time ago that I have to be the guardian over my children's health not some school requirement or government mandate...I'm just thankful I homeschooled and could look into the doctor's eyes and say "NO, I don't want that vaccine." He'd always respond "the schools require X, Y, Z"..I'd smile and say "well, then I'm so glad the schools don't have my children."

 

Hsmama, it's very tough to make those decisions..did your child that you refused the shots (your youngest) have the shot they're given at birth to help with their platelets? I think it was a "K" shot or something like that? I was angered that my kids had to have that or they wouldn't let us leave the hospital....I think some hospitals give a round of shots routinely and the parents aren't asked what they are...those concern me.

 

Tara

 

No, she didn't. I watched her like a hawk and both my OB and my pediatrician knew better than to approach her with anything! I even refused an epidural with her (because I'd had one with my son and I was determined to do everything differently).

 

I also made sure that I nursed her longer than I did my son (I nursed my first two for about 2 years...I nursed my third child for 3 years and my youngest for 4 years, because I wanted to make sure she continually received immunity -- because I've had chicken pox and rubella and regular measles, etc., and, as long as you're nursing, your children continue to receive antibodies).

 

She's the healthiest of my 4 children, btw...so I always look to that when I'm considering the vaccine debate. She very rarely gets sick and, when she does, it's very mild and gone within 12 hours or so.

 

Thanks for responding, too! I'm always curious as to what others have done when vaccinating subsequent children after receiving an autism diagnosis!

[Stacy in NJ]

Last night I got together with a group of friends. All together there were 6 of us, sitting around the fire pit sipping coffee, hot cocoa and eating LOTS of chocolate.

 

The conversation quickly went to our children, as most conversations with mothers who are away from their children seem to gravitate towards.

One of the mothers was updating us on her 15 month old's progress with her low muscle tone and inability to stand, causing the need for orthotics. It came up that not only is she getting PT for this weekly, but she's also seeing a speech therapist - that when the government program (First Steps) came to evaluate her, she actually scored lower on her communication than her gross motor development. This sparked more conversation about the speech because there were 4 ladies with concerns for their children, all in the 15-22 month age range. It turns out that 3 of the 6 of us have children in some sort of speech therapy, and a 4th who thinks she needs to get her child some assistance (which I would agree because she's 22 months old and I've never heard her say anything, though she will point, which is a from of communication).

 

I was completely shocked that 4 out of 6 of us have children with speech issues! I brought this up, how interesting it is and do we care to speculate the reason, to which one mother seemed convinced it was vaccinations. While I do think vaccinations should not be so easily and quickly dismissed as a possible factor to a lot of ailments, I have not heard anything possibly linking it to speech problems. Only one of the 4 works full time and has her child in day care. One of them works part-time and the other 2 are stay at home moms. Of the four children with speech problems, only 1 is a boy, while the other 3 are girls (this surprises me).

 

Is there something going on? Is it just coincidence that there was such a large percentage? Between us there are 17 kids. 4 of them have issues. That's over 75%, right (seriously I ask - math is not a strong point here :blushing:)?

 

Have you noticed anything? Any speech therapists here? Is this on the rise? Do YOU care to speculate? I just find it so very interesting....

 

I don't think there are more children with speech issues or more children with autism. There are more children *diagnosed* with speech issues and autism. I also don't think there are more children with bi-polar or Aspergers syndrome. Again, more children are *diagnosed* with these conditions.

 

I don't mean to say that these conditions don't exist, obviously they do. I think our awareness and our physicians' awareness of them has lead to an increase in the diagnosis of them.

[Aggie]

My memory has been fuzzy lately, but I don't recall either one of our dds talking until close to their 2nd birthday. They signed from 11 months on, so we always thought they didn't 'need' to talk because they could communicate effectively.

 

I do remember our ds saying book and fish around `18 months.

 

They are all doing well in the communication dept now. We have no lack of talking around here at all! :lol:

 

When are dc supposed to talk?

