HOW Can I Encourage This Child?!

Do you have alphabet flash cards or animal flash cards?

Can you ask his speech therapist for suggestions?

Does he have an articulation disorder?
Here are about 50 ideas for teaching articulation:
http://www.angelfire.com/nm2/speechtherapyideas/articgame...

Good luck!

Keep talking, but stop "drilling"! Serioulsy. Ask him questions and wait for a response. Whatever response he gives you, reinforce it. Utterances come first... articulated speech comes much later. If he wants something, make him ask for it.

"Roman, what would you like?" Then show him two choices. "Do you want the ball or the car?" Wait for a response. Cue him again. Wait for a response. As long as he resonpnds verbally, praise him for it!

Narrate your entire day. You will feel like a psycho for a while, but the more words he hears the better. No one else is around, so just chat it up! "Mommy needs to get some laundry done today. Mommy is going to sort the laundry into three piles. Would you like to help? See, we put all of the white clothing here. Let's do it together. Look- daddy's stinky undershirt!"

He needs to connect the words with the objects and start connecting his oral language to the resulting need being met. Just keep talking with him (not the same as "at him") and encourage his responses (whether you understand them or not).

I've seen it happen to young children... too much "drilling" and they stop trying very quickly.

You've gotten lots of great suggestions. All 3 of mine had various language/speech issues, and my youngest was severely language delayed. We started speech therapy and OT for small motor around 20 months - the waiting for the approval is brutal! We finally started the speech by paying out of pocket - which sucked.

His main issue wasn't forming the words as much as de-tangling the sounds - sort of like audio dyslexia - it's called auditory processing disorder. He also had problems with sequencing - both figuring out the order of sounds in words and the kind of sequencing required to follow directions. His speech therapist used simple puzzles where you put a simple picture story in order to help with that - our local toy store had a bunch and repeating the same puzzles over and over helps.

She also had us read to him a lot. Simple picture books with easy to follow stories and words - my guy loved the Tom and Pippo books (http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=tom+and+pip...)

She had us read the words, but also point to and discuss the story and what's going on in each page. Again, speech delay has many pieces - not just the word forming, articulation part.

We did several years of speech therapy and Montessori school thru kindergarten. He's now in 5th grade and is an absolute chatter box - really! And he has a HUGE vocabulary. He's learned that he doesn't always hear whether a word has a "buh" or a "kuh" in it and has learned to ask or check - Montessori really helped with that.

Early intervention can be really draining on all involved, but it really made a world of difference for my guy! Hang in there :-)

I wonder if it has anything to do with having yackety sisters? He just hasnt had a reason to speak or maybe cant get a word in edge wise, haha.
When you know he's hungry or thirsty do your best to make him say "drink" or "banana" or whatever before you give it to him. Keep pushing him with "You say it".
Ask him questions all day long. Look through picture books and try to get him to say things like "doggie", "truck", "ball", etc. Make sure he's looking at your mouth as you OVERLY enunciate the words, maybe even have him put his hand on your lips while you say it. Then put his hand on his lips and say "you say it". You have a lot of time to dedicate to him, make it your goal to get him some vocabulary going. He might be one of those kids that starts spittin out sentences instead of just words. They are all different.

My son had a speech delay - and was/is very stubborn..........
My son started speech therapy approximately the age your son is and the therapist basically just played with him.......through play it brought out his speaking. Talk to him - alot - but give him a chance to speak too. My sons favorite toy of the therapists was a barn/house mix and all the people/animals that went with it. So, while my son played the therapist would talk about what he was holding or doing - many times getting to my sons leven and trying to talk to he could see his face and make eye contact.

Best of luck - I'm familiar with your struggles!

My son started speech therapy when he was about the same age. He wouldn't ask for what he wanted, not even point. The therapist had us use sign language. This way we could move his hands to make him ask to eat or more. Those are what we started with. This helped him to learn that words have meanings and if he told us what he wanted he could get it. It took longer than I expected for him to pick it up. We had to prompt him for a long time, but he is 33 months now and uses his words. He will still sometimes sign while saying the words too. He is still delayed and we still see a therapist, but he is doing much better. We used the signing time dvds too. My son loved them.

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Hi R.,
Could you tell us what you mean by a "Waiting list"? Is that for a private speech/language pathologist or through Early Intervention?

If you are concerned about his speaking, talk to his pediatrician and see if there's something else going on. Does he have hearing problems? Does he need speech therapy? Or is this not something to worry about?

Hey Mama!!!

I would not "talk" to him - hhhmmm how can I write this so it sounds right?

Instead of giving him the words - let him tell you - when he grunts - tell him to TELL you what he wants and then he will get it...does that make sense? Instead of giving him a ball because of his grunt for ball - make him SAY ball...

You have already had his hearing checked...no problems, right? We are now just waiting for his name to come up on the Speech Pathologist's list - right?

So if you are playing a game with him - don't let him grunt his way through it or let him point and yell...encourage him to use his words...

http://www.kidsgrowth.com/resources/articledetail.cfm?id=320
http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/communication/comm_2_...

games to play
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/toddler/development/stimulati...

I know you can do it. I also believe that Roman knows how much you want this and he's a stubborn little one....so he may be holding back just to get you to do more for him!!! :) LOL!!!

My son started to speak clearly, and using lots of words at 3. Doctors wanted to send him to speech therapy, and I decided not to. He started speaking after a few months..since then he has never stopped (lol) Kids reach milestones at different ages and we have to be patient.
Try to speak a LOT and READ A LOT to your son, repat things and point at them every time you speak to him. Show him things and look at his eyes repeating the words, watch kids movies and listen to music together.
Do not talk for him, ask him questions and let him answer and speak more for himself. "name, would you like the red shirt or the blue shirt?"..."name, would you like an apple or an orange?", etc...When you go to the grocery store: "name, wow, look at the fruits, what fruit do you like most?"..."look at the kid, he is eating a cookie,mmmmmm it looks tasty......" Speak and Speak, forget about others..and start speaking A LOT and again..READING A LOT.
Blessings
Ale