Daughter's Language Development

I am currently going through the same thing with my two-year-old. The doctor said she could refer him to a specialist to start looking for a cause, or we could give it a few more months. We opted to wait it out a little longer. A few weeks later, we got a puppy, and we noticed that his language has improved drastically since the dog came into our home. Our son is eager to help out with him, telling him to sit, stay, get down, etc. He tells him "good dog" and "bad dog", and most of his first sentences have involved the dog. He's even moved on to four and five words sentences in some situations, and that's knowing that this has all happened in about the last eight weeks. Around his birthday, he was only saying about twenty words, and many of them were hard to understand.

If you don't already have a pet, I highly recommend getting one, even if it is just a goldfish. She'll most likely be eager to help out, as well. Try talking to the pet in small words that will be easy for her to pick up, and she will want to start copying you. Even invite her to help out with the pet.

If you don't want to go the pet route, perhaps taking her to feed the ducks at the park and see the animals will help. Or a trip to a petting zoo or game ranch. Animals can really bring out the unexpected in many people.

Her frequent ear infections probably caused her to temporarily lose hearing. I'm an SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) and have seen it quite often. We describe it as listening while under water... when you put your head under the water of a pool you can still hear things, but everything is muffled and hard to understand. That's probably what it was like for her... which will delay some of the progress. The good news is that she is young and because you have caught things early she isn't losing any more learning time! Good job!

My suggestions would be to bring her in right away if she has another ear infection. The doctors can talk to you about putting tubes in her ears. It's a scary thing since it's a minor procedure, but it would help open up those clogged ears and help her in the long run. It's done very often and I believe it's just an in and out procedure.

Also, make sure that you are talking to her OFTEN and basically "narrating" your life. You may want to try to face her so she can see your lips just in case she has fluid in her ears - the visual will help her decipher what you're saying.

I agree with reading and turning off the TV. Those are great things. It sounds like you're very involved and on top of things!! That's wonderful. The most critical piece to all of this is your dedication and you're doing a WONDERFUL job!!

Hi D.,

I would ask the pediatrician if he or she would give you a referal to get a speech and language evaluation from a speech-language pathologist.

My son had significant delays and he started speech therapy when he was 2 and a half. He has something called verbal dyspraxia which is a oral motor speech disorder. He is now six and is in a special school for kids with language learning problems. All that being said, he is doing fabulous. We hope to mainstream him in a few years. The best time to act is now, early intervention is the key to a successful outcome if your child is behind.

My son turned 2 in January and his doctor was a little concerned at his 2 year old check up because he was hardly takling either. They sent us to an ENT as well and his hearing was fine. The doctor said it was probably just a speech delay. Well what a difference a couple months makes! He has started saying everything this month and is talking more than we could have ever imagined. I was extremely worried too but the doctor said some children just start talking at a slower rate and not to worry. I think you are doing great with the flashcards. We do that with him as well. My son also loves the show Diego and when he would watch it we would repeat the words to him and before I knew it he was saying all the animals names. Just give it time and she will be talking more in no time :)

Hi, my daughter went through the same thing, we had her in speech therapy for a couple of years and she is doing fine now. There is a free program if you go through the school district, however you would have to take her to a specialist to get the paper work showing they evaluated her and what her level of speech is. -J.

I don't know that limiting her intake of DVDs will help as long as she gets the practice with the flash cards and you read to her each day. I am not sure about vocabulary. I guess that would touch on phonics. Maybe even just naming everyday things to see if she will repeat it with you over and over will increase her words. Like point to the cup and say cup. Point to the juice and say juice. I think that she will be vocalizing before you know it. Don't worry too much. Also, singing is a great way to encourage her. Get some sing along songs videos or CDs for your car and sing along with it to encourage her to sing too. Practice makes perfect!

She's 2. Problem with the standards, is that well, they don't account for each child's personalities/situations/etc. Relax, both of you have some fun, it'll come in her own time. Rather than flash cards, encourage imaginative play. Keep reading, but also start playing with her and using the toys for story telling. Play is the best tool for learning at this age.

Check out earobics. It is software that she will love that help with auditory processing of letter sounds. I t is the best indicator in success in reading and language development. You can purchase their software online directly from them.

Did your doctor mention any language development programs? I believe that there are free programs available in our area. One of my friends was looking into it for her 22 month old.

Ask your pediatrician how to contact your county's Babies Can't Wait program. They will provide screening and any necessary therapies on a sliding scale. A friend of mine is in this program with her two year old son and has positive things to say as well as positive results. Good luck!

Hi,
You should have her speech and language skills evaluated by a professional. Often times the evaluation and services are free of charge for preschoolers through the school system. It is so important to get this checked if you have concerns. Now is the time to work on it, before she is self conscious or aware of it. You could call your local school board and ask about services. Good luck!

Call your local school district, and ask for a 0-3 screening, they are free, if your child qualifies they will supply early childhood preschool for them, including the speech therapy needed, they have 30days to respond after the request. Again your local district, Also I don't know if you have an Easter Seals center close to you they can help also. Good Luck.

Hi D.,
I have a friend who went through the same thing with her son. She took him to Babies Can't Wait, a non-profit based in Decatur I think. They assessed him and told her there was nothing wrong. i think the assessment is free. It gave her a lot of peace and he is now talking just fine. Question though, do you speak more than one language in the house? This will often delay onset of speech but works out fine in the end. All the best. D.

