Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son had zero words until he was almost 4! Don't worry about the label and just keep working.

Thanks!

I'll add that my brother did not speak until 4 or 5. This was 40 years ago long before EI. My mom took him to Easter Seals where they did whatever they did. He started K on time.

some folks here have discussed seeing Dr Camarata for evaluations. A big commitment, but might be worth exploring or to keep in your back pocket.

and just hang in there. While DD was not as profoundly affected as your child is at age 2.5, she had no words at 18 months, and only a handful at 2 and it was really hard to understand her. She's now 3.5 and is something like the 90th for expressive, although she still has a lot of pronunciation issues. We go to building blocks therapy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should absolutely investigate supports for kids who don't use speech, they have so many benefits for kids but 2.5 is way too young to conclude that because he doesn't have speech now he never will.

AAC strategies have been shown to increase verbal language so it is not an either or.

What is AAC?

I am wanting to make sure we guide the speech therapy sessions in fruitful directions. We started PECS at home- turned the side of our island into a PECs board. He seems to be really latching onto the idea.

AAC is augmentative and alternative communication strategies. It's a wide range of strategies to supplement (augment) or replace spoken language. It includes enhanced natural gestures, and sign languages, and picture boards, and communication books, and high tech devices. Anything that allows someone to communicate a specific message without using speech.

PECS is an AAC strategy, but it's a pretty limited one. It's really best for kids who do not have established communicative intent, and need to be taught very explicitly that communication involves a partner and a message. Many kids don't need that step, and can jump right into more robust systems, like Speak For Yourself which was mentioned earlier.

A good communication book (e.g. a PODD book which is one type that is particularly well regarded) or communication app (like Speak for Yourself, or Proloquo2Go, or Clicker Communicator, or many many others) or device (something that's kind of like an iPad or tablet, but that is designed specifically for communication and just holds that one program) will give your child access to far more words than you can put on the side of the island, and will let them use them in more varied ways. The place to start would be an AAC evaluation with someone who can help you select the right tool, and put together a plan for using it across your child's day.

Also, you should note that many people think of AAC as "giving up" on speech, but that couldn't be further from the truth. For some kids, the visual organization of a communication book or device, plus the consistent modeling and the ability to play with language that a book/app/device gives them, is what makes oral language accessible. For other kids, they'll never use spoken language but the device will allow them to communicate without it.

DS didn't speak at 20 months so we had an EI eval. We started shortly before age 2 but made no progress over several months. EI therapist insisted he was just a "late talker" and not motivated. However he constantly gestured and seemed to be struggling to make sounds so we knew there was more to it. A few months later we added private speech. Progress was slow but vocab gradually increased. Just single words. Portions of words were missing and vowels distorted. He was almost completely unintelligible on his 3rd birthday. He is now a 7 year old who is extremely chatty! How did we get here? At 3 he was diagnosed with apraxia and therapy with an apraxia expert began multiple times a week. We did private and EI at the same time. We eventually added LEAP at MD. We saw a huge improvement from 3-4 in terms of number of words and combining words into sentences but intelligibility took longer. At our peak we had therapy 5x a week. So glad I didn't accept the label of late talker.

Your child may not have apraxia but I say this to communicate that a non verbal child at 2 or 3 can end up highly verbal with the right diagnosis and intervention so don't give up yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEAP is the only true speech preschool outside what the counties offer. We did two years. It was beneficial for my child and the program worked perfectly for us. We did LEAP and supplemented with private. Some families did LEAP and public. Some did LEAP and private and some just did LEAP.

Very few preschools from what I found are open to speech delayed kids the older they get.

We live in DC, so preschool at age 3 is free- if we choose to attend. Would love to find private schools as a back up.

OP, depending where you are and you child care needs you might want to look in to Easter Seals in Columbia Heights for daycare. They are dedicated to serving children with special needs so they have a good speech therapist (Maia Madger) on staff, along with an OT and a PT. That makes it easier for the therapists to see the kids in their natural settings multiple times a week for shorter times, and the staff are used to working with them.

Of course any daycare should work with you to allow either EI or private therapists to come to the school, but I think it can be better for kids to have 30 minute sessions more often rather than hour sessions, and easier when the therapist isn't a stranger to the teachers who pulls the kid out to work in a separate room or whatever.

