Slow talking toddler

[Anonymous]

I have 2 kids with speech delays and IMO if you can not understand him 80% of the time at age three he should be assessed.
If he is just a bit garbled and you can understand more than 80% of the words and others can understand more than 50% he may be OK but I would still get an evaluation.
In MD the Infants and Toddlers program will do a free assessment and it can usually be scheduled pretty quickly. My kids ended up receiving therapy at Gallaudet and they have been fantastic. They also take many insurance plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 2 kids with speech delays and IMO if you can not understand him 80% of the time at age three he should be assessed.
If he is just a bit garbled and you can understand more than 80% of the words and others can understand more than 50% he may be OK but I would still get an evaluation.
In MD the Infants and Toddlers program will do a free assessment and it can usually be scheduled pretty quickly. My kids ended up receiving therapy at Gallaudet and they have been fantastic. They also take many insurance plans.

Also, although it should be addressed, a speech delay is something that is treatable and you shouldn't stress out about it too much. My older child needed about a year of therapy but now you would never know it.

[Anonymous]

I thought my 4 year old DD's speech was fine but my preschool teacher's told me her peers could not understand her. Looking back at videos, I see what they were talking about. She only needed 9 months of weekly speech and all the problems were resolved. I was shocked by how quick the change was.

[Anonymous]

I had a sow talker. The pediatrician didn't seem particularly concerned. I thought he'd probably be ok over time but I had him evaluated by Infants & Toddlers and he qualified for services. He enjoyed the sessions; to him it was just someone coming to play with him. They also gave me tips on how to help get him talking more. He graduated from Infants and Toddlers at about 4 or so and now is fine at 10.