 

Aggie

[The Governess]

You mentioned one child in speech therapy has hypotonia, and that in itself causes speech delays. My dd2 is in speech therapy - she has mild hypotonia. Her mouth and tongue muscles are low tone so she gets "lazy" about using them. She is just now starting to talk a lot but her pronunciation is not good. When she's at therapy they do a lot of oral exercises - trying to get her to use her tongue a certain way, etc. When we first started therapy she was about 6 months behind and now she is caught up on her number of words, and we are just working on her pronunciation.

 

The best part of the therapy for me is that I have learned how to encourage her to speak more and speak correctly at home. They have given me lots of ideas for games, exercises, etc. I can't say with certainty that she has progressed faster with her speech because of the therapy, but it has been a fun experience for her and it has really helped to educate me on what I can be doing to help her. I just like knowing that I've done what I can to give her a good start.

 

As for the OP's question, I think that doctors are much more proactive these days in getting children evaluated and into services at early ages. If you were a pediatrician, and a parent was concerned about their child's speech progress, and a free service was available, and it might help the child but definitely wouldn't harm them, it would be hard to say no, right? My pediatrician is more of the "old-school" variety, who isn't usually concerned with delays unless they are serious or connected to other problems. He was very concerned with dd2's hypotonia because she has a small head and he thought there could be a major problem (there wasn't) and so he referred her for therapy. The therapist was shocked when I told her my pediatrician's name, she couldn't believe he actually referred a child to their center because he usually just mocks them. :lol: Now when I take dd2 in for checkups he is simply amazed at how well she is doing. I think she may have single-handedly changed his views on therapy! :tongue_smilie:

[Quad Shot Academy]

 

When are dc supposed to talk?

 

Aggie

 

The standard is 200 words by age 2 or they have at least a mild speech delay.

 

My daughter said no words until 23 months, but she made plenty of sounds (animal and non-sensical). At 24 months she said four words and was considered to have a mild speech delay, not needing therapy. At 4, she is still difficult to understand, but has no shortage of words!

 

My son made no sounds at all by 24 months and was immediately put into intensive therapy. By 2.5 he could make sounds for 20 words, but not articulate them so others could understand, just me. By age 3 he could say 90 words and still qualified for free speech therapy through the school system, so he was in the bottom 10%. He is 8 now and is doing great!

[Janet in Toronto]

I don't think there are more children with speech issues or more children with autism. There are more children *diagnosed* with speech issues and autism. I also don't think there are more children with bi-polar or Aspergers syndrome. Again, more children are *diagnosed* with these conditions.

.

 

:iagree:

 

*Someone* has set certain standards for normal development. Some kids will be early, some will be late. I am one of three siblings and NONE of us said much before we were three, and we are all successful professionals. My parents (both physicians) took a wait-and-see approach (this was in the early-mid '60s). There weren't a lot of speech therapy options at that point....nobody (pediatrician, well-meaning friends, etc) was fussing at them. We were just slow to speak. Period.

 

My sense is that a lot of parents get uptight when they see their child behind other children on some arbitrary development schedule. I'm not saying that problems aren't out there, but "should be doing X" can be a trigger for a lot of anxiety if baby is not "doing X" yet. Not to mention physicians' fears of taking a wait-and-see approach and risking a lawsuit. And you can follow the money when you start getting massive numbers of referrals for speech therapy, particularly under government funded programs. It would be interesting to compare referral rates in states with and without early intervention speech therapy programs. (I say this as a Canadian living with the burden of universal healthcare :tongue_smilie:.)

 

Early reading and early speaking do not correlate well with academic success. My mother jokes that while we didn't say much until we were three, we didn't shut up much after that age. And we all did well at school. My older son didn't say much until age 3, but I knew that with my family history, this was *our* normal. Our family doc was very laid back about it, and she also took a wait-and-see approach, that worked fine for our family.

[Ann@thebeach]

I'm not saying there are not real issues going on, I know in some cases there are. Vaccines are a whole area that needs way more research I agree.

 

However, 20-30 yrs ago few people would have ever considered getting speech therapy for a healthy 18 mos old or even 2 or 3 yrs old. I think people were more patient and didn't get concerned as easily about delays.

 

Now there are all these "milestones" that need to be reached at certain ages (earlier than in the past) that drs will automatically refer for therapy if the child is slightly off. I've had more than 1 friend get speech therapy for their kids under 2 yrs old and I was floored because the kids were totally normal! I heard them talk, saw them play-they were just being their age!

