DS is 3 and 6 months. Not conversational yet. Does it get better? BDTD?

[Anonymous]

My NT 3yo (just turned) is similar. Better if he sits next to teacher. Wanders away from circle time. Taking him to MyGym is difficult because he’ll follow about 1/2 the directions.

Doesn’t really tell me about his day. Unless the teachers tell me, I’d no idea who his friends are.

And the teachers tell me that he’s in the realm of normal behavior in that age group. I don’t doubt your son is struggling. But I don’t think it’s as bad as you think. I sometimes wonder if it’s not that our boys are wrong or deficient in some way, but some kids, especially boys, don’t do well in a sit down and follow directions environment.

[Anonymous]

My DD had both expressive and receptive language delays and was similar to your DS at that age. She also had mild hearing loss, which was a factor, but not responsible for the full delay/disorder. Fast forward, she is a successful college student at a major university. She had speech therapy through 3rd grade, OT through K and lots of other movement, dance and theater classes starting very young in PK/K and going through part of middle school. If she were to tell you what helped her the most, she would say the acting classes. It was risky, because she still had difficulty with expressive language in K when she started, but being with the other kids with focused roles, also doing nonverbal communication, somehow unlocked pathways to her expressive language. Her hearing loss has gotten worse, she still has minor expressive language challenges, but it is not in her way. Her visual skills are very strong and she is majoring in a visually oriented field. Good luck as you find the best path and support for your DS.

[Anonymous]

This was my son and yes it does get better. I never thought we would get to the place that we are
Today at 7 years old, He is Completely conversaional. Just left his bedroom annoyed because he wouldnt STOP talking. Lol! I promise....it gets better. Keep up the speech therapy and donas much as you can. I do recommend to take videos of him at this point. My son loves to look back at the old videos and remind himself how far he has come and show hard he has worked to get here. He still has other struggles today, they are just different. But looking at those old videos helps remind me that he WILL get through these struggles now, the same way as he did back then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was my son and yes it does get better. I never thought we would get to the place that we are
Today at 7 years old, He is Completely conversaional. Just left his bedroom annoyed because he wouldnt STOP talking. Lol! I promise....it gets better. Keep up the speech therapy and donas much as you can. I do recommend to take videos of him at this point. My son loves to look back at the old videos and remind himself how far he has come and show hard he has worked to get here. He still has other struggles today, they are just different. But looking at those old videos helps remind me that he WILL get through these struggles now, the same way as he did back then.

LOL - I spent years of daily speech therapy and now sometimes I have to laugh when I think, can you just be quiet for one minute knowing how great all the talking really is. It all comes in its own time. And, then they make up for lost time. One one report card I got so excited to see the teacher complaining he was talking too much in class.

[Anonymous]

I think it will op. We were where you are. My DS just turned 4. He told me today “Larla was at school but Larlo wasn’t there because he was sick”. Not bad!

Therapeutic SN preschool every morning, private SLP pushes in to class 1x weekly at regular preschool, 1x weekly OT, 1x weekly play date with peer model. Gymnastics and play dates, and enrichment and games at home. No idea if any of that helps or if it is just time.

[Anonymous]

I would focus too much on the issues with abstract questions and past tense, etc. most kids have a lot of trouble with that before K or so. For instance, most kids that age can’t distinguish in their language between something that happened once or something that happens regularly and often have trouble explaining whether something happened today or last week. That’s why they are terrible, terrible witnesses. I knew a kid that referred to anything that happened more than an hour ago as “yesterday.”

[Anonymous]

DS is getting better. He does comment/ask/protest but I wish so much there was more conversation. Baby steps

[Anonymous]

Mine said mama only at 2 yrs, was with Infants and Toddlers and then in PEP for speech. Now at 6, DC keeps talking a lot. There are decoding issues but eventually you get there. I still look back at some of the old videos and am surprised at how far DC has come. Mine had a lot of confusion with the Wh questions. There was also a period where there was stuttering (trying to get everything out at once) but it resolved in a year.

