Toddler speech resources?

[olivegoose]

Does anyone have a good resource that breaks down toddler speech better than "should have several single words"? DS is coming up on 18 months and has zero words. I've been listening carefully for the past 3 months and I do not hear him ever use the same "word" for anything, not even made up/baby talk ones. I did a small amount of Googling and didn't really find anything that explained where he should be at for his age better.

[KC thepouchh8r]

Mar 13, 2015 12:47:38 GMT -5 olivegoose said:

Does anyone have a good resource that breaks down toddler speech better than "should have several single words"? DS is coming up on 18 months and has zero words. I've been listening carefully for the past 3 months and I do not hear him ever use the same "word" for anything, not even made up/baby talk ones. I did a small amount of Googling and didn't really find anything that explained where he should be at for his age better.

From what I remember from evals at that age, 10 words was the lowest word count a kid could have and not qualify as delayed. Pretty sure 24-50 was "average".

[mrsbuttinski]

This is a pretty comprehensive list-

www.asha.org/public/speech/development/

Click on How does your child hear and talk? for milestones by year.

[junebug060609]

I really like that list mrsbuttinski. Interesting that when I read it for DSs age, he's hitting the "hearing" milestones, but basically none of the speaking ones.

olivegoose, From what I remember from DSs 18 month appt (the one that started this whole chain of events), it was a minimum of five "words" (approximations counted) but the average was more like 50.

[olivegoose]

I almost want to have his hearing tested. I feel like more often than not he doesn't respond to me when I talk to him if he isn't looking at me. He just barely passed his newborn hearing test. I will say his name over and over again, clap and make sounds to get his attention, and then have to go over to him because he doesn't respond. He will be 18 months on April 3rd.

My DH says "Well, he has a big sister who likes to talk for him. He will catch up."

ETA- I'm just not sure what is and isn't normal at this age. DD was talking much earlier so we never had to worry about it.

[funchicken]

I would definitely bring up your concerns at his 18 month appointment.

[KC thepouchh8r]

Mar 13, 2015 22:18:55 GMT -5 olivegoose said:

I almost want to have his hearing tested. I feel like more often than not he doesn't respond to me when I talk to him if he isn't looking at me. He just barely passed his newborn hearing test. I will say his name over and over again, clap and make sounds to get his attention, and then have to go over to him because he doesn't respond. He will be 18 months on April 3rd.

My DH says "Well, he has a big sister who likes to talk for him. He will catch up."

ETA- I'm just not sure what is and isn't normal at this age. DD was talking much earlier so we never had to worry about it.

I would check his hearing and if that comes back ok ask for a referral to a developmental pedi. That's an asd red flag.

[mrsbuttinski]

Mar 13, 2015 22:18:55 GMT -5 olivegoose said:

I almost want to have his hearing tested. I feel like more often than not he doesn't respond to me when I talk to him if he isn't looking at me. He just barely passed his newborn hearing test. I will say his name over and over again, clap and make sounds to get his attention, and then have to go over to him because he doesn't respond. He will be 18 months on April 3rd.

My DH says "Well, he has a big sister who likes to talk for him. He will catch up."

ETA- I'm just not sure what is and isn't normal at this age. DD was talking much earlier so we never had to worry about it.

Does your husband send you postcards from his trip on the infamous river in Egypt? 

If you're concerned about his hearing, schedule a test. DS's pedi does a basic hearing test a couple times during childhood. I'd still do the dev pedi; I know so many people with ASD whose issues were blamed on deafness and hearing issues. They tend to get identified later and miss out on earlier tx. My one cousin who is deaf got a dx at 40. I have another cousin with no hearing who is clearly on spectrum but never identified. 

[olivegoose]

mrsbuttinski Oh yes, that's his favorite vacation spot. He also says DD's issues are just her personality.

[olivegoose]

I do think it's possible he's just a behind in speech and will catch up. He's a very very active, busy kid and seems ahead on gross and fine motor skills. I just wasn't sure the criteria and if I should be concerned.

I'm going to work with him for the next few weeks until his 18 month appointment (reading more, talking to him more, stuff like that) and talk to his pediatrician at his next appointment. I'm also going to call and ask if they can schedule a hearing test when we are there for that just so I know for sure moving forward.

[mrsbuttinski]

The link I posted links to this-

www.asha.org/public/speech/development/12.htm

It has suggestions on how you can support his speech and language.

What can I do to help?

Talk while doing things and going places. When taking a walk in the stroller, for example, point to familiar objects (e.g., cars, trees, and birds) and say their names. "I see a dog. The dog says 'woof.' This is a big dog. This dog is brown."

Use simple but grammatical speech that is easy for your child to imitate.

Take a sound walk around your house or in the baby's room. Introduce him/her to Timmy Clock, who says "t-t-t-t." Listen to the clock as it ticks. Find Mad Kitty Cat who bites her lip and says "f-f-f-f" or Vinnie Airplane who bites his lip, turns his voice motor on and says "v-v-v-v." These sounds will be old friends when your child is introduced to phonics in preschool and kindergarten.

