Delaying preschool because of language issues

[Anonymous]

A speech delay will be a speech delay in any language. I would stick to English and Russian and not do two more languages. Our ped. told us to worry about 24 months. Our child has a significant delay/disorder. You are right to be concerned, but I agree with husband to try to get insurance to pay. At two, I'd skip preschool and wait till three. I thought the two class was a waste of money. Spend it on speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

Have you ruled out hearing issues? If not, I would look into that. If you end up seeing a speech therapist, they are likely to recommend that as a first step anyway. My DD had fluid in her ears that interfered with language development. She was much younger than your kid and it was not immediately obvious as she was responding to sound, but it turned out that she had 50% hearing capacity in one ear and 25% in the other. It was enough to respond to some sound but not enough for proper language development. It was an easy fix with ear tubes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40-50 words for a 21 month old is fine and definitely "on track."

Pediatrician told us 50 words is low end for 24 months and he wants to see some word combinations. Seeing how DS speaks now, I just don't see that happening in the next two months.

Your kid is currently 21 months and knows as many words as the pediatrician said would be low end of normal for 24 months? What's the fuss about? There will be HUGE leaps between now and 24 months and in the months to follow. Language acquisition doesn't happen on a steady trajectory; it comes in fits and starts. A kid who only points and grunts single words one month may be stringing together phrases or even sentences the following month.

Don't change plans if you've gotten him into a good program. It definitely won't set him back, especially not in any permanent ways. If anything, start him in this program and continue to watch his progress in the next few months. You can always resort to speech therapy if necessary, but it doesn't sound like you're headed in that direction.

(Also, remember that the low end of normal is just that: the low end of NORMAL. Your kid doesn't have to be in the 99th percentile of everything from the start. There will be milestones that he meets early and ones that he meets late. If there are ones that he doesn't meet at all, then you get extra help.)

[Anonymous]

Send him. Unless he has big behavior issues it can only help.
Unless it's full time day care then I'd tone it down.

You can keep him at the same grade two years in a row if you need.

How much language immersion is involved during the day?
If it's a lot you might want to look at other nursery schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, learning other languages or more than one at a time DOES NOT cause speech delays. If your kid is on the lower end of word acquisition, get speech therapy, but don't let that put you off sending him to a bi-lingual preschool. It sounds like a great program.

+1

Also - I wouldn't be worried about the amount of words your child has. Mine had less words than yours does at that age, and when he turned 2, he started talking a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40-50 words for a 21 month old is fine and definitely "on track."

Pediatrician told us 50 words is low end for 24 months and he wants to see some word combinations. Seeing how DS speaks now, I just don't see that happening in the next two months.

NP here... He's not 2 yet and a lot can happen in 2 months. At 22 months my ds wasn't combining words. He is speaking short sentences now at 23 months.

[Anonymous]

Another NP-- Mine had 25 words at 18 months, 50 by 20 months and hundreds + combinations + sentences by 24 months. I'm not saying don't get an evaluation, but...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ruled out hearing issues? If not, I would look into that. If you end up seeing a speech therapist, they are likely to recommend that as a first step anyway. My DD had fluid in her ears that interfered with language development. She was much younger than your kid and it was not immediately obvious as she was responding to sound, but it turned out that she had 50% hearing capacity in one ear and 25% in the other. It was enough to respond to some sound but not enough for proper language development. It was an easy fix with ear tubes.

We have not beyond a quick glance. he had a case of back to back ear infections and our pediatricians office has a good ENT on staff, he briefly looked at his ears and said he was fine. He responds relatively well to (some) directions though and can pick out pictures in books if I ask him to, I thought with hearing loss we would have signs like not responding to name. Was your DD responding to name and directions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Send him. Unless he has big behavior issues it can only help.
Unless it's full time day care then I'd tone it down.

You can keep him at the same grade two years in a row if you need.

How much language immersion is involved during the day?
If it's a lot you might want to look at other nursery schools.

There's no English spoke at all, all the teachers are native from France and Spain. It's only 2-3 days a week until 4 years old for a couple of hours a day. There's no grades either, there's just a couple of different groups of kids under 3. It's mostly play based outdoors, so no sitting down in a classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40-50 words for a 21 month old is fine and definitely "on track."

Pediatrician told us 50 words is low end for 24 months and he wants to see some word combinations. Seeing how DS speaks now, I just don't see that happening in the next two months.

Your kid is currently 21 months and knows as many words as the pediatrician said would be low end of normal for 24 months? What's the fuss about? There will be HUGE leaps between now and 24 months and in the months to follow. Language acquisition doesn't happen on a steady trajectory; it comes in fits and starts. A kid who only points and grunts single words one month may be stringing together phrases or even sentences the following month.

Don't change plans if you've gotten him into a good program. It definitely won't set him back, especially not in any permanent ways. If anything, start him in this program and continue to watch his progress in the next few months. You can always resort to speech therapy if necessary, but it doesn't sound like you're headed in that direction.

(Also, remember that the low end of normal is just that: the low end of NORMAL. Your kid doesn't have to be in the 99th percentile of everything from the start. There will be milestones that he meets early and ones that he meets late. If there are ones that he doesn't meet at all, then you get extra help.)