Hang in there OP and continue the therapy. It would also help if you attend some group activities regularly where conversation could happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine said mama only at 2 yrs, was with Infants and Toddlers and then in PEP for speech. Now at 6, DC keeps talking a lot. There are decoding issues but eventually you get there. I still look back at some of the old videos and am surprised at how far DC has come. Mine had a lot of confusion with the Wh questions. There was also a period where there was stuttering (trying to get everything out at once) but it resolved in a year.

Hang in there OP and continue the therapy. It would also help if you attend some group activities regularly where conversation could happen

Give it another year or two. W questions are really hard for these kids. Mine struggled with that and also went through the stuttering phase. We did lots of private speech. Come 7/8 things greatly improved.

[Anonymous]

What about not sharing what they did in the day or show an art project they did?

[Anonymous]

OP here. Just took son for a walk on this lovely day. It was a running commentary of everything he saw.

“I see a bird awww hi bird. I hear a dog. Let’s go see the dog. The trunk is broken (seeing a cut tree). I hear a bird. pushing the stroller. It’s a baby. My hat blew off. I hear a dog... hiiii. Flowers“

So the words are there the back and forth is lacking

[Anonymous]

I have heard A LOT changes between 3 and kindergarten/beyond. So, there is a good chance it will get better.

Have you been to a developmental pedi?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just took son for a walk on this lovely day. It was a running commentary of everything he saw.

“I see a bird awww hi bird. I hear a dog. Let’s go see the dog. The trunk is broken (seeing a cut tree). I hear a bird. pushing the stroller. It’s a baby. My hat blew off. I hear a dog... hiiii. Flowers“

So the words are there the back and forth is lacking

Next time you go for a walk, stop at something he points out and discuss it. You may be able to get back and forth that way. Go slow, speak REALLY plainly, no long sentences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just took son for a walk on this lovely day. It was a running commentary of everything he saw.

“I see a bird awww hi bird. I hear a dog. Let’s go see the dog. The trunk is broken (seeing a cut tree). I hear a bird. pushing the stroller. It’s a baby. My hat blew off. I hear a dog... hiiii. Flowers“

So the words are there the back and forth is lacking

That's actually really good. You said earlier that his receptive testing more at a 2 year old plus level. So that's his level. Not his age. I'm not sure why you aren't understanding that.

Receptive language is hard wired into the brain. The brain will hear when it is ready. Your child is now building vocabulary, which is great. He doesn't do back and forth conversation, because he can't understand you fully yet. He's likely only able to pick out the words he already knows. The rest are an unintelligible blur.

To build conversation, Model and recast. Use one more word than his current utterance level.

"I see a bird."

"Yes, I see a blue bird."

"I hear a dog"

"Yes, I hear a dag barking"

See the Hanen Method or Dr. Jim McDonald's Communicating Partners website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Just took son for a walk on this lovely day. It was a running commentary of everything he saw.

“I see a bird awww hi bird. I hear a dog. Let’s go see the dog. The trunk is broken (seeing a cut tree). I hear a bird. pushing the stroller. It’s a baby. My hat blew off. I hear a dog... hiiii. Flowers“

So the words are there the back and forth is lacking

That's actually really good. You said earlier that his receptive testing more at a 2 year old plus level. So that's his level. Not his age. I'm not sure why you aren't understanding that.

Receptive language is hard wired into the brain. The brain will hear when it is ready. Your child is now building vocabulary, which is great. He doesn't do back and forth conversation, because he can't understand you fully yet. He's likely only able to pick out the words he already knows. The rest are an unintelligible blur.

To build conversation, Model and recast. Use one more word than his current utterance level.

We received similar advice from Mary Camarata. She said add 1-3 units of language on to whatever he’s talking about. If he’s talking about it he’s interested and motivated. Don’t ask too many questions- they can be conversation stoppers.

"I see a bird."

"Yes, I see a blue bird."

"I hear a dog"

"Yes, I hear a dag barking"

See the Hanen Method or Dr. Jim McDonald's Communicating Partners website.