Cube mk2 and WIR

[Lesley]

Jake had very slight speech problems - with pronunciation mostly - and it turned out that he has glue ear in both ears. He sees a childrens Chiropractor about twice a year instead of having grommits fitted in both ears.

 

I have lots of Flash cards if you'd like them Paola?

[Tina C]

Layla's speech problems were picked up by the health vistor at her 2.5 year check - do they still do those?

 

She had a hearing test at the local hospital - she loved doing it and had to do it twice in the end because she had a cold the first time - then was referred on to speech therapy.

 

She only had a few problems - including being unable to say 'L' (she always told everyone her name was Yay-ya).

 

Because of the terrible shortgage of speech therapists she did not get the help she needed until after she started school.

 

She had an IEP at nursery because of her speech - and problems with interacting with other children - which were probably connected. Although the speech problem did not necessarily cause the interaction problem, it may have done.

 

Her confidence soared when she got those few sounds sorted out and I feel that she could have benefited from earlier help, although it is also true that sometimes they can only benefit from the help once they are a little older and ready to to tackle the problem themselves. She is still an 'individual', but that's another story.

 

Paola - what does your health visitor think? If they did not pick it up at a developmental check perhaps it is 'delayed development' and will sort itself out. But if you are in any way concerned I think you should speak to the health vistor now and at least get a hearing test and rule out that.

 

Its interesting that those who have not had children with problems say it will sort itself out (and for most children it probably does) but those that have needed referrals say get it sorted out ASAP. You will have to use your own gut feeling - I am a firm believer in a 'mothers instinct'.

[bronze]

they say they don't worry until the year before they start school and even then there is no rush.

 

Its because speech and ability can change so much in that one year. Those first years are so long when it comes to the amount they learn and improve. Ds2s speech has got so much better, before they were worried about everything. Now in a matter of months they say his vocab is amazing, his understanding brilliant and it is just the physical forming of the letters that are the problem.

 

Tina he has problems with 'l' too. It seems to be a common one.

[Seagazer]

Both my boys have had speech problems. ES's speech was really bad at playgroup age and he wouldn't talk to anybody but would say it to me. I think his problem was that he'd had a dummy as when he spoke it was as if he still had the dummy in his mouth (even though we had got rid of it by 2).

 

I was going to say he didn't get any speech therapy but he did but we had to pay for it ourselves because they didn't deem it bad enough. A very nice lady used to come to the house once a week.

 

When YS was about 2 1/2 I was worried about his speech and spoke to the health visitor. We did the hearing test which was fine and he was referred to a speech therapist. He attended a few times and we had work to do at home. This was fine until he started school when his Reception teacher, with the greatest of intentions, became very focused on 'helping' him with his speech. He was referred to Senco, had extra help, we had to go back to the speech therapist. All that happened then was that he got so stressed that he started stammering as well.

 

I had to go in and ask that they all just pull back from it for a while as it was stressing him out. Luckily they agreed and the stammering went (although comes back occasionally if he gets worked up). He is fine now and his speech is good, he has problems with some words but that is because he has a constantly blocked nose - thats another story.

 

I think certainly get him checked out but don't let it become too big a 'thing'. I can't be upset at what happened to YS at school as they were just trying to help him but it could have had lasting damage.

 

ps I had speech therapy when I was younger - couldn't pronounce 's' but I can now - it usually works out alright in the end.

[chickencam]

My 2 girls were virtually born talking and we are a very chatty family. DS however could barely be understood by most people by the time he started school,at four and a half. He was referred to speech therapy when he was about 3 and continued to go once a week until he was six and a half.

 

His problem was mainly a large tongue which his mouth had to grow to catch up with He can still lick pretty much anything off his face He also has difficulty with the top hearing frequencies which may have made it hard for him to hear certain sounds in my speech when he was very small.

 

He speaks pretty well now but he is also thinks about what he is going to say very carefully and people have a tendency to speak over him whilst he is still thinking, so he sometimes just can't be bothered with the competition. He has been pulled up for not taking an active part in class discussions etc and is trying hard to do more. He has trouble with 'th' words sometimes and they come out as 'f' sounds when he is tired or trying to talk quickly.

 

He is now twelve and a half and doing well at a boys grammar school where is not the only one with language and literacy delays. Boys tend to be more prone to speech and language problems. He is very intelligent but still is only just reaching the average level of achievement in the speaking and writing elements of literacy, but is well above average in other areas.

 

You are doing the right thing by getting your son into the system as early as possible because waiting lists do tend to be long and it is better to help him as much as you can before he starts school.

 

It is also worth getting his hearing checked out if it is not suggested by the doctors etc because this can often be a hidden cause in young children.

 

Try not to panic there is help out there but you do have to ask for it.

[chickenanne]

I didn't learn to speak properly until I was - umm- about four. I've a degree, I'm a charered accountant, I'm not noticeably stupid or autistic or anything. Well, I don't think I am, anyway!

I am a second child, and apparantly it's quite normal for second/third children to learn to walk early, but talk late.

[BERTIE MCSQUIRTY]

at 3 a child should be fairly competent in speech - should be easily understood, have a vocabulary of about 200 words, join these words in sentences and have the abilty to question.

 

You see I disagree with that although from the rest of what you say it sounds like you're in the know as it were. I've had no problems with my three, but my son goes through phases of being easily understood, then he seems to concentrate more on "new words" and gets so carried away adding them to his vocab he forgets to pronounce them clearly. I do think push for an appointment as you might have a wait anyway, if you decide not to bother you can always cancel it and if he does need a bit of a help it would be nice to get him started before school. That said the neighbours twins started school at just four and could barely be understood (one was the loudest, screechiest awfullest (?) child with an ultra sonic voice at 100 decibels!) but by the time they hit the Christmas break they were SO improved. Good luck anyway, as I said on another thread, standards are made up of people who do things at different rates, some early, some late and some in the middle.

