Speech Testing and Assessment

[crazydiamond]

Husband here.

DD is a very happy, bright, responsive, playful, perceptive, and interactive girl. She is also very verbally expressive – but just babbling - No real words beyond “Da Da” and “No”

She was a bit late (I suppose) to walk completely her own at about 14 months.

We had her in for 16 month checkup recently and Pediatrician started talking about getting speech assessment and testing. She will be 18 months at Thanksgiving.

I kind of feel we could wait another 2 months to give her time to turn the babble into real words, but wife feels the earlier we intervene the better.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone been through this?

[elliput]

It would not hurt to start making the appointments- it will probably be several weeks before an opening is available anyway. If things change significantly during between now and then you can always cancel. Even if your daughter really makes headway during that time, it might be worth the peace of mind to get reassurance from an SLP that your DD is on target with her speech.

There were many little things that told me I should have my DD's speech evaluated at that time, but I got the line "she'll catch up" from everyone I asked. I really wish I had followed my instincts and pressed the issue.

[MoJo]

My DD is 16 months too (she'll be 18 months Dec 4). I'd describe mine the same as you do yours. She also learned to walk at 14 months.

When she was at the Ped's office this month, they only wanted to know if she had five words. (mine does, but she mostly uses just two: "da da," which she uses for Dad and dogs, and "bye," which she uses as a question, a statement, and a command!)

And I also realized after the appt that even this early, I'm not doing a good job of keeping track of her words, because she doesn't use them all all the time. So maybe you should think if she has any others. My Dd has a few odd ones, like "owl" and "toes!"

So, if I were you, I wouldn't be worried; she's not that far off and it's entirely possible that she will take off. However, because early help can be really helpful, I'd go ahead and have her evaluated.

HTH!

[almostamom]

I've been down that road. I completely agree with Elliput, make the appointments now. If you cancel them later, that's fine, but it will probably take a few weeks for them to have an available appointment. My son started receiving speech services at 18 months. Most of the people I know IRL questioned why I would seek out services that early. I've never regretted getting him into speech, and I would have always regretted not getting him help early.

Linda

[tmarie]

I would schedule now. As pp mentioned, it takes a while to line up and you can always cancel if progress is seen. Also, if your spouse wants it and it would put his/her mind at ease, I think it is worth going forward for their peace of mind. I know so many people who have had children go through speech assessments. So often it is nothing, but early intervention/therapy makes a huge difference if indeed there is an issue. I know several friends who had late speakers, and it turned out to be a problem with hearing due to multiple ear infections. It was helpful getting the diagnosis because it pushed them to get the hearing issue resolved and then the speech developed and caught up.

GL!

tmarie

[SammyeGail]

I also say go ahead and go for it, even if you feel its not needed, its not going to hurt anything. If you can contact your state's Early Intervention system (has different names in different states), they usually cover everything $$$ wise until kiddos are 3, its a relief, but sometimes they are slower, they were in my case. Well, my EI was awful in my case, lol!

Yes, I hated the idea of my boys being in the Early Intervention program, I felt I didn't do well enough as a mother, it honestly hurt. I am not saying this to scare you, this was just my and my boys case, but they did have problems that showed up more as they got older. One of my twins didn't walk until 18 months, EI blew it off, I didn't want anything to be wrong with my son so I took her attitude as reassurance. By 22 months we *knew* he had autism. My other twin shows early signs of AD/HD. (which my DH sort of has, lol) They will be 4 on 11/20 and are both doing great. I didn't get as much out of EI as I should have, but my school system has been great. Jo is in an awesome autism school, (he's reading!) Noah has even started 2 days a week and is loving it and doing so well.