An evaluation by a developmental pediatrician may be something for you to consider. Try songs and getting her to sing. Some listen for a long time but then begin to speak in complex sentences quickly. In other words check it out but she may well be within norms.

Hi D.,
I really think people just freak out too fast over the smallest things. She just turned two!!!! I've read the other responses and I've never heard of it before but that Babies Can't Wait program sounds good but I would get upset because your daughter isn't "doing what the other kids are doing"!! My daughter would talk to me but never when other people were around so they thought she had a problem. Yea, she did... she was shy and sometimes scared of the person that got in her face and tried to make her talk. At the age of two, my son had an enormous vocabulary and could pronounce everything clearly and then when my daughter turned two I expected the same but that wasn't what I got. My daughter will be turning three in June and right now she does allot of talking mixed in with her "baby talk". Getting her a play house with a kitchen and dishes helped her imagination grow and so did the talking when she was pretending. Back to when she just turned two... I would tell her if she wanted something, she would have to talk and ask for what she wanted or she wouldn't get it. Maybe your daughter is too scared of saying wrong and that's why she's not saying anything. Expectations are set too high.

Hi there! I have 2 kids ages 9 and 6 and both of them have speech delay problems. Get in contact with your local EDIS or Babies Can't wait program. they can help you with speech therapy for her. Good Luck!

Have you checked out the "Babies Can't Wait" program? It's free to get your daughter screened to see if she may need speech therapy or anything else.

You need to start teaching her sign language as soon as possible. My 18-month-old son's spoken language skyrocketed when he started using signs! Most of the new words he can say started as signs. It's been proven that hearing babies who learn to sign end up advanced in oral language (plus it calms the frustration of not knowing what she wants most of the time). If your child has a history of fluctuating hearing loss (from frequent ear infections), sign language will DEFINITELY help her with oral language. Start with words she already knows receptively (like milk), and once she gets the gist of it, she'll learn other signs very quickly. You'll both have fun learning, and it'll be fun to be able to communicate silently with each other when she's older in places like church. Babies-R-Us has a Baby Sign kit with DVD's and books that would be helpful. Good luck!!!!

I suggest you have her speech evaluated by a speech pathologist Most insurances cover this. The earlier you do it the better! My daughter had numerous ear infections which lead to affecting her speech. She is now in speech therapy at childrens heathcare of Atlanta and has improved tremendously! Georgia public school system also provides free service starting at age 2.
good luck
Kat

D.,

Get in touch with Babies Can't Wait. It is a fantastic program for children under 3 years of age who are dealing with exactly what you are describing. They are Georgia-wide.

E.

D.,

I have the same issue with my 27 month old. However, my pediatrician wasn't concerned...i was the one that was concerned. If you are concerned about it then I would definately ask to see a specialist if anything for your peace of mind. But please keep in mind that all children develop at different speeds. I think it's a mistake that a lot of pediatricians and parents make by comparing children. When my son turned 2 he was saying maybe 5 words within the last month his vocabulary has just taken off. He even says thank you, your welcome and excuse you. He was just doing things at his own pace. And the fact that my pediatrician wasn't concerned put me at ease. You said that the pediatrician was concerned but is she sending your daughter to a specialist or did she suggest some things you might try? I hope this helps.

S.

Hi D.,
I work at USC Speech & Hearing Center and you should schedule an appointment for your daughter to have a full
speech & language evaluation. That way you would know exactly what to work on with your daughters speech. If interested call ###-###-#### and tell Donna that I referred you. Also if you need rates/billing call me at ###-###-####. If you want to check out a web site speech lanuage resources go to superduper.com and or lingui.com. My granddaughter is 4 now and she started coming here for speech therapy for 2 semesters and it really helped alot. Well good luck and call or email me if I can help. T.

I am a mother of 4, ages 10 - 2, and personally, I wouldn't let one doctor's opinion stress me out. Doctors have opinions often as varied as hairstyles. So don't let that one opinion upset you. You could go to 5 other doctors and each have a different judgement on this same situation. My 3-1/2 yr. old has always been the most verbal of all of my children, and she is the 3rd born. Often their speech development is related to if they have older siblings to learn from. My 2-1/2 yr. old who should be the most clear speaker, based on what I just said, is about average, or even slightly below some her age, in my opinion. But I feel that she is developmentally fine. My oldest was still speaking gibberish at age 3, but I realized that he was making perfect sense to himself, but thinking and speaking a lot faster than he took the time to enunciate. At 4 he started having speech therapy to help him to enunciate better, and he's been giving professor-ish monologues ever since.

If you truly have more serious concerns about this, the first thing I would do is to research vaccinations and what effect they have on children, esp. at around your daughter's age. Then decide if this is something that might be affecting your child. Seriously. Also consider speech therapy if this is still an issue by age 3-4. Good luck, but most likely your daughter is just fine. Sounds like you're working well with her. Everyone has a different pace.

Hi D.,

I don't know that I would let it concern me to much at this point. I agree that imaginative play is great for building language. Also second language kids are told to watch lots of movies or kids shows to pick up English so I don't see why you would need to cut out the shows she likes. Even watching them together and asking her questions during the show are good.

i have a co-worker whose child is hearing impared. there are 2 agencies than provide speech therapy, and she loved them both. 1. Babies can't Wait. 2. GA Pines. these services can continue until the child is 3 and/or caught up. i can get the phone numbers if you like.