33 months old academically advanced but severe speech disorder

[Anonymous]

Hi, I am foreign born & raised, and never attend public schools here in US, except the undergraduate & graduate school. My 33 months old has severe expressive speech delay, but because he is considered academically bright for his age. He does not entitled to many services & helps because of that, and it does not make sense to me, and I am kind of pissed. They say that because he is considered academically advanced (in terms of literacy) because he knows all abc (big & small letter), numbers 1-20, shape, color, his full name, and he recognizes some words from the books. I never really pay too much effort or intentionally to teach him all these, but I did provide the tools (books, electronic toys, youtube), and I read him books once in a while & talk to him all the time. And, they are currently teaching one letter each week at his current full time play-based daycare. They tell me that public k here only requires one to know how to spell your name, number 1-5 something like that. I am a bit surprised & for real the knowledge requirement to enter public K is that low? Is there a link I can use as guideline for mcps?

His expressive language is only 20 months old, but they say he is a smart boy. I feel bad for him because I know that he is not dumb and always want to learn. He has been talking to me, but sometimes I have no idea what he is talking. He is not considered for AAC yet. I think he is aware that he cannot communicate well. What I can do when he is eager to learn more book knowledge, and he is getting impatient when I teach him basic words to speak (e.g. dog, cat, bird)? He knows them, but his pronunciation/articulation is really off. He has been doing speech therapies. Any tips?

[Anonymous]

I had to pay for private speech for my son because he didn't qualify free through the county - so consider that if you can afford it. GL.

[Anonymous]

My child is perhaps “dumb” by your standards, so I thibk you should be a bit more careful how you phrase things, but I understand English is not your first language. I would pursue speech therapy. You may have to self pay. Look on the website it takes two to talk for some ideas you can do at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had to pay for private speech for my son because he didn't qualify free through the county - so consider that if you can afford it. GL.

Me again - I'm actually not sure I understand your question. It sounds like your son is receiving speech therapy already?

[Anonymous]

Also, stop worrying about academics and k entrance standards right now. Regardless of whether you think they are ridiculous or all other children are “dumb” you have bigger fish to fry. Your child isn’t talking at almost three. That’s a big deal, yes. Get your kid speech therapy.

[Anonymous]

Oh, you have been doing speech but it sounds like it isn’t helping. A fixation on numbers and letters often indicates autism, has little to do with intelligence. I would get a full developmental screen.

[Anonymous]

You should talk to your pediatrician about this concern. Maybe your insurance will pay for speech therapy or you can pay out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

I dont care that ESL is involved. You're not kind and best of luck with that attitude, OP.

[Anonymous]

Has he been screaned for anything? He has a good memory and is fixated on numbers and letters. That can be a sign of autism. I'd also be very careful with your wording. I realize English isn't your first language, but you're going to turn away a lot of people with the whole "we are better than your dumb family" attitude.

We don't live in the DC area and my son is in K. And they definitely were expected to know more than writing their name and numbers 1-5 to be average.

[Anonymous]

OP, articulation is unrelated to intelligence. Did you have an evaluation that placed his expressive speech at 20 months? And if so, is the Speech language therapist who did the evaluation familiar with children being raised in bilingual homes?

[Anonymous]

OP here. I sincerely apologize if my post irritates or angers anyone because I didn't mean to. I didn't think much about wording when I type it out, and I just type out whatever goes through it my mind, and I should be more cautious & be aware of that it could be a sensitive topic for many parents with child of different needs. My son is the only one I know in my friend group that has special need, so I normally just talk it out directly without paying too much thought.

It was the mcps personnel says my son is academically advanced & smart, and I just borrow their words. I am just frustrated that because of that, they cannot give him more services that I think he should be considered. Yes, we have been using our insurance & they do give him a free speech session once a week, but I do think that is not enough.

He has been ruled out autism, and we are going for genetic consultation next year to rule out something.

My question is what I can do to arouse his interest if my son keeps pursing new book knowledge, and not interested in practicing how to pronounce basic words correctly?

sorry again!

[Anonymous]

Teach him sign language. He needs to be able to communicate in some way if he has the desire to.

We pursued private speech therapy. We had to do it for about a year, and then his language just took off. He could also point out all the numbers 1-31 by 2 years old (we did a lot with calendars!), but couldn't say any of them until 3.

[Anonymous]

Instead of just working with him on reading the book, work with him on prounouncing the words. Take what he does in his once a week session and do it at home. Help correct him with the pronunciation. He can read The cat in the hat but can't say the correctly? Work on the TH sound instead of working on reading more of the book.

If you don't feel like you can do this, you'll have to pay out of pocket.

[Anonymous]

Does the current speech therapist give you homework to work on at home? Ours did.

Idk what the articulation issue is, but you can also google things to help - I think some things are drinking with a straw, etc.

[Anonymous]

He’s too young to have “ruled out” autism. Do you mean the county said they didn’t have autistic concerns? Put some of those smarts to work here, op, and figure out that that means absolutely nothing and get a full evaluation later. At not quite theee nothing has been ruled out or in including super genius status. All you know is your kid can’t talk.