Three Year Old Not Speaking Well.

My 20 month old rarely responds to his name, is unable to follow simple directions and started showing signs of regression in communication. We are doing an allergy elimination diet as well as seeing a pediatrician that specializes in autism. Part of this may be selective listening, but watch carefully to see if he regresses at all in his speech. If he does, find a DAN doctor who is able to run allergy tests. You can find a list of DAN doctor's on the Dr. Sears website.

Call your public school system and voice your concerns. After age three they are required to give a free evaluation and discuss their findings and recommendations with you. Dont wait, if you start now he will improve so much before he starts kindergarten!!

Please call Lanterman Regional Center (I believe they service your area) and express your concerns and INSIST that they assess him. Also, a more extensive hearing test that includes a tympanogram is important. Hope things work out. If you would like further help pls feel free to contact me.

Penny Amic CEO/Clinical Director
Special Beginnings, Inc.
An Early Intervention Network

I agree, have your son assessed. Although his symptoms sound like he might have auditory processing disorder, which he is too young to be assessed for. Kids with this disorder have normal hearing, but they do not correctly process what they hear. More info: http://www.squidoo.com/capd

If you have questions about it, please message me. My older son has this and it took 4 years of assessments and testing before it was finally discovered. Most "experts" (pediatricians, teachers, speech therapists, etc.) don't even mention it. Many don't even know about it.

If you think your son has this, since he is too young to be assessed, better idea is to accommodate for it. Here's a page that gives a lot of info about accommodations: http://www.squidoo.com/auditory-processing-disorder

HTH,
B.

I agree about having him evaluated by a speech therapist (and possibly an occupational therapist as well).

Not answering when called could be a sensory processing issue (my 1st son was like that). He also may be a little slow in processing what is said to him, causing him to have trouble following simple directions. Here is a list of possible symptoms of sensory processing disorder. I found it very eye opening when I first came across it. I had a few "Oh, so THAT's why Andrew does that" moments. (btw-The explanation that comes 1st is very helpful).

http://www.sensory-processing-disorder.com/sensory-proces...

Feel free to PM me if I can be of any help =o)

You need to tell your Pediatrician.
And get him assessed if need be.
Does your son go to his well-child check-ups? Usually there, the Pediatrician will observe or ask of any problems.

L. - have you not spoken with your ped about this? Do you not have early intervention programs in your area??? Here we have great programs. Do not delay on this - talk to your ped immediately and find out what resources you have for him!

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Have him evaluated by a speech pathalogist at a rehab center. They work with kids with speech and following direction when spoke to. Most insurances cover this. Ask your pediatrician :) GL

was his hearing checked by the pediatrician or an audiologist? does he have fluid? fluid will make the words sound garbled to them. so they won't speak clearly. If it is not a hearing issue which is what I thought till I read you had his hearing tested not sure what it could be other than fluid. but what you are describing is what my 3 yr old hoh kid does.