[KarynB]

Hey all,

So, we finally got our eval done on our youngest and according the therapist he is functioning at a 12-15 month level (he is 25 months). He has very little spoken words, although signs appropriately and often. He does no two step play, nor does he follow two-step directions.

She seemed to feel with therapy he will catch up quick, as he mimicks play quite quickly, and follows direction. She ruled out autism, but didn't really say what it "could" be. Does this means he is behind developmentally, or the he is intellectually disabled? Anyone have experience with this kind of diagnosis?

I feel kind of overwhelmed right now, as I am also back-to-school (last semester - woohoo!) when I really want to be home fulltime. Our older son always has problems adjusting at the beginning of a school year with new teacher/principal (attachment issues/ADHD) and DH is a teacher which means he is super busy right now, too. My dad who is retired used to come in and help us out (babysit, etc) has health issues of his own so he is not able to do much right now.

[atouchofheaven]

my son is also developmentally delayed. he is a little behind in receptive speech (following directions, understanding words, etc) and is a little delayed in gross motor, fine motor, and cognition. but he is really smart in some areas; social and behavioral.

but in expressive speech he is really behind. he turned two in early june and is only talking in signs, grunts, and a few words only we understand. he is making progress but very very slowly. his speech therapist keeps saying he'll catch up and be normal but it seems to me he is only falling more behind. at this age, they are supposed to be picking up new words every day and speaking in sentences or at least 2-3 word phrases. my son is doing none of these. he takes weeks if not months to learn new words.

it's tough to say at this age what type of disability and to what degree a child has it. he probably is developmentally delayed, which he can catch up quickly and have no effects later or catch up but always have difficulty learning. like i said, it's tough to say at this age. we're not sure what to expect either. but the fact that he (your son) has good social skills is very positive and i'd build on that.

i'm pretty much accepted that my son may not be the most academic student, but he does have strengths we can focus on and he can still be successful in his own way.

sorry if i don't have any good answers. good luck.

[KarynB]

atouchofheaven - thanks for the reply! Nice to have others to talk to about this stuff...

Our son too is really behind in expressive speech. He is 2 and 2 months and has about 25-30 words (some verbal, some signs), when I went to the parent info session today they said he should have about 200 words at this age! Holy moly...

Anyways, I really agree with you on focusing on his strengths, he really is just the happiest, sweetest baby going. Some days it just feels heavier than others, you know?

Can I ask - is your son in daycare, or playgroups or preschool or anything? I am mostly home with our son, and while I am in school his grandpa watches him. We really focused on being with him all the time for attachment reasons, but I am now wondering if he needs more social stimulation? What are your thoughts on this?

Thanks again!

[atouchofheaven]

yes, my son goes to a small home daycare two days a week. i too stayed home with him for the first 5 months to work on attachment. but then i had to go back to work part-time just for my own sanity. i chose a home daycare cause he has the same teacher every day and there's not a lot of kids so he doesn't get too overwhelmed. it's been really great for him. i notice a lot of skills he's picked up from there that he hasn't at home. for instance, body parts. i worked with him on body parts for months. as soon as he started daycare, he came home one day and knew all his body parts. weird.

i do believe socialization is important even at this young age. but you can do it a variety of ways. even a once a week playgroup. i do take him to a playgroup too, on friday mornings. it's actually at the special education preschool he will be going to when he turns three. it's a way to get him used to the environment and for the teachers to get to know him as well. i like doing this cause it lets me see him in a social environment, instead of just taking the daycare teacher's word for how he does.

and i agree, it is nice to talk to other people who have similar challenges with their kids. sometimes the speech delay really gets to me. i think to myself, when are you gonna start talking? but i have to tell myself that is not helping the situation and i focus on the things he's really great at. like making people laugh. i do worry about his future though. there are lots of unknowns. will he catch up by kindergarten? will he need special ed forever? will he graduate high school? etc. but the truth is, i just don't know. but i am preparing myself for the possibilities and just allowing Mateo to be Mateo for now.

anyway, hope that helps. talk to you soon.

[CaddoRose]

We have a 2. 5yr old FD who we have had for 8 weeks. When she came to us, she could say 3 words and would grunt or whine to get anything she wanted. She doesn't have a cognitive problem, just delayed due to parental neglect and the fact that they kept a pacifier in her mouth 24/7. No one talked to her or read to her and ever engaged her in speech.

