How do you know when to look into speech therapy?

[Anonymous]

My 18 month old DS has 4 words - mama, dada, nana (banana), buh-buh (bye-bye). That's it. And he's had those for a few months with nothing new since then. My ped doesn't consider looking into speech therapy until he's 2, but I'm wondering if others have done it before that? I know he understands the words I say and will point and gesture to make himself clear so that's not the concern - he just can't get the words formed, and is starting to get very frustrated.

For anyone who did speech therapy before 2, I'd love to hear your experiences and where your child was developmentally that made you look into therapy. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We are in the same boat, as we are nearing 20 months with just a handful of words. Anyone else out here done the speech therapy before two?

[Anonymous]

My husband is a speechwriter who had an 800 SAT verbal.
He didn't talk til he was 2.5

Every kid is different.

I wouldn't worry about it for 6 months to a year.

When he starts talking he will probably speak in sentences! Maybe he has been building up all this time and will soon burst with vocab!

[Anonymous]

4 wordsfor an 18th-mo old is not unusual. I met a lot of toddlers who didn't speak until about 2, and are now super verbal. I would wait until he is 2, per your ped's recommendation. I think we tend to overpathologize our children. we did speech therapy for our son who was stuttering at 3, and I am convinced he would have grown out of it on his own without it.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for the responses! Reassuring for a first time mom!

[Anonymous]

mom of a kid with speech issues and other developmental issues here too -- i wouldn't worry about seeing a speech therapist unless there are other issues of concern. like fine motor development seems off. or he plays in a weird, non-relating way, or doesn't play at all. or gross motor is poor -- not walking at that age, or very poor balance, etc. otherwise, i'd just wait.

good luck

[Anonymous]

My son is almost 3, but didn't start talking until his 2nd birthday. I was also worried, but he turned out just fine. I think some boys just take longer to talk. I wouldn't worry.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the poster who said not to worry about it unless there are some other issues that cause you concern. But, having said that, if you do have any other concerns, I'd suggest an evaluation through your state's early intervention services. They'll do comprehensive evaluations for free. Our other kids were very late walkers and we thought the youngest was following family tradition. Our pediatrician suggested an evaluation through Fairfax County's Infant Toddler connection because he seemed little weak pulling himself up. Lo and behold he had a gross motor delay. At 18 months, we requested a speech evaluation because he had so few words. He started receiving speech therapy at about age 2. For kids that do have issues, early intervention is critical. However, it's hard to know if your kid is just on the tail end of normal or if there's something else going on. So, again, if you don't have any other concerns or indicators, I'd just wait. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm a speech therapist & while you need to do what feels right & trust your instinct, it sounds like your DS is developing just fine. If he has any other issues then, yes, you would want to look into a developmental evaluation. However, since he understands what you are saying, that is good. At 18 mo. there is not much a speech therapist can do with your son. At that age we are really looking more for understanding & social interaction (eye contact, making requests, even if it's pointing or grunting) and at least a couple words. Also, speech is a motor movement so if any other motor movement is developing at the same time, speech will come later. If he has no new words at 2 years, or stops saying the few words he does know, speak to your ped.

[Anonymous]

With my first child, she was close to 18 months and not speaking too much. I noticed other children saying hello, goodbye. One child in her class even said something like good evening or good day in Spanish (his first language is English). I thought - oh well, hopefully dd will be that girl everyone will say is nice. Other than speech - she was on time developmentally, could communicate, seemed to understand what I was saying. We rwould read to her and would show her these Baby Einstein animal flash cards. All of a sudden, and I am not exaggerating, at about 18 months we pulled out the cards and she said "Otter". I was floored. We barely could get goodbye and now she can recognize and say Otter. From there it was like a switch went on. She became extremely verbal. I won't say full sentences but putting a few words together and with few exceptions pronouncing the words correctly. One thing it taught me was the whole time she was soaking up things like a sponge - we just didn't know it because she wasn't communicating it back with words.

