Why is he speech delayed?

[FLKL]

Hi,
I know this is something nobody can answer without meeting my son but I just don't understand it. He's 2 years and five months old and is talking a lot now. He repeats everything and says a few big sentences now. He started saying real words just before his 2nd birthday. We looked into early intervention and he has a teacher come over once or twice a month. During his evaluation his comprehension scored an 88 when average is 40-60. I thought that was strange for him to understand so much but not be talking. His EI teacher said there is nothing she could tell me to do that I'm not already doing and he's just going to take off talking soon.   She was right, he is talking more and more but I don't understand why he's delayed in the first place. He doesn't have autism or anything else like that. We lived with my parents when he was a baby and my mom, brother, and I stayed home so he always had someone holding him and playing with him. He never watched TV until he was about 13 months and then it was Brainy Baby and educational shows. He quickly picked up sign language, phonics, the alphabet, shapes, colors and number from it. I'm wondering if I had Little Reader or Your Baby Can Read back then if that would've changed things because he learns so well from the TV. I don't know what else I could have done. He was held a lot and didn't have much tummy time because he hated it. He co-slept with us ( He still does and so does his sister.). He was 9 months when he started crawling and 14 months when he started walking.

He's also failure to thrive but that's another thing. 

[mom2bee]

I suppose the topic should have been "Why was he speech delayed?" then, eh?

Time tables are just basic rules of thumb and are far from conclusive or universal. He was just doing his own thing, many children are late talkers, I think it is especially common with boys that they speak later but when they get around to speaking, they speak on a more advanced level and progress much, much faster than babies who learn things "on time".

I'm not sure what "Failure to Thrive" means, but as most labels, both those that are considered positive and negative, I tend to be ignore. Especially if they seem premature and judgemental.

Doing more screen time when he was younger is not likely to have influenced him much, one way or the other, babies do not know that they are supposed to be growing and maturing on the adults time tables, they just do their own thing without feeling self conscious or anything like that.

But asking yourself, "Why is he speech delayed?" when he is speaking so well now will not really serve you or him.

Instead ask yourself, "How can I encourage and stimulate my baby to their happiest and healthiest state today, tomorrow and going forward?" Much more creative and positive answer.

[teachingmykids]

Who knows but he is talking now and is not delayed at all if he is speaking in sentences so there is no need to worry anymore.  Both my 4 and 6 year old were late talkers in that they didn't say much at all before 2. Once they both started talking they caught up fast. My oldest was speaking in complete sentences shortly after she started and my son was putting several words together. My oldest had excellent comprehension and my ds did too but we didn't realize it because he didn't care to follow the directions we asked so he ignored us. They are doing fine now and have no lasting effects. I didn't do early learning with them as babies and toddlers and they don't have amazing abilities but they are learning and my oldest is at the top of her class. You might have found some research on it but it doesn't say anything about an individual child. When kids have excellent comprehension and then pick it up super fast I don't think it means anything at all except they don't do things until they feel completely confident in it. There are also kids who are legitimate late bloomers who start later but keep growing longer intellectually longer than other kids. It is hard to not compare especially coming here but you can't do that. Like a lot of people here say focus on input not output. It is OK to worry I certainly do but there is no need to worry about why he talked so late and just enjoy that he is doing great now, has excellent comprehension, is way of the curve with the preschool stuff he knows and he is not speech delayed at all now.

[FLKL]

I'm sorry. I should have been more clear. He is repeating words now and says a few sentences but most of it is still in his own language. He still has the teacher coming but he is talking more and more so I'm not worried. I'm just wondering what I could been doing different for my daughter and future kids.

Failure to thrive means he is not on the growth chart. He goes through periods of not eating.

[sonya_post]

FLKL,I have a son with "failure to thrive". He is growing but most of the time is not on the charts. He is only 26 pounds at 2 1/2.  He keeps growing at a steady rate, for him, so I don't worry about it. Maybe he will catch up or he may end up being small. I guess I feel like the world needs short stops and jockeys too. He eats, not always, but all toddlers do that. I have a little girl in my daycare who is 10 months younger than my son, she outweighs him by 12 pounds, she is a little taller and the child NEVER eats. Maybe 10 bites of food all day. She doesn't get junk food at home or at my house. There is nothing to do but be amused.

My husband didn't speak until he was three - not one intelligible word. He had his own language that he spoke to himself, but not often. His IQ is pushing 160. He still doesn't speak much but when he does it is usually worth listening to. Unless you can find an organic reason, I wouldn't worry. You have to be careful, especially on this forum, comparing your child to others. Maybe your child will be early, maybe on time, maybe late - but he will get there. My husbands sister....she talks all the time. ALL the time.

We spend a lot of time worrying about things we probably don't need to worry about, especially when there is nothing you can do about it other than have patience. 

[Mandabplus3]

If you are looking for useful suggestions to avoid it in future children I believe there is only one really good way to ensure early speech. That is to watch how you speak to your children. You need to speak individual words clearly. At age one that means labelling items with emphasis in your speech. "Cup, yes that's a cup" " you have your BALL, do you want to play BALL?" At two vary your speech to include full adult conversation as and simple sentences that you child can repeat " drink please" as well as " may I have a drink of apple juice please" label everything as you move around the house. In my experience the children who speak earlier have parents who talk quite a bit but also speak each word separately and clearly. You might naturally speck by running words into each other without ever thinking about it.
Another trick you can use Now ( and later)  is to sing songs. Sing nursery rhymes over and over, it will give you son practice talking, and we all know practice is a good thing

[andreasro]

FLKL,

Your child is just like mine at the same age.
You should read from this answer on: http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-signing-speaking-foreign-languages/is-there-any-big-secret-for-ealry-talkers/msg96141/#msg96141

You may have a smart late talker  Which is a great thing!  I have also commented under that thread, you will see that last message is mine.
I have talked a lot and read to my kid before and after the age of 2, have used LR and LM and a lot of online resources to teach him.
When outside playing in the park with kids or alone I talked and talked and explained anything and everything around, what he was seeing, doing, etc. The result was not what I expected. But he was smart! He has always been.

Later added: He's learning to speak English. In just few days of Reading Eggs immersion he has learnt to sight-read! And has been learning English phonics very very fast! That is amazing! He IS an amazing kid though in speech and communicating I still have to have patience to see more. But I'm not worrying anymore. He is very smart. And I like him the way he is. And he is growing up well.

[AaronJ]

hi ! Some people have told me that speech delay might have to do with the fact that more than one language is spoken in the house especially to the toddler himself. Not sure if there is any truth in this. I am wondering about this myself as I speak to my toddler in Chinese while my hubby speaks to him in English.

But apart from that, our toddler seems to have almost all the traits listed in the Einstein syndrome. He has recently started speaking in Chinese to me (one word each time) but used to just speak to me in English more before that (also usually one word) This might have to do with the fact that he hears English more in the house as I speak to my hubby in English.

Our toddler now often translates things to me from English to Chinses and vice versa. When he first did that, translating, I mean, I nearly fell over from surprise.. He has just turned 27 months and can read words from LR both in Chinese and English

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