 

I have a slow talker who's almost 4 yrs old. I never considered taking him to therapy because he was healthy, understands what we were saying, added words (although very slowly) to his vocabulary, and could sign and get his message across.

He's still way behind kids his age but since he is progressing at his own pace a speech therapist (a friend I knew) actually said he was fine and just keep doing what we're doing with him. She said most people that bring their kids in think so much progress is gained from therapy, when really, it's the child growing up and being more developmentally ready to talk after another 6 mos or whatever timeframe it was. LOL

 

So in this age of instant gratification and competition I think more parents need to chill and let their kids just grow up at their own pace. That's what the bell curve is all about ;)

[LizzyBee]

Between us there are 17 kids. 4 of them have issues. That's over 75%, right (seriously I ask - math is not a strong point here :blushing:)?

 

Have you noticed anything? Any speech therapists here? Is this on the rise? Do YOU care to speculate? I just find it so very interesting....

 

4/17 = 23% :001_smile:

 

My middle child probably would have qualified for speech therapy when she was 2-3 years old, but I didn't worry about her because her older sister and I could understand her.

 

OTOH, my youngest child had no intelligible speech at age 3 and she's had 3 years of speech therapy. She is now considered within the average range even though her artic is in the 18th percentile and her sentence imitation is at the 9th percentile. We can understand most of what she says, so I think the rest of it will be okay with time. She has apraxia and auditory processing disorder, so I'm not sure she would have been okay without speech therapy - maybe so, but I wasn't willing to take the chance.

[Janna]

4/17 = 23% :001_smile:

 

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

See! Told you I'm not good at math! And...technically, wouldn't it be 24%? 23.529411:D

 

(I had a tremendous brain freeze moment this morning. I could NOT remember how to figure out percentages for ANYTHING this morning. But just now, when I read your post? Immediately I knew how to compute it. My dh is going to be so embarrassed when I tell him I did this on a public HOMESCHOOLING forum, LOL. He's embarrassed enough as it is when it comes to me and math, LOL)

[lighthouseacademy]

None of my kids received any vax, no antibiotics, never sick, born at home, and none are autism spectrum. My oldest really didn't talk until he was 2.5-3 but spoke perfectly. He is definitely gifted though, and a perfectionist. He never said baby words except for maybe 5 because if he couldn't do it perfect, he wouldn't do it. My second child spoke in complete intelligible sentences at 21 months. The average stranger on the street could understand her clearly. She too did not speak with baby words. Then along came number 3. She didn't have a single word until she was nearly 22 months old. She did communicate though. She also was diaper free at 22 months but barely any speech. She is 27 months and almost speaking in sentences sometimes. She has MANY baby words. I don't worry about it. She will speak when she is ready.

 

I too have wondered this and I think there are a myriad reasons why. I think that vaccines have something to do with it but definitely not entirely. I think that keeping up with the everyone else is a huge issue- comparitiveitis runs rampant! I think the accessibility is another issue. I think most kids don't truly need it, but we are so worried about our kids not performing that we push on through. All that said, I talked to several speech pathologists about my oldest and my youngest and when I explained the behavior and history, all told me that they would not worry at all until the child was 2-3 and not saying any words... so I didn't worry.

[fiddledeedee]

I have four kids, two of which were speech delayed. The first born boy was significantly delayed and the girl slightly. Neither had received any immunizations and are not even slightly autistic. I think, there is more education about the window for speech acquisition, so earlier and more aggressive treatment. After my son started speaking at 3 (with an hour a day therapy), he started stuttering. The speech pathologist told me that if we did treatment before age 5, he would have a 95% cure rate. If we waited until age 6, it would drop to 30%. Most of the children will naturally outgrow a speech delay or stuttering problem, but if you don't seek treatment and they are in the 30%, life will be much harder for them, so I think more people are seeking treatment earlier and the schools are being very aggressive with therapy. If you read the studies out there about the window for speech acquisition, it is quite remarkable and quite scary if you happen to have a delayed child. Most are, just that, delayed, but others need to have the brain "rewired" with intensive therapy and unfortunately no-one knows how to tell the difference until it is too late, so most should be treated. IMHO!

