Speech and Language delay

[welshgirl]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience of working with a child that has a speech, language and communication delay. Mindee who is nearly 2 has no words at all, he has good understanding, points and takes me to what he wants, does not babble as such, just uses a sort of sing song tone. I have been speaking to mum about it and she is waiting to see a speech therapist but there is a massive waiting list. I am trying to support him as best I can and discussing and passing ideas to mum, but without the help of a specialist it is difficult to know if I am doing the right things with him or not. I am also concerned about the EYFS Development matters as it is very evident from his file that his lack of speech is affecting a lot of areas and he is not reaching the milestones. Should I stop linking his observations to the Development Matters as the observations seem to be continually linked to the same Development Matters and there are a lot of gaps. I just really want to help him and support him, but not sure how to do this or how to correctly follow the EYFS learning and development areas.

[mushpea]

My son had speach delay and had speach therapy,, each time he pointed to somthing he wanted we would say what it was or ask him 'do you want the biscuit?' he would nod eventualy he started to say words but in his own language so biscuit was bicbut, choclolate was fotfot,, shopping trolley was ferrai! or at least thats what it sounded like we would repeat what he wanted but correctly.
as for development matters what is it you are having trouble linking?
for things like colours you can ask him to find you a yellow car etc instead of asking him what colour his car is, with numbers instead of expecting him to count out loud you could ask him to bring you two wooden blocks , you could have some pictures of things he might need during the day and when he wants somthing he could point to it and you can say it then help him find it. same with animals etc ask him to point to the lion etc,,, this way you will know that he knows colours, numbers animals etc even if he's not yet saying them.

[uf353432]

ECAT (Every child's a talker) might be a good place to look at to get more information. I set up a website last year when on the pilot scheme as a support and reference guide which you are welcome to look at as a starting point (ecat4childmindinders.webs.com) and if you google ECAT there are loads of resources online to support you. Check also if your local council has any ECAT resources as well.

[suzyjane73]

Well, to be honest i think it's a little early to worry about speech delay, he's not even 2 yet. Some kids are just late talkers. Don't go worrying mum unnecessarily. The Talking Point website is extremely helpful and gives a kind of checklist of what to expect at certain ages and advice.

I have experience of DS and a mindee with delayed speech and communication and they were both similar patterns of development, really good with the PSRN but couldn't string more than 2 words together until they were 3, then all of a sudden they improved in leaps and bounds.

I know what you mean about checking the development matters lists as most of them rely on the children being about to talk a bit once you get to 24 months. Just fill in what you can for now as it will all change come September anyway and there is supposed to be more emphasis on Communication.

I bit of advice that helped with my mindee was that in order learn to speak we first need to learn how to listen.. Play lots of listening games. Can you hear that bird? Cheep Cheep!! Listen a police car!! Nee nar nee nar!! That sort of thing and musical instruments etc. And talk talk talk all the time. Be like the audio commentary on a DVD!

[catlyn]

I have a 30 month old mindee with very little speech...his mum isnt worried nor is the HV...they have said its "within normal limits" he has around 20 words he uses without prompting and can repeat most of what i say to him but no one would understand them as its not clear..as the OP said he also uses a "sing song voice" and most of it sounds like babble. I record where he is in obs but feel theres not a lot else I can do if parents arent worried

[rickysmiths]

My cousin is a very eminent Speech therapist. Her advise is to seek advise at two if there are any concerns because i does take time to work through the system and better that you get to 3 and the child if fine than to get to 3 and not have done anything and have to start from scratch.

At that age it is then unlikely that anything will be done apart from basic monitoring until the child is in school. Then they will wait another year before they do anything to see if the child really does need some of their valuable and expensive support by which time it is too late and it has apparently been proven that at this point it is unlikely that this child will ever catch up with his peers.

Catlyn I would be certainly asking for a basic referral to and Ear Nose and Throat Specialist to rule out basic physical impairments things like Tounge Tie, Glue Ear.

I have a 22 month old who we could see was having problems. His mother took him on my suggestion to a walk in clinic we have locally where there are Specialist nurses who can assess children and refer them. He was referred to see an EN and T Consultant before he was two and the Consultant congratulated his mother for seeing help early. The child was found to have severe Glue Ear. His mother and I never suspected that, even though I had experience of it with my own daughter who suffered from severe Glue Ear when she was 8yrs, he did not display any of the symptoms my daughter had.

This child is now on a waiting list to see a Speech Therapist and is seeing the EN and T people every 2 months to monitor the Glue Ear.

It is actually vital that specialist help is sort as early as a problem is noticed. I would over ride a Health visitor who said leave it until they are 3. That may be too late.

Ecat is excellent and if any of you are able to access a course I would highly recommend it.

[catlyn]

thanks for that advice...I must admit it doesnt sit well with me doing nothing as although I know all children develop differently I have real concerns about this one......I was a nursery nurse for over 20 years before taking up childminding and have never known speech delay as bad as this...will mention something to her on Monday I think x x thanks x

[LittleGems1970]

ECAT (Every child's a talker) might be a good place to look at to get more information. I set up a website last year when on the pilot scheme as a support and reference guide which you are welcome to look at as a starting point (ecat4childmindinders.webs.com) and if you google ECAT there are loads of resources online to support you. Check also if your local council has any ECAT resources as well.

Hi there,

Just wanted to check out the website but just realised as i clicked on the link it has been mispelt (childmindinders ) so giving the wrong page.

the correct link is http://ecat4childminders.webs.com/



I also have a mindee with 'immature speech' who is nearly 4 years old. Can understand some of their speech but most of the time it is really 'babbled' and very hard to understand, but then he does have trouble with concentration and listening etc, has no interest in 'learning' i really really try to do stuff but run out of things to get him interested, he just wants to play rough, run around shouting being a dinosaur being a baddie!

He does know some colours and numbers but its all in how you ask things with him. If i say 'what number is this?' he will sit for 5mins saying 'ermmmmm' he will maybe say number 1, if its right i ask another he will still say number 1 for the next 4 or 5 questions, even when i show him number 1 and say thats number 1, this is a different number. He repeats alot of what i ask him, i show him pictures to get him to 'tell me things' like 'what is the boy wearing' and sometimes he just hasn't a clue. I do liase with nursery and we are both reading from the same book with regards to what we do and try etc. parents put it down to behaviour/naughty?? which don't get me wrong he can be a nightmare.....but not with me!

If he says words that are clearly wrong, i always tell him to look at me and sound the word out for him to copy, instructions are really hard for him to follow too, even simple ones, especially if i ask to do more than one thing.

Has anybody had experience with this around this age group?

thanks in advance

c

[Chatterbox Childcare]

In Wiltshire we can refer direct to the speech therapists so might be worth looking into it where you are.