Mild receptive language delay, no expressive language delay

[Anonymous]

Any experience with the above? My DD is 3.5 year old and she had an evaluation that revealed the above. I was mostly worried about her articulation (which turned out to be pretty good for her age.) The recommendation was to wait 6 months and reevaluated at that point. TIA!

[Anonymous]

Yes, it will mean she may have difficulty following directions or following conversations.

When we got our 3 year old evaluated for speech issues, the developmental pediatrician said kids with receptive speech delays can often have difficulty with organized group sports, e.g., soccer b/c there's so much going on--other teammates, the ball, the coach. She said that kids may do better with individual sports like swimming or running.

Receptive speech delays often get mistaken for ADHD b/c the outward symptoms can look the same, so it's good you know what you're dealing with.

[Anonymous]

What were the scores? Was there a big gap between the receptive and expressive scores?
Find out the areas that give her issues - was it following directions, pointing to actions, prepositions, etc and see if that is something you can work on at home (with suggestions from the SLP).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What were the scores? Was there a big gap between the receptive and expressive scores?
Find out the areas that give her issues - was it following directions, pointing to actions, prepositions, etc and see if that is something you can work on at home (with suggestions from the SLP).

Thanks, I am still waiting for the actual report. From talking to the speech therapist, the biggest issue seems to be prepositions. English is not the only language DD is exposed to, but the receptive language delay still surprised me. (DD has been a late talker, but I thought there was an issue with her receptive language.)

[Anonymous]

Late talker has a lot to do with receptive language. I would get into speech therapy and not let it go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late talker has a lot to do with receptive language. I would get into speech therapy and not let it go.

OP here. Within the last month, DD went from saying not very much to talking all the time and making long (and grammatically correct) sentences. The (private) speech therapist who did the evaluation did not suggest doing anything know. I could go for a second opinion, of course.

[Anonymous]

It's unusual for a child to have a receptive delay without an expressive delay. It's the receptive part that is the most difficult to deal with, by far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Late talker has a lot to do with receptive language. I would get into speech therapy and not let it go.

OP here. Within the last month, DD went from saying not very much to talking all the time and making long (and grammatically correct) sentences. The (private) speech therapist who did the evaluation did not suggest doing anything know. I could go for a second opinion, of course.

That is great progress but I would get another opinion. We have both receptive and expressive. Receptive is much harder as it impacts other areas. I would do some therapy. It cannot hurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's unusual for a child to have a receptive delay without an expressive delay. It's the receptive part that is the most difficult to deal with, by far.

OP here. That's exactly why I am so puzzled. My sense is that the slight delay is being attributed to the multi-lingual environment. But reading about the latter, there doesn't seem to be much evidence that exposure to several languages has any adverse effect on receptive language. (It certainly didn't for my older DD).

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't worry about her being exposed to more than one language. Receptive language delays can happen solo; they are usually harder for people to pick up on. Most people I know who were diagnosed with receptive also had expressive--at that was the reason for the assessment.

I would do speech therapy for now and do as the SLP suggest, reassess in 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like overdiagnosis to me. You went for one non issue and they found a different one. To a hammer everything is a nail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like overdiagnosis to me. You went for one non issue and they found a different one. To a hammer everything is a nail.

No it doesn't. The OP suspected there was an issue with receptive language and the kid was a late talker. Good for OP for not ignoring her kid.

[Anonymous]

This was my DS, but he was more extreme.

He scored near the bottom in receptive language but just below average in expressive. We did not get him tested until near the end of Kindergarten and he started language therapy in first. The SLP said essentially that he was somehow able to make the most of the language he was receiving. He was later dx'ed with an auditory processing disorder, possibly due to multiple ear infections.

We had to switch therapists as he entered second grade and the new therapist said that based on his scores alone she would have fully expected he would not be able to read. But he was able to and she said we should be down on our knees every night thanking God for his incredibly gifted first grade teacher.

Based on my experience, if you have any question at all get her into language therapy. All these therapies are done much easier the younger the child--they get more resistant as they get older. We did three years of therapy, but where we really saw the advances were with Fast Forward, which can be really helpful with children with certain types of auditory processing disorders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This was my DS, but he was more extreme.

He scored near the bottom in receptive language but just below average in expressive. We did not get him tested until near the end of Kindergarten and he started language therapy in first. The SLP said essentially that he was somehow able to make the most of the language he was receiving. He was later dx'ed with an auditory processing disorder, possibly due to multiple ear infections.

We had to switch therapists as he entered second grade and the new therapist said that based on his scores alone she would have fully expected he would not be able to read. But he was able to and she said we should be down on our knees every night thanking God for his incredibly gifted first grade teacher.

Based on my experience, if you have any question at all get her into language therapy. All these therapies are done much easier the younger the child--they get more resistant as they get older. We did three years of therapy, but where we really saw the advances were with Fast Forward, which can be really helpful with children with certain types of auditory processing disorders.

Thank you, this is very helpful. (OP here).

Quick question: did you have a hunch that his receptive language was delayed? (It came as a huge surprise to me, since DD has never had issues following directions or given us any clue that she doesn't understand something.)

[Anonymous]

Not PP but with our kid we didn't realize the extent of the receptive delay until the testing. He was very social and wanting to be a people pleaser, so was attentive to teachers/adults. His sociability was definitely compensating for the gaps. It definitely has become more difficult as he's gotten older.