If you do the lottery for preschool I'd look into Bridges and Creative Minds especially--they have good reputations for serving kids with special needs.

Best of luck, and hugs!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEAP is the only true speech preschool outside what the counties offer. We did two years. It was beneficial for my child and the program worked perfectly for us. We did LEAP and supplemented with private. Some families did LEAP and public. Some did LEAP and private and some just did LEAP.

Very few preschools from what I found are open to speech delayed kids the older they get.

We live in DC, so preschool at age 3 is free- if we choose to attend. Would love to find private schools as a back up.

Try St. Columba's or NCRC for inclusive DC-based preschools. They don't have a speech focus per se but NCRC added a speech program: http://www.ncrcpreschool.org/program/inclusion-program/early-beginnings-program

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LEAP is the only true speech preschool outside what the counties offer. We did two years. It was beneficial for my child and the program worked perfectly for us. We did LEAP and supplemented with private. Some families did LEAP and public. Some did LEAP and private and some just did LEAP.

Very few preschools from what I found are open to speech delayed kids the older they get.

We live in DC, so preschool at age 3 is free- if we choose to attend. Would love to find private schools as a back up.

That's absolutely not true. It offers individual speech during the day as does Dolley Madison. The MANSEF schools probably do as well.

Anonymous wrote:LEAP is the only true speech preschool outside what the counties offer. We did two years. It was beneficial for my child and the program worked perfectly for us. We did LEAP and supplemented with private. Some families did LEAP and public. Some did LEAP and private and some just did LEAP.

Very few preschools from what I found are open to speech delayed kids the older they get.

We live in DC, so preschool at age 3 is free- if we choose to attend. Would love to find private schools as a back up.

OP here. Man- sometimes I just want to jump through the computer and high five all the parents who are on this board. The encouragement is amazing- and the insight/resources ideas are great.

Thanks!

In my experience, 2.5 is way too young to label as non verbal. I have two children with profound speech delay- one biologically mine and one adopted. My DD did not get an EI evaluation until 2.9 and then began speech therapy- at that time she did not have words. She was in private speech therapy and got help at school until she was six. She also received physical therapy for a period to strengthen her core, which in turn helped her speech. She progressed rather quickly as soon as therapy started and is now very articulate and has a huge vocabulary.

We had my DS evaluated much earlier and his progress has been much slower overall. When he was in a EI preschool at 4yrs of age, his speech therapist at school wanted him to move to PECS as they thought he may be non verbal. I kind of panicked and did put him in private speech. His progress has been much slower and he still struggles (age 9) but he can converse and read at a 2nd grade level.

Don't give up- progress can be uneven but chances are it will happen. I would get him in with a good speech therapist and keep working with him.

LEAP is the only true speech preschool outside what the counties offer. We did two years. It was beneficial for my child and the program worked perfectly for us. We did LEAP and supplemented with private. Some families did LEAP and public. Some did LEAP and private and some just did LEAP.

Very few preschools from what I found are open to speech delayed kids the older they get.

If you're in MD, this may help in terms of schools:
http://mansef.org/locate-a-school.php

Not all offer nursery schools, but some do. There is probably a similar list/association for DC or VA schools.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks!

Any speech preschools in the DC area?

There are public preschools specifically for speech. If you're working through early intervention, they can help you figure out what programs are available to you.

There's also the LEAP preschool at the University of MD and Dolley Madison in VA. Depending on what other needs your child might have, they may or may not be a good fit, but it can't hurt to ask.

OP, the comments from others are really hard. What is important is he is happy, healthy and loved. He sounds like a great happy kid. More likely than not the speech will come and it will come in its own time. You just need to find what works best. For us, ABA, PROMPT, sign language and many of the things mentioned here did nothing. We did lots of regular speech therapy with a therapist my son clicked with (as did I) and just gave it time. Its hard and concerning, but know a lot of our kids don't start talking till 4 or even older and by 6-7-8 are doing really well considering.

I hope you are using private therapy as well as EI. EI alone is not likely to get you very far. It's useful but you should engage a speech therapist who can explore exactly why he's not talking. My DS had very little speech at 2.5. We have done EI, PEP and speech summer camps and private therapy. At 6 he still needs speech but is a chatterbox.