Thanks. I just worry about making him frustrated or upset. I'm not in a huge hurry for him to talk but I worry about him not being able to make himself understood. He's been with just me or his nanny a couple of hours a week and we are so quick to respond to him, which might not be the case when he's in a larger group of 8-9 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40-50 words for a 21 month old is fine and definitely "on track."

Pediatrician told us 50 words is low end for 24 months and he wants to see some word combinations. Seeing how DS speaks now, I just don't see that happening in the next two months.

Speech development happens in leaps and bursts at this age. A milestone will seem far away, and then suddenly they have it. I wouldn't borrow trouble from the future.

Having said that, as a teacher who has worked with many multi lingual kids, I will say that my experience is that 4 languages is often too much. I've never known a kid, including kids with significant disabilities, who couldn't manage 2 languages easily. I've also known many kids who have done very well with 3 languages, but 4 seems to be a tipping point for many, although certainly not all, kids. I think if I had a kid in a multilingual household, I'd try and hold it at 3 (Mom's language, Dad's language, language of the area you're living in, or something like that), and then know that the 4th will probably come easily in middle school after they're reading solidly in the first 3 languages.

Also 3 half days a week isn't enough to gain fluency in one language. I'm really unclear why one would try and introduce two new languages in such a short period of time, unless you live in an area where one of the two languages is the local language.

I'll also say that 1 year olds and young 2 years old don't need preschool at all, so if you're happy with the nanny, stay and reapply for next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you ruled out hearing issues? If not, I would look into that. If you end up seeing a speech therapist, they are likely to recommend that as a first step anyway. My DD had fluid in her ears that interfered with language development. She was much younger than your kid and it was not immediately obvious as she was responding to sound, but it turned out that she had 50% hearing capacity in one ear and 25% in the other. It was enough to respond to some sound but not enough for proper language development. It was an easy fix with ear tubes.

We have not beyond a quick glance. he had a case of back to back ear infections and our pediatricians office has a good ENT on staff, he briefly looked at his ears and said he was fine. He responds relatively well to (some) directions though and can pick out pictures in books if I ask him to, I thought with hearing loss we would have signs like not responding to name. Was your DD responding to name and directions?

If you suspect a language issue, good practice is to get a hearing test. Many kids with delays don't have hearing issues but if they do and caught early, its very fixable.

If he is responding and following basic directions that is good as that is part of receptive language. Your concern then is with expressive. Since he has some words, I would also wait a few more months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40-50 words for a 21 month old is fine and definitely "on track."

Pediatrician told us 50 words is low end for 24 months and he wants to see some word combinations. Seeing how DS speaks now, I just don't see that happening in the next two months.

Speech development happens in leaps and bursts at this age. A milestone will seem far away, and then suddenly they have it. I wouldn't borrow trouble from the future.

Having said that, as a teacher who has worked with many multi lingual kids, I will say that my experience is that 4 languages is often too much. I've never known a kid, including kids with significant disabilities, who couldn't manage 2 languages easily. I've also known many kids who have done very well with 3 languages, but 4 seems to be a tipping point for many, although certainly not all, kids. I think if I had a kid in a multilingual household, I'd try and hold it at 3 (Mom's language, Dad's language, language of the area you're living in, or something like that), and then know that the 4th will probably come easily in middle school after they're reading solidly in the first 3 languages.

Also 3 half days a week isn't enough to gain fluency in one language. I'm really unclear why one would try and introduce two new languages in such a short period of time, unless you live in an area where one of the two languages is the local language.

I'll also say that 1 year olds and young 2 years old don't need preschool at all, so if you're happy with the nanny, stay and reapply for next year.

Thanks, I think that's what we will do. I might look for a Mother's Day out program for a few hours a week so he can be social and have fun without it being a big commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you ruled out hearing issues? If not, I would look into that. If you end up seeing a speech therapist, they are likely to recommend that as a first step anyway. My DD had fluid in her ears that interfered with language development. She was much younger than your kid and it was not immediately obvious as she was responding to sound, but it turned out that she had 50% hearing capacity in one ear and 25% in the other. It was enough to respond to some sound but not enough for proper language development. It was an easy fix with ear tubes.

We have not beyond a quick glance. he had a case of back to back ear infections and our pediatricians office has a good ENT on staff, he briefly looked at his ears and said he was fine. He responds relatively well to (some) directions though and can pick out pictures in books if I ask him to, I thought with hearing loss we would have signs like not responding to name. Was your DD responding to name and directions?

If you suspect a language issue, good practice is to get a hearing test. Many kids with delays don't have hearing issues but if they do and caught early, its very fixable.

If he is responding and following basic directions that is good as that is part of receptive language. Your concern then is with expressive. Since he has some words, I would also wait a few more months.

Yes, he gets better every day with directions. We went to the zoo the other day and I told him to walk instead of running and he was paying attention quite well. He's really a great kid, I hope he will be able to speak more soon, I think it would make him quite happy.

[Anonymous]

Your kid does not have a speech delay at 1. Relax.