Going or gone insane

[jaime15]

Well I've been flaring forever, so it seems.
I had to take Zane for his 18 month check-up this morning. He's still small for his age. But how this doc wants him to see a speech therapist. I thought they start worrying about that at two??
If I revert back two months to when he should've been born, then he's only 16 months. Hubby wants a second opinion. Obviously he is mad that someone thinks his child is not what he thinks he is. "Perfect", I guess.
I don't know whether to wait a month or what. BTW we don't like this pediatrician he saw anyway. His regular one was booked.
This sure isn't helping my flare. But he comes first.
Any input out there???
Thanks,
Jaime

[tigger_gal]

hi Jamie,
I am sorry you are flaring, I found out this morning I have yet another bladder infection grouphug .. I would get a second opinion on your son. he is only 16/18 months old, second opinions are always good wink
have a good day
Brat

[vm]

Hey, Jaime. I used to work for early intervention and did home visits with lots of young kids with communication delays. Is Zane making lots of different sounds? The only reason I would really worry at that age (I say worry very loosely) is if the child has no variety of sounds. If he is saying "ah, ooh, bu, no, tu", etc. then I wouldn't worry about it so much. I think at 18 months the average vocabulary is 15 - 25 words and A LOT can change between 16 and 18 months.

I haven't heard your son, of course, and I am not a speech therapist (I did child development intervention), but as long as he is making a good variety of sounds and is saying 2 or 3 words, I wouldn't worry about it. Does he seem like his understanding for that age is pretty good?

PM me and I can send you some specifics of what to look for at that age.

[vm]

And you are right on to look at what's expected of a 16 month old rather than an 18 month old since he was born 2 months early.

[Michelle in KC]

OK, first of all, I think your Stand-In Ped is a quack! No way a 16-18 month old needs speech therapy! Wait at least until preschool. Justin (now 5) had speech therapy in preschool and is great now. He's at his age level. DOn't sweat it. Wait until school. Have his teachers evaluate him then. If you want get started in head start or Lamb if it's in your area. They automatically evaluate them for you and it's FREE. It basically teaches the kids to play nice in a school setting, without the rigid schooling. GOod Luck! Michelle in KC (AKA Michelle to-be-in-Arkansas)

[vm]

Here's an example of what to expect from children his age:

15 months

use lots of gestures and sounds
use some words to communicate,
like "mama," " dada," " bottle," "bye-bye,"
and "uh-oh"
understand familiar words and
phrases like, "Where’s mama?" and
"Get your bottle."
play with a variety of toys like
blocks, cars, books, stuffed animals,
and dolls


18 months

use at least 10 words
make more than 5 different consonant
sounds, like /m/, /n/, /b/, /d/, and /g/
imitate words you say
identify several body parts when named
play by pretending to feed dolls or
stuffed animals

It's from FSU's Communication Disorders website: http://firstwords.fsu.edu/pdf/babytalk.pdf

[vm]

More, from: www.speechdelay.com


18 MONTHS:

Child uses about 10-20 words at age 18 months including names;

Recognition of pictures of familiar persons, objects

Early 2-word combinations of words emerge;

Needs are requested verbally such as "more, up";

Child will point, gesture, follow simple commands, imitate simple actions, hum or sing;

*Although children typically develop in the same manner, all children are different and unique. The above are general guidelines as evidenced through various sources of literature and research. If a delay is suspected, contact your pediatrician to discuss. Your pediatrician may refer you for the appropriate evaluation if necessary.

And from: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voic...ge.asp#mychild

12 - 17 months

*Attends to a book or toy for about two minutes.
*Follows simple directions accompanied by gestures.
*Answers simple questions nonverbally.
*Points to objects, pictures, and family members.
*Says two to three words to label a person or object (pronunciation may not be clear).
*Tries to imitate simple words.


So, Jaime, you can see the milestones vary depending on who you are talking to. There are children that young who do need therapy, but they are usually kids who really make no sound at all and don't gesture for what they want. The idea with them is to intervene early to lessen their own frustration at not being able to communicate as effectively as they want to.

If you don't think he needs it now --- listen to your gut --- then see what your pediatrician thinks at age 2. I know with my own son I waited until he was 2 to decide whether or not to refer him for ST. He wasn't talking much at Zane's age, but he was making lots of different sounds so I waited. By 2 he was saying lots of words so I didn't need to.

LOTS happens between now and 2 and you will have a MUCH clearer idea at that time whether or not he may need an eval.