Make bath time "sound playtime" as well. You are eye-level with your child. Play with Peter Tugboat, who says "p-p-p-p." Let your child feel the air of sounds as you make them. Blow bubbles and make the sound "b-b-b-b." Feel the motor in your throat on this sound. Engines on toys can make a wonderful "rrr-rrr-rrr" sound.

Expand on words. For example, if your child says "car," you respond by saying, "You're right! That is a big red car."

Continue to find time to read to your child every day. Try to find books with large pictures and one or two words or a simple phrase or sentence on each page. When reading to your child, take time to name and describe the pictures on each page.

Have your child point to pictures that you name.

Ask your child to name pictures. He or she may not respond to your naming requests at first. Just name the pictures for him or her. One day, he or she will surprise you by coming out with the picture's name.

[olivegoose]

I saw that mrsbuttinski! Thank you for sharing that link it's really helpful. I shared it with my BMB because all of our kids are hitting that "should be talking" milestone soon and we have several non-talkers still.

[mrsbuttinski]

Wasn't sure and it's good information for any parent.

[olivegoose]

My friend had her son evaluation by EI and he scored behind on expressive language. He got 3/6 questions as a "yes" on the ASQ she sent me a copy of. DS scores 0/6. They are just 3 days apart in age, her son being slightly younger.

I told DH I was going to call EI on Monday and he says "I stand by my belief that he is within the normal range." RAWR! He does zero research, doesn't read the stuff I ask him to read, and contradicts me at DD's appointments. He can suck it. Either be supportive and learn about it or shut up!

[triplea598]

Mar 14, 2015 22:27:35 GMT -5 olivegoose said:

My friend had her son evaluation by EI and he scored behind on expressive language. He got 3/6 questions as a "yes" on the ASQ she sent me a copy of. DS scores 0/6. They are just 3 days apart in age, her son being slightly younger.

I told DH I was going to call EI on Monday and he says "I stand by my belief that he is within the normal range." RAWR! He does zero research, doesn't read the stuff I ask him to read, and contradicts me at DD's appointments. He can suck it. Either be supportive and learn about it or shut up!

Just want you to know we're in a very similar boat. DS just turned 18 months and still has zero words. He only babbles "baba" and "dada" (not meaning daddy though...just random babbles).

He was evaluated by EI about 2ish months ago, and they told me his speech/language scored similar to the average 9-10 month old. He's been in speech therapy with them 3x a month since. I haven't seen much improvement other than him vocalizing his babbles more. I feel as though our EI is very unorganized, which is frustrating, but I'm going to talk to our pedi about a referral to the developmental pedi at DS' 18 month appt this Wednesday anyways.

And I can relate to the husband thing. MH was very flippant about DS' delays and just kept saying "he's fine" or "he's just doing his own thing and will catch up when he feels like it." Once I told him that frustrates me, he apologized and told me it was his way of trying to comfort/reassure not only me, but himself too. Maybe it's a similar thing with YH?

Anyways, sorry for the novel, but wanted to offer hugs.

[triplea598]

Oh I forgot to mention...it was at DS' 15 month check up with his pediatrician that she went ahead and referred him to be evaluated by EI.

But she also had him see a pediatric audiologist just to rule out any hearing problems that could be causing his speech delay. He ended up passing the hearing screening(s), but he'll have a follow-up appt with the audiologist in about 3 months just to make sure all is still ok.

Has your DS had frequent ear infections or anything? I remember the audiologist told me a lot of times a child can have some hearing issues because of fluid build-up from ear infections, or even from wax build-up.

[bubbalicious]

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001545.htm

[olivegoose]

triplea598 He's never had an ear infection before but he barely passed his newborn hearing screen. Sometimes I wonder if he hears certain pitches or tones better than others or if he just gets really focused and ignores me. I know he's not deaf because he responds to music, his squeaky sister, and if he hears Olaf he will come running. Just not necessarily his name.

I got on DH's case about it last night and told him he should actually read the websites I send him or the books I suggest before he starts telling me I don't have a reason to be concerned about our kids development. I have spent countless hours researching things for DD and now DS, it's not like I'm just being flippant. I don't do this shit for fun. He backed off a lot after that. We went over my concerns for DS together and I showed him several milestone checklists from varying reputable sources, we did the M Chat together (at risk), and the reference Mrs. B posted for things to do to help and now he's more on board.

I think part of it is that DD is exactly like he was as a child and so she's normal to him. Of course he has ADHD and abused drugs in high school (which I pointed out to him) so that's just more of a reason to move forward. DH is also getting his hearing checked because he doesn't hear well out of one ear, and his mom says he didn't respond well to her as a toddler but his hearing tested normal then.

I remember you from the S13 BMB!

[numbbears]

I thought DS had some hearing loss. He never responded to his name, but if we called our dog, he'd go looking for her every time.
I also thought DS was just behind on speech because his gross motor skills were so advanced.

This is going to be big, but if I shrink it, you won't be able to read it.
It's suggestions from DS's ST for ways to work with DS at home.

[olivegoose]

DS had his initial EI screening today. He scored in the "normal" range for everything except communication. They used the ASQ-3 and he got 0/60 in that category. I'm not surprised or really upset except it was hard to hear in light of what's up with DD. Now the provider will come do a more in depth evaluation, he has a hearing screening coming up, and then likely speech therapy.