Delay in speech

Re: Daughter not talking properly

I am merging this with our existing thread on speech delay. I do think you should bring this to the attention of her pediatrician and ask for evaluation.

Vanathi.

 

Sandhya..
i agree with vanathi that you need to go for an evaluation. but since you say she has started with 1 words already, it might not be a gross issue.. assessment might bring out what could be the root cause to the problem. does she repeat whatever you say - even the sentences? does she understand all that you say? have you done any hearing evaluation yet?

i have been through this, and here are some dos/donts that i was told -

1) Stop all videos/tv till she grows out of this problem. any communication with her should be two-way. audios are fine, but an adult needs to sit with her to make her realize that the audio is played for her. Children watching tv too much mostly starts speaking late.

2) she should start realising that she needs to 'say' something in order to get something. i hope she understands all that you say. when she wants to ask for water, say, make sure she at least says 'water' and only then hand it over to her.. and say "you want water? the one in this water bottle? here it is." so unless she asks for something, it shouldn't be given or done to her. some care takers do things even before the child asks for it. never do that till this issue sorts out.

3) you need to keep talking to her non-stop.. non-stop is not an exaggeration - talking is the key. except for the time she is sleeping, keep talking to her. its tiring sometimes, but you need to do it till she starts talking herself. when she is taking bath, keep saying "this is a yellow bucket. see there is water inside. now amma is going to pour the water on you. see there is a soap box, its a white soap.. show me your neck, show me your leg, hand..."

4) some toys are meant to improve concentration. like the beads, puzzles.. check with your paed, get them, and play them along with her.

i did this with my daughter, and she now talks non-stop and i wonder where she has picked up some words that we usually don't use, from. so the day might not be far off.

This is all i can think of, at this point.. lets hear from other mommies..

 

Hi Sandhya,

My daughter dint speak more tahn few words like amma appa pal mummum and stuff for upto tow and half yaer. I felt it was just because theres jsut me n my hubby here and nobody else and so i did wat asha told u to do. started talking nonstop and never giving anything until its asked properly. Like she has to follow me and say amam give me water plaese . And teh problem was she was bilingual. Like she picked up eng from tv and we tak tamil at home . her vocabulary was so less taht goit me thinking. i registed her with aplay program that has many kids and religiously took her there everyday and her speecha nd vocabulary in english incraesed many folds. Then i was concerned abt her nto speaking mother tongue . but a 4 month long vacation in India took care fo taht issue too. Kids need kids theri age to comminicate with. take her to play groups and play with her and talk to her non nstop.

All the best. It ll all be good soon enough.

Regards,
CC

 

Hello friends...

My son turned two this month (Aug.) and not talking yet...even though blabbers sometime. I know some kids speaks little late, but curious to know like any other mother that when is my son going to speak. He sings his rhymes not very clear words, but clearly says letters A-Z and No's. I stay at home so I do talk to him alot. He understand what are we asking or telling him but he is not ready to speak.

Other question I have in mind.. about teaching my son our mother tongue and english. My husband speaks english all the time, only I speak hindi and english (50-50%) with him. Then his sprout channel in english. Seems like he is grasping english only. I want him to learn english and hindi both. I am confuse please guide me how to teach him our mother tongue + English and how not to delay his speech.

Thank you.

 

Amicable,

Please have a hearing test performed on the child. Some kids hear poorly certain sounds. I also know in one case the child was slow to talk because his elder sister was doing all the talking for him He just used to look at her and she will take care of his needs! (So sweet!)

Also, many counties in USA have help (speech therapists) available for free to help in these situations. Good luck! Don't worry.

 

Hi Sudha..

Thank you for your reply. Actually..you misunderstood my question. My question is posted in delay speech but I am not worried about his speech because he just turned two. If he won't speak after three...then I might be little concerned.

My main question was regarding how to teach the two different languages and in this process in which age usually they start talking. It has nothing to do with ears...He understand us and he mumbles all day too.
Its just kids get confuse with two different languages thats why not talking yet.


Regards

 

Ok, amicable.

I mentioned the checkup only because of my knowledge with a kid who could have benefited with a early (ier) discovery of the problem. He also was a little late in starting to speak.

Good luck to you!

 

Amicable, sharing my experience here, your mileage may vary. DS also had the two language issue. I spoke bothin Tamil and English, but DH and I spoke mainly in English because DH never lived here in Chennai a little before our wedding. DS therefore picked up English first. It is only the last 6 months - after he turned 3 - DS speaks Tamil also. I still continue repeating things inTamil. We have bilingual books now from Tulika that help me read the same thing in Tamil and English. I have put some Tamil alphabet charts that he seems to be passively absorbing - he reads level 2 books in English, but can only manage to point the consonants in Tamil. But I can already see he is picking things up faster. Just wondering if you can do flashcards and alphabet trays in Hindi - not sure what the availablility of those in US is.
There is a programme for Flashcard making software in this thread in schoolgoers and teenagers forum. Welcome to the Mnemosyne Project | The Mnemosyne Project if you dont have access to ready made, you can make them on your own.
DS was also speaking very little at age 2, but I just cant get him to do "quiet play" anymore at 3 yrs 6 months. If you think there are no other reasons for him a speech delay, then it must be because of two language issue. Once he chooses a dominant language, he is bound to learn very quickly. HTH.

 

if you are talking in two or more languages then the kid may delay in talking.but it is good for the kid if they listen different languages, they will pick up later. My son is 2 year and 3 months old, he just says 4 or 5 words, but he does all other activities and follows our instructions.. i too got worried about talking initially, b'c my friends kids are same age, they were talking very clearly..we checked with pedi., he told us to give him some more time..it is only b'c of trilingual(yeah 3 languages)....but one tip, one parent should speak in one language to the kid, suppose your husband is speaking to him in english, you speak to him in other language..this will really help him to respond.
cheers,

 

Thank you Tikka and kavita for your input. I like Kavita's suggestion regarding one parent stick to one language and other to the second one. So...I am completly going for hindi and my DH for english with our son. Hope..it will teach him both languages. Thanks again.