I am in no way saying anything is wrong with your DD, she may just be deciding to learn at her own pace :). Its completely natural. I've seen some really good speech therapist and some really bad ones! If you go a few times to a good one, watch what they do, etc, you can do these things at home, its done in a playful manner, she'll catch on and off she'll go!! Or you'll go thru all the testing, get your first appt set up, by then she may be talking up a storm. I'm just saying it won't hurt anything to give her a little boost, and like PP's have said, it will take a while to get it all done.

Good luck and great job looking out for your DD!!!

Samantha

[melrose7]

I would also agree with PP because DD1 wasn't talking and I heard from everyone that she'll talk when she's ready and I waited. I waited til she was 2 then made the first appointments and by the time she was able to receive services she was 2 1/2. The next time around with DD2 I didn't want to wait and as soon she turned 14 months I called because she was only saying 2 words and not repeating and saying sounds (animal sounds). We got her first appointment in at 16 months just for paperwork and by then she was up to 10 words and by the actual speech appointment she was repeating, new animal sounds and was probably up to 20+ words. but I was happy I took her and didn't wait the second time. if there is some kind of delay it does help to get it sooner and it doesn't hurt to get her help now.

[sste]

Crazydiamond, just saw your question to me in the other thread.

The physical therapy and speech therapy seemed to be enormously helpful - - I say seemed because you never know for sure if your DC would have had a language explosion on their own. My DS is now a week shy of two years old and he has well over 100 words and is generating three and four word phrases and some sentences. He is phasing out of EI and tests as cognitively ahead and if the current pace continues he will probably wind up ahead on speech too. And he was pretty severely delayed on speech and receptive language at 15 months (35-40% delay) and didn't walk until 19 months.

I did ALOT of research and I found that 1/2 the time kids' language is normal by age 3 with no early intervention, 1/2 the time they need early intervention. The problem is if you have no way of knowing which group your child is in. So, my feeling was that I needed to act under an extreme precautionary principle.

If you decide to test and qualify for services, here are some tips. I scheduled alot of services for DS - - my state is generous and my approach was to take as much as they would give me. I emphasized to my coordinator again and again that I wanted her to find for me the therapists she would use if it was her own daughter (I bawled during that speech which probably helped), I then interviewed the therapists rather than just accepting the EI referral automatically - - our therapists have been first-rate. I also made sure a caregiver attended each therapy session to learn techniques and I requested that the therapists write out homework assignments each week for us to work on with DS. I gave DS fish oil daily, signed him up for music classes based on research on the music-speech development link, and I also consulted a few independent specialists. In case you are worried, DS had a blast with all of this attention - - the therapists all come with toys and the babies love the attention.

Anyway, my feeling was that DS was going to get everything I would want for myself if I was in that situation and that no stone was going to be left unturned on my watch!

[miki]

I made appts for DS to be evaluated at around 16m. My goal was to have him evaluated by the time he was 18m and people told me not to be surprised if an appt would not be available for 4-6 weeks. He didn't say one word, not even mama or dada. He was found to have a significant enough delay to be referred to speech theray through the state program and we've had regular sessions for several months. It's been very helpful for me. My DD was a super early talker so I had no experience with speech delay. The suggestions and strategies that the speech therapist gave me have been very helpful in directing DS's attention and setting up situations to encourage him to use either words or signs.

[crazydiamond]

Thanks everyone. I think I will make the appointments. I guess it is best to be safe, and it may take a while to get an appointment anyway. I just don't like to think anything could be wrong with her development.

sste, I think you are from Illinois too? It looks like Illinois has a good program. We have been big on the DHA Omega 3's since conception and music is a big part of our home so that will continue for sure.

[sste]

Yes, I live in Chicago. The Illinois EI program is much more generous than other states. If you are in the Chicago area or have other questions, feel free to pm me as we have been very pleased with our therapists.

