Speech Delays and Disorders

When my son did not understand a word I said to him at 15 months, I had him evaluated both by EI and a private speech therapy clinic. They evalutaed all skills both came to the same conclusion- receptive and expressive language delay.

Obviously I was worried and still am, but he has said over sixty words now (only uses a handful of them on a daily basis)- he is 26 months, BTW, but what is astounding to me is his improved receptive language.

I can now ask him to go and get me his hat and he will do it, or to get me his milk cup and he will do it. He may not have said the word "hat" yet, but it's comforting to know that HE knows what a hat is!!! Every time he does something I ask him to or carries out a command without my having to gesture or point to the object, I am flabbergasted and I usually jump up and down and do a dance and praise him. It's like a "light swtich" went on in that cute little head of his.

I just thought I'd share my encouraging news. Honestly, a year ago, I had given up before I even started to embark on this long, arduous journey of speech therapy and evaluations that all you mommies on here are familiar with.

Now, we still have a ways to go to get him on par for communication for his age, but compared to six months ago and six months before that, we have come leaps and bounds and I am so pleased. He says several new words every week and they are words with meaning too! Sometimes he imitates us at first. We built a tower out of mega blocks together and I said, "Cooool! We built a building!" and he said "Coool!" LOL Now he says "Cool!" everytime he puts two of the blocks on top of each other and other times he surprises me by pointing (yes pointing- something else that is new- he used his whole hand before- don't know if that makes a difference- some people claim it does and others say it doesn't matter), but anyway, he saw our cat and pointed to him and said, "Cat!" This has happened more than once.

Did I want to go through this experience or did I anticipate it when I felt him swimming around in my belly? NO! What parent does expect these things to happen??? A year ago, I would wake up and the first though on my mind was, "My baby can't, or won't, talk. What I am gonna do?" and then I would usually cry.

Things DO get better with maturation and with therapy. It's still hard work and it sucks that other moms "get off the hook", so to speak, but I gotta tell you ladies, it sure makes me appreciate things I would have normally taken for granted. I would have rather had the other way- no worries, talking on time, etc., but that's not the way it has gone for me and my darling son, for whatever reason.

Keep the faith! I've suffered through some of my darkest moments b/c of all of this and the worrying- had to eventually go on medication for it. That worrying never goes away, but as my baby doll improves and progresses, I can't help but begin to think that things may turn out okay in the end. :-)

~Allison 

Allison,
Glad to hear that your little guy is making progress. It's wonderful when they make gains! You are right...it is a long road....but at this point I don't think I would change it. I like who my son is and speech delays, language issues, autism...well that's just part of who he is.

I watched this show yesterday called..."Including Samuel" It was about a little boy with CP who is in an all inclusion class. There was a speaker on there who also had CP. He said if they suddenly came up with a cure for CP...he would not want it. He said he is the man he is today because of his CP...and to take away his CP would be like unraveling all of who he has become...and he would have to start over.

I feel that way about Gabe. To take away his struggles would ultimately change who he is becoming....

Keep your head held high....your doing a great job.

Jessie mommy to Gabe(4.6 years ASD/CAS/SID)and baby Zane

Visit my blog

Thanks, hun. I'm just doing the best I can. I never expected to face some of the challenges I am facing- I just assumed he'd talk on time and be like every other kid around. It's been difficult to face the fact that he is a little different and seems to take longer to accomplish certain things and that his attention span is no where near some other kids his age, but it is what it is.

He's still a happy, giggly little guy and, for now, that's good enough.

What a beautiful post. I'm right there with you. My daughter, Michelle, is 10.5 now and we've been at this since she was 21 months. I have learned a lot. It has been a heck of an experience. I think if I could heal her brain so that she would suddenly catch up, I'd take it in a heartbeat, but I have to agree with Jessie that taking away the experience, means changing who she is. No kid that I know works as hard as she does. She is also one of the most empathetic kids I know. She feels everyone's pain. Her private SLP told me that kids with language problems have to rely so heavily on reading other people since they cannot rely on understanding their language that empathy becomes part of who they are.

Funny story, her resource teacher suddenly switched her to another reading group with an aide instead of the resource teacher and she came home and said she was so disappointed. She wanted to work with Mrs. Ewing and not Ms. Norma. She said she likes Mrs. Ewing so much better because she teaches her things. I asked if she likes her better than Ms. Norma and she said "Yes, but don't tell Ms. Norma. I don't want to hurt her feelings." Normally she would respond with "I like them both the same" because she doesn't want anyone to get hurt.

Kathryn

LOL- your daughter sounds like a real sweetie, not wanting to hurt anyone's feelings.

This is such a long road for us moms, isn't it?

Tonight my son said a three word phrase, "I see you!" He is 27 months. He now has 70 words/phrases. He's not SO far behind, except in that he doesn't use his words as much as he should, or as much as I would like. His understanding of language has gone through the roof, which is half the battle. I can hardly believe it.

Every new word is like a song to me- he said "cake" today when I offered him some pound cake and said "feet" the other day when I took off my shoes. He has started to point and identify some objects like "cat" and "cow" and "cup" and "oval" (the shape, of course), and "duck". I know most other kids did this a year ago, but I am still thrilled to pieces he is at least doing it now!!!!

Thanks for writing such nice things about my post. I guess I was feeling grateful that day. This has been such a difficult time, the constant worrying, the fear, etc., and I still feel many of these things, but I've grown to accept who my son is, or at least I am trying and also, I am starting to see that things DO change and things DO get better with time and hard work.