As soon as we got her, we required her to say a word to get an object or food and we told her the words to say. She quickly picked up single words, and is now working on saying two syllable words or trying to say more than one word at a time. We do specific speech therapy with her very day and a therapist comes to the house every week.

We put her in a local Parents Day Out program two days a week which is run by a certified K-3 teacher, so rather than a daycare, she is getting instruction on those days. Being with kids her own age has been a great help because she is getting the socialization and the speech skills at the same time.

The Therapist says that she is about a year behind, but we think she will catch up within the year. Speech is a slow process, so it can seem like it is taking forever to see a change. A good resource for speech is to read any of the Sandra Boynton books to them. One and two word phrases with great illustrations that the kids really like.

[mama4obama]

I have tons of experience in working with children with developmental delays. The most important thing to remember is to share in the therapy experience, be a part of the sessions, provide follow-thur at home. Stay in close contact with your therapist. Use language in describing events, while shopping, at bathtime meal time etc. Praise even the smallest verbal attempts. In other words make every opportunity a language learning experience. Consistency will bring about progress with therapy, not frequency. Yes, there is much opportunity for catching up...particularly at this age. The delay is not extremely significant 12-15 @ 25 mons. I would imagine there are some scattered skills throughout that fall more into the age appropriate range. You are making the right decision NOW to seek intervention, as your child gets older the expectations become greater, it's much harder to catch up at that point. Good Luck!

Jazi

[Barksum]

One of my sons was pretty delayed. He had global delays during the first year, but many resolved by the time he was about 14 months old. He continued to have various delays in some areas, most significantly in expressive speech. He did very little signing, and had about 30 total words AND signs by age 3. He began to really begin to speak around age 4. He's 7 now and speaks well, but does have some quirky speech patterns that one would find normal in a 4 year old, but they are a bit odd in a 7 year old. He's continuing to make great progress and no longer qualified for speech therapy by age 5.

I became very discouraged and disheartened when he was younger, though. It was difficult to have all the therapists listing out all the areas where he was 'behind' or 'weak'. If I could do it over again I would really pay attention to what was said, but not allow the problems to become the focus of my thoughts. I'd work with him the same way that we did, but not be so worried inside about the whole thing. My son is a wonderful child, and I wish that I'd been able to enjoy that without fussing about his delays. I mean, you deal with the delays as is appropriate, but I fussed and worried over them. With other areas of delay that this son has had, and with subsequent children who've had delays in other areas, I've just worked to be patient and enjoy the child where they are regardless of what milestone they have/have not reached by whatever age they are. (Sounds really simple now...but that was so hard when we had a child who didn't speak, hum, babble, or coo for the first 3 years! LOL)

[spicedmama]

Originally Posted by mama4obama

I have tons of experience in working with children with developmental delays. The most important thing to remember is to share in the therapy experience, be a part of the sessions, provide follow-thur at home. Stay in close contact with your therapist. Use language in describing events, while shopping, at bathtime meal time etc. Praise even the smallest verbal attempts. In other words make every opportunity a language learning experience. Consistency will bring about progress with therapy, not frequency. Yes, there is much opportunity for catching up...particularly at this age. The delay is not extremely significant 12-15 @ 25 mons. I would imagine there are some scattered skills throughout that fall more into the age appropriate range. You are making the right decision NOW to seek intervention, as your child gets older the expectations become greater, it's much harder to catch up at that point. Good Luck!

Jazi

Very good advice above. Talk to him, talk to him, talk to him. Continue the therapy, as it really does work. Try to have him interact/play with children his own age on a regular basis, (play group, daycare, etc.). I have seen the results of therapy and the above advice first hand. It really does work! Wishing you the best. And do keep up updated.

[KarynB]

Hi all,

Thanks for the support and great advice. And Barksum, I really liked what you said about enjoying them as well - it is a great thing to remember.

Anyways, we do therapy once a week and we have changed alot of what we do at home, and I am happy to say he's made some great progress - many new words and realizations. One thing that has made a big difference is his toys - we've put away the "baby toys" and brought out toys that require some thought and language...it has been a great help. We have also added two playgroups a week and it has helped to find ones I enjoy going to as well.

Anyways - Friday was a bit discouraging though. I spoke on the phone with his therapist and she mentioned "other delays" she sees - some of which really took me off guard and I didn't notice at all. Even with gross motor stuff which I thought he did really, really well. So...we finish speech classes (novemebr) and then he goes for an entire developmental assessment.

[spicedmama]

Originally Posted by KarynB

Hi all,

Thanks for the support and great advice. And Barksum, I really liked what you said about enjoying them as well - it is a great thing to remember.