 

We are one of the ones that need to be "rewired", my DS has Apraxia, and will require years of speech therapy to learn to talk. He's been in an early intervention program for nearly a year, and he turns 3 next month. I had never heard of apraxia, and it's apparently usually genetic. No one in our families had it, but I hadn't seen my birth father since I was 8. I was able to locate a half sister and determine that she had apraxia as a child, but didn't know what it was. She was in speech therapy until she was 11.

 

If you have a child that is just a late bloomer, that's fine to wait, but if you have a child with a legitimate concern for speech delay, and you don't do anything about it, you will lose precious time.

 

On a side note, after reading a lot of info, I started him on Nordic Naturals Omega 3-6-9 Junior fish oils, and within 2 days he started showing amazing progress. I wonder if this is helpful just with apraxia, or if other kids with speech delays would benefit from it. He still has a long way to go, but the fish oils really helped him start trying to talk.

[joannqn]

At the age of 2 years, 4 months, my son was diagnosed with a severe language delay. They placed him at the level of a 9 month old!

 

My gut told me there was a problem long before I could get anyone to believe me. You know how babies have different cries and you can tell if they are wet, tired, hungry, etc? Well, I never could with my son. He had a vocabulary of about 10 partial words at the age of 2. Then he lost those words and said nothing at all. He could not communicate on any level; not even pointing. That led to frustration that sent him into fits of rage where he tried to hurt anyone within reach. He'd pull hair, try to gouge skin and eyes, hit, kick, and bite hard enough to draw blood.

 

We never vaccinated (and are glad we didn't because we have several risk factors) and the doctors could not figure out what was wrong. I knew it had something to do with gastrointestinal issues because he had diarrhea five times a day every day for over a year when he was 2 and 3. Still, they tested for everything and everything was negative. I put him on an elimination diet the summer he was 3 1/2. Within 3 days of eliminating dairy, the diarrhea was gone. By the end of the summer, he went from limited two word phrases to speaking in sentences. Two years later, he was completely caught up academically but still slightly delayed in speech. By the time he was 6, he was academically ahead and caught up with speech.

 

So, what's causing all the delays? I think some of it is vaccinations, some of it allergies or food intolerances, some of it is our polluted, genetically-engineered, nutrient-deficient foods, and some of it is chemical pollutants in our environment.

[Sarah CB]

I am not one to cry foul...okay, yes I am now that I think of it! Here is my experience...

 

My first born (son) was saying 10-15 words before he had his shots at almost 2 years of age...he ran a high fever after the shots, which lasted for 3 days...the doc said it was just a reaction to them...my son did not utter another word for 15 months...he would point to things and understood what we were saying but could not say the words he used to say. I have no doubt that the innoculations have a severe impact on autism/speech development and other relative disorders....whether it is the thimerosol or some other 'inactive' ingredient or preservative...I believe we have harmed our children. My son finally began speaking at about 3.5 and has had no problems with his speech since...

 

I just pray they'll find the answers soon.

 

Tara

 

Ugh. We had a similar experience. Ds was doing very well with speech, had his MMR and then all development stopped until he was about 3-ish. At 3.5 he was diagnosed with a "significant" speech delay of 18 to 24 months. He also had OCD issues after the MMR shots - wanted to wash his hands all the time, didn't play with toys but ordered them instead, didn't make eye contact, potty trained at 21 months simply because he didn't want to pee on the floor and I had taken off his bottoms. He wasn't able to participate in group activities at the preschool age, but we started violin when he was four and it was a small grou (5 kids) and I was right there with him the whole time. That was when he started speech therapy as well. It was a big year of growth for him.

 

Now he's 8 and he participates in groups without me :) He still has some issues that we're getting help for (OCD-ish stuff, anxiety, some attentional issues, and probably Tourette's) but I'm not worried about autism anymore.

 

I delayed the MMR with the other kids until they were 2.5 or so. They haven't had the same issues. My second ds did have some pronunciation trouble, but it wasn't severe enough for me to seek therapy for. My last ds has out-talked the other two by a long shot :)

[Mommyof4ks]

I agree with those that say we are pushing our kids too much. We also have this VERY high standard of 'normal' and 'perfect' that we impose on our kids these days at a very young age. I am just as guilty of this as anyone else.