Now my second daughter - she started saying words before 18 months but half the time we couldn't understand what she was saying even when she was 2. I started to worry she had a speech problem and were seriously considering a speech therapist. The pediatrician said at that age if we could understand what she was saying 50% of the time and she was trying to communicate using several words/short sentences to give her six more months. He said the real issue would be if she still had the same problems at 3 because at that age/classroom kids are all using words to communicate and our daughter could find it very frustrating if she had trouble being understood/communicating. He also said - while speech therapy at that point could help, it could also be things that she would grow out of naturally in the next six months. I also had a friend that used to be a speech therapist that found one of her old textbooks and when I took an assessment quiz - my daughter was fine for 80% if the questions. So what I did was use starfall and go over the alphabet sounds and what I realized was that she could pronounce all the sounds but some combinations would give her problems (i.e. she could say "sock" but would say pippers instead of slippers). To my surprise my 2 year old then started recognizing all the letters of the alphabet (again showing me she was soaking up the knowledge although it was expressing itself in verbal ability at that point). By 2 1/2 the pediatrician was right - we could understand what she was saying most of the time. The few sounds she dropped we would gently correct her and most of the time she would be able to make the sound combination. Also from a friend that did have speech therapy with her daughter I learned the tip about making my daughter use words for what she wanted. She couldn't just grunt and point at 2 years old - she had to say milk if she wanted more milk or at least try.

So anyway to the OP, I

[Anonymous]

12:27 here - sorry what I was going to finish saying - I understand your concern. For every child that didn't speak until 2 1/2 no problem there may have been three other ones that didn't speak at 2 1/2 and it was a sign of an issue. You don't know which group your child falls into and figure if it is a problem the sooner you can get help the better. I think the advice others have given about looking if there are other delays is a good one. I also think if there isn't anything else, you have some time to see if things will work itself out and can see if there is improvements between now and when your child is 2 and then the six months after that and in the meanwhile talk with your child, read, sing songs etc. as if any day they will start talking right back to you.

[Anonymous]

Is your child fully mobile?

My son is 16.5 months and as he is not yet walking they offered me Early Intervention to just come out and see what is going on. They said he might just start walking soon, but then they would evalute him and we'd go from there.

In addition to the lack of walking, there is also a speach delay. He only says a few words (Mama, Bye Bye, Dada & Dat). We're not sure why and they said it could be several things. 1) We're doing two languages. 2) Many kids who are delayed with walking are naturally language delayed as they are focus on their efforts/energy on standing, pulling up, cruising, etc. They said that many times, once they start walking, they go right into language immediately.

They came out yesterday and did an evaluation on him. I was ok with their assessment, except was shokced at language. Rightfully so, they can only score based on what they see. As he refused to immitate or say anything other than Dat and Dada, they scored him as a 7 MONTH OLD!!! I know he knows things as he can point to them, immitate sounds and knows when I say for him to pick up something, he goes right to it. They also said he has low muscle tone, which could also explain the non-walking. They are going to type it all up and give me a copy. I'm sure I'll have questions and comments once I get the full right up, as it was all so fast.

We're not overly concerned yet, as my DH was extremly late too with walking and talking. The Dr. is not yet concerned. He said if not walking by 18 months, he might need physical therapy.

[Anonymous]

We have a family friend who was absolutely beside herself when her child was not talking. She did speech therapy I remember. Her daughter (the one I'm talking about who couldn't talk) just graduated from veterinary school.

Do you know how hard it is to get into vet school? It is actually more competitive than medical school. She is whip smart. So don't sweat it!

I think nowadays we tend to get caught up in when kids are "supposed" to do things...if your ped. thinks it's okay I would wait a bit.

[Anonymous]

same boat here. We were evaluated by infants and toddlers connection for my 20 month ds and are waiting to hear back. Not a terrible speech delay but not where he should be either. He only has a vocab of 12 words and can only identify one or two things when asked. He should be doing a bit more. It is quite possible he will start talking when he is closer to two without any problem and there is no underlying physical issues and his mobility,motor skills and understanding of simple commands and words are actually a little advanced. BUT, if not, we want to be ready. There is paperwork and plenty of research to be done in finding a GOOD therapist if needed. So...thank you to the poster who recommended Infant and Toddler Connection services. The evaluation is free so it was reassuring to know my gut was right and that I need to be ready to take action if necessary. AND the earlier the better.

[Anonymous]

Where are you located OP?

If in Ffx County, check out the Infant Toddler Connection and Child Find both of which are mandated by the school and government, respectively.

The initial evaluation is free. Then if your child is "diagonosed" with a speech problem (receptive, expressive, or physical) than the therapist will recommend a plan for you...which you do have to pay for, but it's based on HHI.

You can also just go to a private practice, but they are expensive!!

You'll need a pediatrician's referral especially if you hope to get reimbursed/covered by insurance.

FWIW - our DD is 24 mo. and can literally only say 11 words. She understands, babbles, and reached all other milestones, but actually articulating words has been challenging.