I know what you mean about how upsetting it is to even consider. DH and I were devastated and we started thinking about long-term special ed for DS - - and that certainly was not a hysterical reaction given that so many of his tests showed him at the 9 month level or below at age 15 months. However, in so many cases with babies, the development curve is a little quirky but comes out right in the end. And testing at 15 months - - while I totally rec it for the expert eye and to get services - - is not highly predictive of later outcomes and is also imperfect b/c they only see a snapshot of your child. In fact, my only criticism of EI would be that they don't always tell you this and put the testing results in context. I do still think testing and services are absoluely the way to go - - as I mentioned you don't know if your child is in the group that will improve on their own and you don't want to look back later with regrets.

[Indianamom2]

I think if the pedi has mentioned it, it's worth at least getting a further assessment. I say this as a parent who has been there, done that and am thankful I did.

As others have mentioned, it's free, it cannot hurt anything and it will most likely take several weeks/months to even get the actual assessment done. No harm in getting the ball rolling now.

In my case, DD#1 was 18 months and not really saying anything either. We finally got an assessment through Indiana's First Steps Early Intervention program and discovered that she had a pretty significant speech delay (which by then, we knew) and a bit of a fine motor delay (had no idea). We ended up receiving services once a week for an hour in our home. The fine motor stuff was resolved well within a year, but we are still doing speech therapy at 5+ years old. In our case, it took a good 6 months after we got our assessment to even get an actual speech therapist because the demand is pretty great.

It's really a fairly painless process and definitely worth doing. You might not end up needing any ongoing services, but if you do, you won't regret it.

Christina

[maestramommy]

Arwyn was like that at 18 months (around Thanksgiving last year!). I think she had one word when we had the eval. The result was that she just missed qualifying for services on the grounds that she loved to imitate, not just vocalizations, but actions. So they were expecting some kind of word explosion soon. Well, that didnt' happen and we had her evaluated again at 22 months. This time she did qualify and she has been getting speech services since June. But she is doing so well that she may be phasing out soon. It depends on her rate of progress, and she is due to be re-evaluated soon.

I'd say it never hurts to get your child evaluated. 18 months is the soonest they will do it for speech. Even if your child "passes," they can give you tips for working with her on your own. I don't think it necessarily speed things up, esp. if there's nothing really wrong. But it's another tool in your box.

[mom2binsd]

I'm also in IL (central) and also an SLP....my DS had about 2 words at his 2 year check up (ya I know sort of humiliating....but it's really hard to make em talk!!!)....despite my MIL's assurance that DH said nothing at age 2 and look at him now (well....ok I won't go there, lol) but we did contact EI, and had two choices, Easter Seals or Spice (a local EI group), we said whichever was earliest, both are great.

At about 28 months he was tested, had about 3-4 words expressively (I know you're thinking she must be a terrible therapist!!!)....but receptive/social and cognitive skills were average/above and he didn't qualify....I think if I'd pushed we could have received services but because I was an SLP they really felt I could keep and eye on things and work with DS.

The SLP came back to the house on two more occasions for re-evals and then at age 3 he was tested by the school district for his articulation/language had totally caught up (in Aug his articulation wasn't that great but he'd made such huge gains we felt that we'd continue to work at home).

I'd say make the appointments, but cancel if you feel it's not needed. It's amazing how some kids just make huge progress on their own and other REALLY benefit from services.

[gordo]

I have a 16 month old DD who also didn't walk to just over 14 months. She really has no words. She has about 4 signs she uses and will wave bye and hi, but aside from what I think is "this" she does not use words. I brought it up with my ped who told me to wait for her 18 month appt and see where she is. I am ok with this as my older DD was the same exact way. No words at 15 months but the week before her 18 month appt had a huge language explosion. So I personally (and at my ped's rec) am waiting until 18 months before calling EI.

I am also in the chicago area and did have EI come out to do a gross motor eval on my oldest and had nothing but a wonderful experience with them. They were actually pretty quick to get me in. My daughter did not qualify, but it was an easy and quick process for me.

[brittone2]

Husband here.