[jaime15]

You guys are so great. I appreciate all the suggestions and opinions. We've decided we're going to wait til he's 2 and take it from there.
I checked w/my family and their opinions are the same as you guys. You're so sweet.
Hugs to all,
Jaime

[sharon429]

Hi Jamie!
I don't know how I missed this post. I check almost every day in this section. Anyway, everybody had some really good advice for you and I think its great all the listing of what your child should be doing at a certain age. I also have concerns about my 16 month old daughter, Olivia. She only says ma ma, da da and good. The thing is - is that I have two other children that have/had a speech disorder. I've been all through the early intervention, speech therapy, school speech and everything. So if you need to e-mail about ANYTHING please do.
Before I decided to have Olivia I was at the neurologist with one of my children and asked her what the chances were if I was going to have another baby with a speech disorder. She said my chances were 1 in 4. Now, I'm always looking at every little thing Olivia is doing. I take my son for speech therapy at Montclair University and spoke to them about Olivia. They said they could understand my concerns and I should talk to my doctor. I spoke to my husband about it and he conviced me to wait until she's two. Oh yeah, thats another thing - the men never want to believe that theres anything wrong with their child - even when its something like speech.
To me when theres all those other things out there - speech is the least of the disabilities a child can have. Both my son and daughter have improved unbelievably. My daughter (she just turned 7) was finally let go from speech after 4 grouphug years of it. My son has mild verbal apraxia and he's still working on it. But he's come such a long way. He used to have the most horrible tantrums. My oldest daughter never had a speech problem - so go figure?
I think every child is different and I think your smart waiting until 2. After that if you still think Zane is behind you should go with your gut feeling and get him early intervention. The best thing I did was getting my children help early. People couldn't believe I was spending so much of my energy running up to the University and everything else but I feel good that I did it now. It really paid off. Like I said - if you want to e-mail me about anything I would be happy to answer your questions.

Sharon grouphug

[mrm]

I have a son and for the most part they are not to chatty. Then they tell you not to worry about words but does he listen and understand you and can he follow commands and stuff, which my son sucked at and still does (age 3.5). I was starting to worry at his inability to follow 2 part commands (which I took as a sighn that he was a tad slow) but recently I realized that he understands me perfectly and is fully capable of following very complex demands... if they are to his benefit. So basicly your son may have flew past understanding you right into ignoring you. Honestly at that age I think it takes a whole lot more to listen, understand you THEN actively choose not to listen to you THEN PRETEND he did not understand a word. Or he might be slow.

My son is also waaaay to short with stumpy little legs and a HUGE eek melon head. Everybody tells me he'll "grow into it" but I doubt it. We took him to have all these stupid bone ex ray test and all the results said was, get this ONE LINE" that he was short. Umm no sh*t. Glad the insurance forked over the cash for that brilliant diagnosis.

[mrm]

Oh yeah almost forgot my son who is still schetch on the pronuciation of 95% of what he says came the other day and with a new word "BOOBS" followed by hysterical giggles and lots of gesturing. Great it's a boy.

[Kelli]

I agree with everything thats already been said. Also, you must remember, kids will develop differently. My oldest son spoke very young, walked early, potty trained early, yet my youngest son was a little behind. He did catch up to where he was supposed to be by age three. They all develop differently and it's just a matter of time for Zane. One day he will wake up and be speaking in full complete sentences and you'll wonder how many weeks were you sleeping????????? It will all come together.

[ICNDonna]

When my oldest grandson was little (just under 3) he had a little playmate who was within a month of his exact age. The playmate was talking up a storm and our little guy just wasn't talking --- and his mom was very, very worried that possibly he wasn't as intelligent as his little friend. Well, that grandson is in his early 20's now and in college. When he started talking he started in sentences --- and from elementary school on, he was in the extra credit classes available for the brightest children.

He also had a problem distinguishing colors and his mother worried --- then discovered when he had a routine eye exam that he is color blind!

Children are all different, but mothers are the same --- they all worry about their children. My youngest is past 40 now and would you believe I STILL worry????

Warm hugs,
Donna

[Alyson]

Jaime, I'm sorry I missed this post. The entire month of June is a blur to me! eek Anyway, my little boy will be four in August and we have been through a lot with his speech. If you want, pm or email me at [email protected] I was also worried about him around 18 months and guess what? He too was two months early! So, everyone kept telling me that I should compare him to 16 month olds and not 18. Anyway, at two years old, he wasn't even saying mama or dada. He was making noises and stuff, but no words at all. We had Early Childhood Intervention come to our home---if that's available in your area, they will come out and test his speech for you for no charge at all. They were a Godsend to us. We had an Early Intervention specialist as well as a speech pathologist come to our home twice a week until he turned three. At three he was still way behind but much better! He then began private speech therapy sessions which were very expensive, so we had to stop. Now he is one month shy of four and you know what? He's talking up a storm! He's still hard to understand sometimes and I think he needs work on answering abstract questions, so I bought a book to work with him on that. They're all different and they all develop at such different rates! My recommendation is to wait til he is two unless you have major concerns!
grouphug

[sharon429]

I know this sounds really weird - but do you think there could be any relation(?) to having IC when pregnant and children having a speech disorders. It just seems strange that two or three people from the board posted about having children with speech problems and when I was taking my two children for speech at the University there was a woman there who claimed she had IC(that she now has under control) and has two children with speech disorders. I don't know? It just hit me after I read the last post. I mean - maybe theres some hormone or some chemical imbalance that goes with IC thats missing when were pregnant.
Sharon