Please help--possible language development delay

[kclm]

Hello all,

I'm getting very worried that our son has a language delay. He's ten and a half months old, and does not respond at all to his name. In addition, he doesn't wave, or clap his hands, or gesture, nor does he seem to really understand when we talk to him about things or show him things. Other than that he seems completely normal, and he's hit all his motor skills milestones on time.

I called a specialist who suggested testing his hearing, and then bringing him in for a developmental evaluation. I scheduled the hearing test, but to all lay appearances it seems that his hearing is fine, so I suspect the hearing test will show that his hearing is fine, which leaves language delay.

So...my question: is there anyone else out there whose child had a similar issue? What should I look for, worry about, etc.? Or is
there probably nothing to worry about--could it possibly be within the normal range that at this age he isn't doing those things? And if it isn't normal, is this something that can be fairly easily remediated, or is this something horrible?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thank you,

Karen
SAHM to Tad, 11/21/02

[jojo2324]

Hi Karen!!

We are just starting to hear some words now (by now I mean this week), and DS is 15 1/2 months. He was the same, never pointed, waved, played peekaboo, clapped, etc. There was little or no reciprocal communication. Really, crying or holding his arms up to me were the only way he let me know anything for the longest time. (And even the arms up thing took a while.) He didn't respond to his name until a few months ago.

I expressed concern to my ped at 12 months, and she said we would see how it was at 15 months. At 15 months I expressed my concern again, and she said to see how he was doing in 6-12 months!! Way to be consistent! Anyway, at 12 months, she *did* say that he could be focusing more on the physical stuff. He walked at 11 months (went straight to walking, never really took steps), and I am thinking that he was more consumed by that than talking. Also, and this may sound funny, I just get the impression that he doesn't *care*. LOL, he's having too much fun making me chase him around and getting into mischief to be bothered with talking. :)

Not trying to downplay it, because I was definitely worried for some time there. Like I said, it is JUST this week that he's starting to say words. And those are mainly with prompting: "Gannon, can you say _____?" Followed by him maybe saying it. He does say hi, no, dada, and now mom (!!) without coaching. I just got him the signing times DVDs this week, and we started watching them today. I've been doing signs all day for water, sleep, milk, etc.

I did get some information about state-sponsored testing for developmental delay, but now I am going to wait and see where he takes it from here.

Just so you know, I think he *does* understand lots more than I give him credit for. As of a month or two ago, I could ask him where his ball or milk was, and he'd find it. And he *definitely* understood no, though he rarely heeded it. :) And my brother and I were both late talkers (not until 3, both of us), so I wonder if it's hereditary. And they do say that boys are slower than girls in the language department.

Hope this helps a little bit. I know it's hard (okay, impossible!) not to worry, and I don't know that we're out of the woods yet, but I hope you feel a little better knowing somebody else's story!

[egoldber]

There is probably absolutely nothing wrong, but you are doing the right thing by having him tested! It can't hurt and it can only help. It might be difficult to tell if there is an issue yet, since there is a HUGE range of what is considered normal in terms of both expressive and receptive language development until children reach 18 months. Here are some sites with good info:

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/child_hear_talk.htm
http://www.speechdelay.com/

My DD was diagnosed at 18 months with oral motor delay. At the time, I wasn't even concerned about her speech, I had her evaluated because she also had some gross motor delay, so I was absolutely floored when she was diagnosed. But I have just been incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of help and support that is available for children with these types of delays.

If you don't know, there is a federal program called IDEA, which assures that all children, from birth to age 3, are entitled to free developmental screenings. I would ask your ped for a referral to this program (it is often referred to as an the Early Intervention program). All states run this program a little differently, so it is hard to know what it may be called exactly in your state. But I have been amazed at the quality and responsiveness of all the folks I have interacted with. We have been working with various specialists (including a speech pathologist who comes to our home) for several months.

And just to let you know, we've had a significant breakthrough with Sarah recently. We went from having only a couple dozen words to a couple hundred within the space of a few weeks. We just updated her therapy goals to be more "advanced" to reflect her progress.

So again, just to reiterate, it is likely that there is nothing wrong, but if there is, know that there are a lot of resources available to you, and any outcome prognosis is likely to be very good!

HTH,

[cchavez]

I am a speech-language pathologist and I think it is great you are adressing these concerns so early. It is hard to tell from limited information if your child has a language delay but Beth gave you excellent advice/information. There is no harm in getting him tested and it so true that if he does have a delay early intervention is the key. Prior to baby, I worked w/ lang. delayed Spanish-speaking preschoolers. They were only w/ us a year or two but the progress they made was phenominal. I can only imagine how much more significant the progress is at the 0-3 age! It sounds like Sarah is the perfect example that early intervention is so important for those children that truly have a speech/language delay. Beth, you must be so happy!

[emilyf]

Karen, just to reassure you a bit, my ds was born 3 days after Tad, and he isn't waving, clapping or doing much gesturing yet either. He does respond to his name, but he has been late on some of his gross motor stuff too-just now starting to crawl, push into seated position etc. I'm not sure how many other words (if any) besides his name he knows. My ped. is keeping a close eye on all of this, but says it is not unusual to see things running a bit behind schedule especially in boys. I am seeing her again in a few weeks to decide if the early intervention program Beth mentioned is warranted, but he has made some strides since our last appt so I'm guessing she'll decide it's not. You are right to be concerned, but I think it is likely that Tad is just moving along at his own pace. My ped put a nice spin on it for me, she said that Charlie was just an extremely content baby and not overly motivated to do new things. She said it's something she sees quite often, and that eventually his interest will get sparked enough to really get him going!
Emily \r\nmom of Charlie born 11/02