Sorry if this isn't the right place, need advice?

[LittleBoo]

Just wondering if anyone else has had their child referred to a speech therapist? I've been worried about my son's speech for a long while, he was slow to start talking and recently I've noticed he's well behind other children his age. Or at least I think he is...

He's 2 and a half. He can't talk in sentences. He talks... strangely. I can't quite explain. He copies everything we say without actually associating it... like he can say the words, but doesn't say much without us prompting him. "look Jack, a black car!" "black... car..." but if he sees a black car and we ask him what colour it is, he'll just look confused.

Waiting for an appointment to be sent through, wondering what to expect, and if anyone else has a child who is similar in speech? Is it normal?

 

[delmeg10]

My son was very much the same as your son. He started speech therapy at 18 months. He was diagnosed with a developmental delay. He is now 3 years old and still trying to catch up on his speech. We had a speech therapist come to our house once a week for about 18 months. She worked with different toys and puzzles to try to get him to talk and better understand words.

 

[Tegans Mama]

We have speech therapy too. Tegan is three and is about 6 months behind now I'd guess. It's hard work but we're getting there slowly.

One bit of advice our ST gave us is to limit the amount of filler words you use. If you want him to learn that it;'s a black car, instead of saying "its a black car" just say literally "black car". Instead of "would you like juice or milk?" break it down to "juice or milk?" then one you've given him his juice, say "you have juice".

This technique really worked for us and Tegan is now saying 4-5 word sentences. Good luck xx

If you think he needs an ST, ask your HV to assess his speech and if she feels he's behind, she'll refer him for you.

 

[JASMAK]

I am no expert, but Makena did something similar, and the speech path called it echolalia. She would repeat stuff...but, not in context to what was around her...and it was strange, often EXACTLY as it was said. Like a commercail...with a ding sound here, all the words...etc. The nice thing about Speech is they REALLY know what they are doing, and it works!!! Try seeing if you can get a book called "more than words". It is great for children that are nonverbal, or verbal, but not very much. It helped us alot. x

 

[LittleBoo]

Thank you for your replies had a meeting with all the people involved with Jack's care and the speech therapist has made an appointment for the 26th, not sure if it's this month or next, she did write it down. Will update once he's been seen by her properly x