Hello , I was wondering If anyone has any experience with apraxia? My son is 26 months old, he was evaluated by EI and his expressive language is that of a 12 month old. He starts speech therapy next week but I have been concerned that even though he is picking up words every other day or so, they are all usually one syllable or he will use approximations. And a majority of the words are not clear, it sometimes takes me a while to figur out what he is saying.
For example, Spider-Man is "man", he refers to himself as "J" ( we call him LJ) tablet is "blet" remote is "mote" I'm sure there are more but these are the ones that come to mind right now. He says guck for truck, moog for milk, etc. it's like he says a lot but most of the words are incorrect. He was late to babble, talk, etc so I'm not sure if this is the process of talking or if there is more going on. He has actually just over the past couple months REALLY started jargon, which they said was good when they evaluated him. He "talks" all the time now in his own language and I will understand a word or two. But a stranger would probably not understand him very well.
I was just wondering if I should "relax" and see how speech therapy goes or if I should be concerned bacause he has no 2 syllable words.
He's developing at his own pace.
Speech therapy will really help this along.
"Relax and see how it goes" is really the perfect thing for you to do right now!
My husband and I were the only ones that could understand my son. Hes 4 1/2 now and it wasn't until a year ago that other people could understand him. I worried about it but he just wasn't ready.
The speech therapist is the best person to ask this question. My son started speech when he was about 2 1/2. He wasn't saying much, though I don't really remember how many words he had or how much difficulty others had in understanding him. He's 7 now and doing fabulous! He has had very good speech teachers and has made amazing progress.
If there is anything other than a speech delay, your speech therapist will talk to you about what that means and what (if anything) needs to happen.
Speech therapy will do wonders. My grandson at 2 did not have any words. Speech therapy for two or three years. Now you would never know! He is amazing.
One of mine needed it and also was slower to walk and I just thought the other day that she is an example of why people shouldn't worry too much when kids are really young. She's now super motivated, does very well in school and is athletic. So I wouldn't worry yet.
You can't really compare kids - whenever we have, it was a bad idea. I would just wait to see what the speech therapist says. Our son was slow to speak around your son's age. I could follow but others could not. He went to speech therapy and ENT - he wasn't hearing properly so his words came out sounding off. They will know. Leave it to them. Our son was speaking fine not long after we began therapy and saw ENT. Don't jump to the worst conclusion right off the bat. Speech is one of those things they can really work on early and get kids up to speed for the most part.
i think it makes a lot more sense to wait and see what comes up during speech therapy than to try and compare your little fellow with others. even ones of the same age who have the same diagnosis will almost certainly have very, very different causes and treatment timelines, and you're setting yourself up for anxiety by trying to apply other people's situations to your own.
i mean, you're already being pro-active by scheduling speech therapy. what good will 'being concerned' do?
you're already appropriately concerned, obviously, because you've taken action. don't seek permission from strangers to tip over into frantic worry.
khairete
S.
You are so wonderful to have him evaluated at this age. Speech therapy will be so very helpful. I think you make great observations about what he is able to do. I recommend that you start a binder of your observations and his growth. Also note any of your concerns. As you go through the next year, use this as a guide to his progress, adding all the observations of the therapist.
One last thought is that a full hearing evaluation may be in order.
My son required early intervention around 2.5 years. He could say but a few words, and had difficulties formulating them, but he new his colors and ABC's, shapes. Most often by pointing instead of saying them. He was a visual learner. So I had a lady come to the house and work with me. At 3, he went into a structuralized day care and met with a speech and OT specialist for speech and developmental delays. Expressive speech was very delayed as well. We used a lot of visual aids and encouragement at telling us instead of the pointing or nodding..
It is good that you are having him attend speech therapy. It will do wonders for him and you will notice a remarkable improvement.
i would wait and see what therapy does. if no improvement in a month or so then talk to the therapist and pedi to see what steps should be taken after that
Please relax. And re-read my answer from the last time you posted on this. These are all excellent questions to ask the therapist who comes.
You are doing the right thing starting him in speech therapy. Yes, you should be concerned. But on the other hand, you are starting early enough that speech and language therapy will make a big difference.
My son started at 25 months. I remember that the therapist taught him to say 'ep me (help me). He didn't want to talk because we couldn't understand anything he said anyway, and he would just cry when he couldn't do something. Teaching him to say 'ep me (help was too hard, so she taught him 'ep) was great because he used it for everything.
What is really very important is the home program you work on with him. Do what the speech therapist says. If you don't do the home program, he will not progress well.
I promised myself that I would pass my experience to other moms, as I spent the better part of my sons first 3 years worrying about his language. He is now a normal 5 year old in KG.
At 12 months- no words, at 21 months - no words. At 24 months, single syllables words. Progressively in this third year accumulated more single syllables and easy two syllable words ie baby. By the time he was 3 he was close to fluent but definitely behind his peers. At the age of 4 he was probably low average. Today, at 5, he has an incredible vocabulary in two languages (we are bilingual!). So, please do not worry. Not all kids' growth follows the textbooks. The speech therapist will help,no doubt.
Best wishes!
