Hi, my son will be 3 next week and his verbal speech is at a 12-15 month level...so heartbreaking. He does have some words, like "no," "me," "bah" for ball, and a few others, but he's just soooo delayed. Everything else is fine. He's always met his milestones. He does TONS of babbling and jargon, so he "talks" all day long, just not real words. Our ST keeps saying it's motor planning. I'm just so sick of hearing this! Why cant he just talk like other little kids? I know there's not crystal ball or anything, but seriously, will he ever truly talk? I know he says words now that he couldnt say a year ago, but we're still at one syllable words. He can immitate and makes lots of sounds, but he just doesnt put most of them together to make actual words. Is there such a thing as a non-verbal child or person? I mean, if everything else is normal, then will he talk one day? What is the LATEST a child starts to talk?
You are right there is no crystal ball. For some kids they start talking soon after therapy starts...for others it takes much longer. Sadly, there are nonverbal kids out there. They usually have other developmental issues/delays. Because your son is hitting other milestone, the chances of him staying nonverbal is slim. And if he has some words then he isn't truly nonverbal. If he has a motor planning disorder it can be a long road. Did you ever stop and a think about how many positions your mouth has to move into just to say the word milk? Not so easy when the brain isn't sending the message to the mouth the way it does for a normal person.
In the mean time...are you giving your son other ways to communicate? For example sign language or PECS?
I know it's scary walking this path. I have been in your shoes. The uncertainty of not know where things will end up. Keep your head held high...you are doing wonderful things for your son.
Jessie mommy to Gabe(4.6 years ASD/CAS/SID)and baby Zane
I wanted to offer you some hope:) my little girl, Anita, is dx with global developmental delays and has many different issues (thankfully your son is on target in other areas than speech)... at one point she was dx with apraxia (motor planning problem in speech) - she could not pronounce sounds; she could not say "mama", "want" or "cat" until way over 3yrs old... (3,5 for "want")
now she is 4yrs old and she "talks" a lot although her language is very limited; her pronunciation is very good and she says some 3 syllabus words so in the "speech department" she is doing rather well
now, we have all the "language" to worry about as at this point Anita is mostly still using 2 words combinations (occasionally only she will use short sentence) but that's the problem that's related to her other, global delays
sometimes motor planning is a loooong road, but sometimes it can resolve rather quickly
for us reading made a HUGE difference, meaning not me reading to Anita but to teach her how to read... she remembers the words better after she sees them; she started to "talk" (even though it's still limited talking) AFTER she started to read
I'd recommend the book "how to teach your baby to read" by Glenn Doman to everyone - it's really working
and... while your son is working on communicating verbally how about sign language? it's a great bridge between thinking and speaking
Anita doesn't really use sign language... it's me who uses it occasionally to remind her what and how to say it... I use the signs to show her "I want cookies, please" and she is saying it (the whole chain of words) while looking at my hands... then, after a while, the structure of this sentence stays in her mind and she can say it "by heart" - that's how the signs are working for us - as the reminder
Thank you ladies for your support! He does a couple signs, so I guess I better start teaching him some more. I was just soooo hoping that he'd be talking by now. I keep hearing about pecs, but we;ve never used them. What exactly do I have to do?
He's on target in every other department. No other issues. It's just the speech. I discussed this with our ST and she said that if there were other issues, we'd know. She keeps saying he'll be just fine. She said that most kids with motor planning issues are fine by kindergarten. So, does that mean he wont start talking until he's 5 or 6? I just can't imagine! He has def. made progres, but it's been very slow progress. Unless some sort of magic happens, I dont think he'll be fully talking for a while.
When you says motor planning is a long road, what do you mean? It's a lifelong problem?? Will he always have a hard time talking? Is there anything I can do to help him? He CAN do b, d, h, l, m, n, p, s, sh, t, w, and y sounds. But, he CAN'T do ch, c, j, k, g, th, f, or v sounds. So, he's got a lot of sounds. He can also do all the vowel sounds, but has difficulty switching sounds. For instance, even though he can make the "I" sound, for "bye bye" he says "ba ba." But, that's ok with me. At least he's trying! He's SUCH a bright boy....receptively he understand everything! So, it's just the verbal I'm worried about.
We're hoping that preschool really helps me. ST is ending this week, so early childhood will probably place him in classroom and we're hoping that gives him a boost.
Motor planning-the brain telling the mouth to do "this". In some kids this is delayed, in some kids it isn't very serous, in others very serious.
Gabe has a motor planning disorder called apraxia. I can't remember what sounds Gabe had at 3. I remember he had a lot, or it seemed that way anyway. He would make sounds in certain words but mix those sounds up in other words. Sometimes his vowels would be wrong, missing, changed. Here is a video of Gabe at 38mo old. I need to update a new video. At 56mo old now...Gabe has almost all sounds in isolation!!! The only one he messes up is the /v/ which is developmentally appropriate. In fact he scored over 5 years old on the one artic test he just had. A far cry from the last time he was tested for artic. That doesn't mean he doesn't still have motor planning problems. He does. The more he talks the worse his articulation becomes. He still can mix sounds up. Today he tried to tell me "high five" He said "How fi mom" Which show how adding words and sounds causes him issues. BUT if you hear him talk now...you would be amazed!!
There is hope. Gabe used a computer to help him talk, pictures, and some sign. We still use a computer, and PECS to help Gabe.
So, the long road...while Gabe is better then he was at 24mo...at 36mo...at 48mo...he is still very behind. We just keep trucking along...
It is a long road....but it's one that Gabe and I will get to the end of!! And your little guy will too!
Jessie mommy to Gabe(4.6 years ASD/CAS/SID)and baby Zane