DD is a very happy, bright, responsive, playful, perceptive, and interactive girl. She is also very verbally expressive – but just babbling - No real words beyond “Da Da” and “No”

She was a bit late (I suppose) to walk completely her own at about 14 months.

We had her in for 16 month checkup recently and Pediatrician started talking about getting speech assessment and testing. She will be 18 months at Thanksgiving.

I kind of feel we could wait another 2 months to give her time to turn the babble into real words, but wife feels the earlier we intervene the better.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Anyone been through this?

Typing in a rush but..

14 months is totally, totally in the normal range for walking FWIW (I worked as a pediatric physical therapist in early intervention pre-kids and my DS walked at a totally average 13.5 months. DD was much earlier, but anywhere up to 18 months is considered in the normal range).

In terms of her expressive language, I agree w/ PPs. I'd book the eval now. Honestly, sometimes around the holidays there are therapists on vacation, etc. and sometimes it takes forever in general (holidays aside) to get an initial evaluation as speech is very much in demand. That can amount to quite a bit of time lost depending on circumstances. Getting the eval will give you more information to work with.

Also, if speech services are needed, it helps to be on the earlier side. While many kids only need a few months to get up to speed, if for some reason your DC would need more therapy, the "system" changes at age 3 and becomes (in many cases) much less warm and cozy in terms of accessing services. So many parents who hold out and then need services for their DC at 2.5 only get a few months in the cozier 0-3 year old early intervention system before having to move on to a different system.

eta: fwiw, even if a child does not qualify, if you ask (or the evaluation team is good ;) ) the evaluating therapists should be able to give you some tips on things to work with your DC on at home (and this would be targeted based on their findings during the evaluation, even if your DC doesn't technically qualify). I also think it is helpful if the EI team (assuming the child doesn't qualify) tells the parents if the child isn't doing XYZ in 3 months or whatever time frame, give us a call back. Those tips can be very helpful for kids who just miss qualifying, kwim?

[K-Bear]

My second daughter had no words at her 15 month check-up and our ped recommended she be evaluated. She was found to be 25% delayed which qualified for our county's free early intervention program.

The speech therapist came to our house weekly for her lessons and after 4 months, my daughter was talkative enough that she was able to graduate from the program.

Did I have a wonderful therapist? You bet. But I don't think she made her talk. My daughter was just a late talker and probably would have started talking more around the same time without the therapy. But the program was free, she qualified for it so why not take advantage? It doesn't hurt anything and maybe it did help and I am not realizing it!

[brittone2]

Therapy in early intervention should be family-focused. A therapist should always make clear to a family that a 1x a week visit (from the therapist) is not going to be enough to make a difference. The key is *family* education. Teaching the parents what they can do to best facilitate their child's development is critical. Those tips from the therapist(s) should be carried out daily by the family. That is the entire point of early intervention.

Sometimes there are kids that IMO would have clearly gotten where they needed to be on their own. Some would not get there without some intervention. And many fall into that gray area where maybe they would have gotten there on their own, and maybe they would not have gotten there...but IMO better to have someone working with the family rather than letting the child be at risk of falling increasingly far behind.

[codex57]

I talked to a Pediatric Development Fellow (dr who specializes in this stuff). She said the earlier the better. Some stuff, like surgeries, NEED to be done before age 2 otherwise they can't be done at all.

DS is 24 months. Just scheduled the appointment for assessment today. No one I've talked to from the gov't agencies thinks he's too young to be tested. From the lady who does the assessments, it sounds like 12 months is old enough to have hit a milestone that they look for.

[HIU8]

I just sent in my paperwork to have DD evaluated--we are in MD. It takes 6 weeks to be seen for the eval. DD is 28 months and is very very very verbal, but has a speech impediment that we need to have evaluated--she slurs words and says "sr" for all words where the second letter is R. I wish I had done something earlier, but we decided to wait to see if she improved on her own. FWIW, DD walked at 14 months (totally not considered late--still within average according to my ped).