To Parents of Children with Expressive Speech Delays-

[Anonymous]

Does DC have a Parent-Infant Education program? Most counties around here provide some in-home therapy at free or reduced cost for kids with delays of greater than 6 months or so - your son would qualify.

[Anonymous]

I would call DC early intervention and ask when their next Hanen class is being offered. We took one and it was extrememely helpful with our twins - who had maybe 5 to 10 words at 23 months. Our ST discouraged signing because the boys had some language and she wanted them to focus on building that. Now they are 3 and one twin still has ST every other week - they both test average for speech. We have kept one in therapy to help with articulation.

[Anonymous]

Hi, OP. My DS is 19 months and has been in speech therapy for about a month. A few months ago I called my county's (Fairfax) Infant and Toddler program for an evaluation and speech therapy 1x/week was recommended. In addition to the county I decided to go intensive and we also do 1x/week private. DS has been behind on communication milestones since babbling. He was pretty quiet and wasn't into imitating sounds. I'm on the proactive side and since I had some other concerns, I took DS to a developmental pediatrician. This is really the only way to get a global assessment of development. His regular ped group is great but they can't take the time for a real assessment even if they knew how. Likewise a speech therapist is a great professional but doesn't have the global view. It's hard to extrapolate at this age what, if any, developmental differences are on the horizon but it can be indicative of other issues. What kind of concerns do you have?

You say you're in DC and unfortunately as far as I know the reputation of the county program is iffy but it's a start. Have you called for a free evaluation? You can at least get that. Also, have you had his hearing checked? This is something the county recommended and his speech therapists wanted to know, even though he'd screened normal at birth and never had a known ear infection or fluid.

As far as the actual therapy, I am really impressed after a month. At first it seemed as if I were paying someone a lot of money to play cars with DS but I have learned so much from them in terms of playing in a structured, language-rich way to elicit speech, imitation and sounds. We're working on preverbal skills that are necessary for learning to speak, including following directions and improving attention span. DS had about 6 words and and now has at least double that plus more approximations, a few more signs, and is imitating more and following directions better. You have to feel confident that your ST has a good rapport with your child (not everyone clicks). Is your ST experienced with children this young? We go to Building Blocks in Falls Church but they have a DC office. Very good experience so far.

A PP mentioned the Hanen program and this is great. There is also a book they put out called It Takes Two to Talk and I highly recommend it.