Don't feel low, big hugs, children are here to turn us all grey with worry for all SORTS of reasons that they never mentioned in ante-natal classes!!

 

Mrs B

 

i agree partly........children can get confused when trying to add more 'difficult' words into their vocabulary as they are learning a new skill (and each speech sound uses different muscles in the mouth) but is sounds as though your son is just learning these movements (which i would not be concerned about anyway).

 

your neighbours twin sounds as though she had a hearing problem which affected her speech - not necessarily meaning that she had a permanent hearing problem, but perhaps a child who was bunged up a lot of the time afftecting her ear, nose and throat. some children who have this can talk sooooo much louder if not scream to be heard.

 

i am one of a few adults who has had glue ear all her life.......some days fine......other days i have problems hearing because all i can hear is muffled voices...on these days i really have to concentrate hard and often lose my concentration.

 

200 word vocabulary sounds alot - but it is not - at 18 months a child should have a vocabulary of around 20 words, mama, dada, cat, dog, bye bye, shoes, siblings name... etc etc

 

 

all the same - ask for a referral - you've got nothing to lose, and you can always cancel that referral btw if you think you dont need it, but make sure you do cancel it ........cos it is soooooo frustrating waiting for clients to turn up to appointments only to find out later (when you have rang them) that they no longer wanted the appointment after all.

[Paola]

Layla's speech problems were picked up by the health vistor at her 2.5 year check - do they still do those?

 

Paola - what does your health visitor think? If they did not pick it up at a developmental check perhaps it is 'delayed development' and will sort itself out. But if you are in any way concerned I think you should speak to the health vistor now and at least get a hearing test and rule out that.

 

No 2.5 year check here My girls who are 9 and 5 had them but I was living in Surrey at the time. The last time he saw the health visitor was when he was born

 

I signed the paperwork today for a speech therapist to come and observe him at nursery. I will now just have to see what the doctor suggests on Monday.

[Mrs Frugal]

Good luck, Paola. Ollie had severe speech and language delay thanks to Glue Ear and didn't talk until he was nearly 4 years old. Speech therapy along with grommets worked wonders and he's not stopped talking since! At 15, he still can't differentiate between "f" and "th" but that's not really a problem as he's doing very well at school despite his shaky start.

[The Dogmother]

Good luck, Paola. Ollie had severe speech and language delay thanks to Glue Ear and didn't talk until he was nearly 4 years old. Speech therapy along with grommets worked wonders and he's not stopped talking since! At 15, he still can't differentiate between "f" and "th" but that's not really a problem as he's doing very well at school despite his shaky start.

 

It's hard to believe that that chatterbox had speech difficulties

[Mrs Frugal]

I know! He can talk the legs of donkeys for England now .

[BERTIE MCSQUIRTY]

Layla's speech problems were picked up by the health vistor at her 2.5 year check - do they still do those?

 

Paola - what does your health visitor think? If they did not pick it up at a developmental check perhaps it is 'delayed development' and will sort itself out. But if you are in any way concerned I think you should speak to the health vistor now and at least get a hearing test and rule out that.

 

No 2.5 year check here My girls who are 9 and 5 had them but I was living in Surrey at the time. The last time he saw the health visitor was when he was born

 

I signed the paperwork today for a speech therapist to come and observe him at nursery. I will now just have to see what the doctor suggests on Monday.

 

 

in this area (and i believe nationally) they will be bringing back the 2 yr check on every child. this is because of the problems within the school which are impacting education. speech will be a target and at an earlier age, making sure that all babies are laid in the prone position when awake to increase their upper body strength which in turn are affecting skills such as handwriting skills

[bronze]

I can't believe theyre thinking of worrying about speech at 2- 2.5 thats too young when you consider that a lot of children don't talk much at that age but then go on to be fine.

 

Nia is 2 and 3 months and says Mummy, Daddy, juice, Roo, Matthew, Jamie, up, goaway, more and probably a couple of other choice phrases. At the same age Jamie could say lots more yet hes having therapy now and she'll probably be fine. Its too young to tell unless its obvious problems such as hearing or tongue tie.

[Guest]

I can't believe theyre thinking of worrying about speech at 2- 2.5 thats too young when you consider that a lot of children don't talk much at that age but then go on to be fine.

 

Nia is 2 and 3 months and says Mummy, Daddy, juice, Roo, Matthew, Jamie, up, goaway, more and probably a couple of other choice phrases. At the same age Jamie could say lots more yet hes having therapy now and she'll probably be fine. Its too young to tell unless its obvious problems such as hearing or tongue tie.

 

I knew at 2 there was a problem Bronze. The health visitor referred James immediately as she agreed with me although she was supposed to see him 3 months after the 2 year check before referring him.

 

At 2 he didn't say a WORD. Nor did he make any babbling noises.

 

At 3 he had a handful of words single figures. He started school at 4 with still very few words and yes he did pick up more then BUT only after he went full time as when he was part time he spent less time at school than he had at nursery.

 

Every time they checked his hearing they said there was no problem BUT he did have glue ear and recurring ear infections got him his grommits when he was 3 and immediately after the operation he started complaining about how loud some things were. My old head teacher had already pointed out that he seemed to like very loud things (hoover etc). Health professionals said he didnt' have a hearing problem but I am still convinced he did.

 

Having him referred at 2 helped to get everything seen to more quickly - the hearing, the grommits and the speech therapy. He still has so many speech issues that I dread to think where he would be without the therapy and that's why I would urge any parent to get their child into the system ASAP - as others said taking the referral doesn't mean there is a problem but if the help is needed then being on the list is a good start.