 

My DD8 started talking at 9months, and we talked to her all the time (I was the crazy Mom in the store discussing grocery shopping with my 6 month old lol). My middle son did not start talking until 3, and without any significant intervention he speaks very well today (although we just discovered he has auditory processing issues which is one cause of speech issues). We did not talk directly to him nearly as much as our DD (our DD was always talking lol), and he was exposed to tv at a much earlier age (just a few months old). Our youngest started talking at about 11 months, and he does not have any issues with speech. We talked to him a great deal also and tv was not a part of his world for a long time. We also did not put our 1st or 3rd in those bouncers or other upright toys, but our middle son spent a good bit of time in there, and there is a theory that these types of things can lead to problems with processing (check out littlegiantsteps.com) of which speech delays is a symptom.

 

On a side note all of my kids have been vaccinated, and they don't have any ill effects that would correlate with them at all. The child that I know with the most severe speech delays was never vaccinated, so that does not really explain him. I try not to ask too much about who vaccinates and who doesn't, because it is a very heated debate, so that is the only child I know about for sure in that regard.

So many kids are given many other meds too such as antibiotics, cough syrup, allergy meds, so I don't know if that will ever be settled in the medical arena what leads to what. Most people are not even aware that some popular meds have black box warnings. The truth is that we don't know what many meds are really doing to us (we have a child on several daily meds and each new symptom gets a hmm...that is odd *sigh* He needs them though). Then there is the air quality issues both indoor and outdoor. This list goes on. It would be nice to pin point the cause of some things, but there are so many variables that it will be hard to come up with an answer if indeed there is a rise in various issues.

 

Our ped is very laid back, and he takes the wait and see approach on most things. He is usually right. :001_smile:

[LaxMom]

I don't think there are more children with speech issues or more children with autism. There are more children *diagnosed* with speech issues and autism. I also don't think there are more children with bi-polar or Aspergers syndrome. Again, more children are *diagnosed* with these conditions.

 

I don't mean to say that these conditions don't exist, obviously they do. I think our awareness and our physicians' awareness of them has lead to an increase in the diagnosis of them.

 

I don't know about that. I know there is something to the increased diagnoses - and certainly looking for ASD in infants and toddlers would increase the diagnosis of isolated issues that also tend to be associated with ASDs - but, if we follow the math, I should run into a couple of adults on the spectrum every single time I leave the house.

 

I think there are many contributing factors in the rise of developmental disorders and food allergies. There may be personal reactions to vaccines and their side effects, environmental toxins, over processed food, anti-bacterial stuff everywhere and over use of antibiotics, as well as awareness and treatability.

 

I think this is probably much closer to reality. There are any number of factors at play here but, I think there is a rise and, in an attempt to get to intervention as early as possible, the screenings are "catching" things that would otherwise self correct.

 

FWIW, we have friends with three children. The two who were home births and not vaccinated are the two with significant speech problems. I'm not saying there is a correlation, just that there is more in play than a simple answer, like vaccination injury, can explain.

[Sara R]

Is it possible that it is simply because there are therapies available to you?

 

I would not seek speech therapy for a child under 3. As a mother of 6, I can attest that the range for speech acquisition is very broad. Most articulation issues are outgrown by 8 or so (in my experience - research may show otherwise.)

 

 

My experience matches up with yours. My oldest daughter was barely on-track, speech-wise. I made a list of the words she was saying at age 2, and it totaled 50, which is what "What to Expect" said it should be. She has had trouble learning to read. She was born a touch too early, at 38 weeks by c/s for breech, and that's about the only thing I could blame her learning problems on, other than luck.

 

My 2nd son had a handful of grunt-words at the same age. I was concerned and sought out therapy for him. He got it, but the therapy didn't accomplish much. I kept track of what sounds he wasn't able to say and encouraged him to learn those sounds as he became able. He finally learned how to say /l/ and /k/ at about age 4. I was concerned about that he might be a slow learner based on his speech development, but he has turned out to be very bright, working about 2 grade levels above his age.