Anyways, we do therapy once a week and we have changed alot of what we do at home, and I am happy to say he's made some great progress - many new words and realizations. One thing that has made a big difference is his toys - we've put away the "baby toys" and brought out toys that require some thought and language...it has been a great help. We have also added two playgroups a week and it has helped to find ones I enjoy going to as well.

Anyways - Friday was a bit discouraging though. I spoke on the phone with his therapist and she mentioned "other delays" she sees - some of which really took me off guard and I didn't notice at all. Even with gross motor stuff which I thought he did really, really well. So...we finish speech classes (novemebr) and then he goes for an entire developmental assessment.

It seems as if they are working backwards. Why would you have to wait for additional evaluations after he completes Speech Therapy. My advice is to request the evaluations now. Continue to keep us updated.

[DannieAS]

Hi,

I know this thread is old...but I'm new and just read it. I'm in the process of trying to adopt domestically from the county foster/adopt...and I'm a speech therapist for a school district so I'd thought I'd chime in.

I echo not waiting til speech therapy is done to have more testing done. You should request testing done in areas of suspected disability....if that means social/emotional/gross/fine motor/speech...so be it. Partner with the speech therapist. I can't tell you how much it helps the child when a parent is involved...and I've seen a lot of parents not being involved which makes me mad. Also, I'm sure you are aware that you can go to your local regional center for free evaluations and you child can transition to receive services from the school district when they are 3 years of age...they have to offer you FAPE (free and appropriate education).

At this young age, it is still difficult to determine whether speech delays are just delays (which does mean that with proper stimulation and therapy they will 'catch up') or if it is a language disorder (in which longer therapy is needed because language structures and complexities of comprehension and expression will need to be taught), this is why you will hear many speech therapists speculate that they will 'catch up' especially if the children are imitating words, actions, and have interest in communication.

I applaud you for being involved in speech therapy with your kids.

[KarynB]

Originally Posted by DannieAS

Hi,

I know this thread is old...but I'm new and just read it. I'm in the process of trying to adopt domestically from the county foster/adopt...and I'm a speech therapist for a school district so I'd thought I'd chime in.

I echo not waiting til speech therapy is done to have more testing done. You should request testing done in areas of suspected disability....if that means social/emotional/gross/fine motor/speech...so be it. Partner with the speech therapist. I can't tell you how much it helps the child when a parent is involved...and I've seen a lot of parents not being involved which makes me mad. Also, I'm sure you are aware that you can go to your local regional center for free evaluations and you child can transition to receive services from the school district when they are 3 years of age...they have to offer you FAPE (free and appropriate education).

At this young age, it is still difficult to determine whether speech delays are just delays (which does mean that with proper stimulation and therapy they will 'catch up') or if it is a language disorder (in which longer therapy is needed because language structures and complexities of comprehension and expression will need to be taught), this is why you will hear many speech therapists speculate that they will 'catch up' especially if the children are imitating words, actions, and have interest in communication.

I applaud you for being involved in speech therapy with your kids.

Hello! Thanks for the feedback - I really appreciate it! I did decide to go ahead with the full developmental assesment, and we have our first appointment in the beginning of January. During the first set of speech he seemed to make leaps and bounds, and it was pretty amazing to see. He therapist mentioned some gross motor delays/issues, but to be honest I just don't see it. He is really quite co-ordinated...but I guess all that will be tested in the full assessment.

Right now he seems to be dropping the ends of his words - so "up" is "uh", "cracker" is "caracku"...that kind of thing. If anyone has advice on this it would be much appreciated!

[DannieAS]

Originally Posted by KarynB

Right now he seems to be dropping the ends of his words - so "up" is "uh", "cracker" is "caracku"...that kind of thing. If anyone has advice on this it would be much appreciated!

Yes. I would focus on words that have cvc word patterns (consonant vowel consonant.....pop, boat, pet)
Forgive me, I believe you have a preschooler??? I forgot the age of your child.
This is developmentally appropriate and consonants that are usually in during preschool years include /p, b, m, n, t, d, k, g, f, v/.

/r, s, l, sh, ch/ come in later and are not as important as other sounds if the other sounds aren't in yet at this time (does not mean you have to ignore, just going by hierchy). Hope this is a little help. I'm back from my break and have to see some Kindergarten children in 10 min. so I will be back on the forum as a regular as I'm going through my adoption process now. It has been great to read many of these posts.