 

My 3rd child also wasn't talking at age 2. I knew my family's history, and I didn't worry about it. Sure enough, she started talking a lot right around age 3. My mom tells me that's when I learned to talk as well.

[KristineinKS]

So, what's causing all the delays? I think some of it is vaccinations, some of it allergies or food intolerances, some of it is our polluted, genetically-engineered, nutrient-deficient foods, and some of it is chemical pollutants in our environment.

 

I completely agree with this, though I also think increased awareness and intervention has given rise to an increase in diagnoses made. My twins have been receiving speech therapy since they were between 18-24 months old & it's been suggested that they may have a mild form of autism. They still struggle with their speech, though I'm grateful we caught the problem early.

[elise1mds]

The standard is 200 words by age 2 or they have at least a mild speech delay.

 

Holy cow! My son soooo would have qualified as speech delayed. He said "Ca" for "cat" at 19 months, didn't even say "Mama" until 22 months, and then didn't say much more till about 25 months. I talked to him all the time, though, and now nobody could imagine him as speech-delayed, though he still has the odd problem pronouncing multisyllabic words ('ambulance' and 'permanent' are words that come to mind). He walked at 8-1/2 months, though, and had the motor skills to build a 7-block tower at 17 months. My daughter, on the other hand, talked at 8-1/2 months and was speaking in huge full sentences by 2 but didn't walk till 16 months. Her gross motor skills are still a little bit behind kids her age in some ways, but her fine motor skills are good, and her speech is wonderful. Neither of them have ever been in therapy for speech or motor skills.

 

I don't want to say there are more speech delays now. I think more parents are plugged in to what is "normal" and tend to adhere to those standards pretty strictly. A hundred years ago, 'normal' meant the kid was able to keep up with everyone else in the community by school age. I have read many times that most children even out by the age of 3, and my kids (and most of my friends' kids) seem to have done exactly that.

 

I could be wrong, and I'm not saying that there shouldn't be more studies done on the effects of vaccines, antibiotics, etc., but I just don't know how far that really goes in terms of explaining more delays.

[Pamela H in Texas]

15 months seems extremely young for therapy unless the child is not communicating in ANY way, has significant hearing loss, etc.

 

My ds didn't say "mama" until 22 months old. That is pretty delayed. He just screamed instead of trying to communicate a good bit of the time. ST allowed us to learn sign and such so he COULD communicate SOMEHOW. By 3.5 he could speak full sentences but was in the 1%-ile for articulation (meaning no one could understand him without him using sign also). He still, at 13, has a significant speech impediment.

[Macrina]

15 months seems extremely young for therapy unless the child is not communicating in ANY way, has significant hearing loss, etc.

 

My ds didn't say "mama" until 22 months old. That is pretty delayed. He just screamed instead of trying to communicate a good bit of the time. ST allowed us to learn sign and such so he COULD communicate SOMEHOW. By 3.5 he could speak full sentences but was in the 1%-ile for articulation (meaning no one could understand him without him using sign also). He still, at 13, has a significant speech impediment.

 

When did he start ST?

[Macrina]

My middle, fully vaxed ds has apraxia of speech and has been in therapy since he was 18m old.

 

My youngest, a never vaxed child, has an expressive speech delay (too young to rule out or declare apraxia ) is in therapy 2x a week.

 

Other then that they are both fully functional and bright children. DS as a bit of math genius, dd is too young to tell where her genius will fall ;) I truly think the ones that lag behind in speech tend to be the brightest children in the end.

 

Personally I think the rate of speech "delayed" children perhaps is the same as it has always been, but there is more therapy available to families and they are learning the value of early intervention. So it seems like more children because they are now all getting help. It used to be people just said "Well Einstein didn't talk until he was three" and leave it at that. Well personally I think Einstein has Apraxia of Speech and I bet he would have been a lot happier in early childhood if he had been able to communicate. Anything passed 18 months with NO language (as in our case) is very frustrating for a child. A lot goes on in their little brains by then and to not be able to express it can be devastating.

 

My two children's frustration level has gone way down and happiness level way up because of early therapy.