My boy is 2 1/2 and doesn't talk.

[Levin]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Levin your son sounds a lot like my son. Except my son is older and advanced therefore.
1. he needs a sophisticated hearing test. Light only tells you if he has an eardrum and if there is an infection.

2. it's hard to argue that speech therapy hurts.

3. it would be helpful to see a developmental specialist, at least to get peace of mind.

My son said cookie for a week, and then stopped and didn't say another word for a year.

Thanks for sharing this; agree with all your recs, and will do them. Most of all I just look forward to not being ignorant about the situation anymore.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

That quote contradicts your premise.

Read the title of the thread.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Read the title of the thread.

Doesn't talk and cannot talk are two different things.

"Doesn't talk" is what you should be doing right now.

"Cannot talk" is what you experience when you are fumbling around for some sort of comeback that takes 10 minutes to post.

[Black Diamond Bay]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Doesn't talk and cannot talk are two different things.

"Doesn't talk" is what you should be doing right now.

"Cannot talk" is what you experience when you are fumbling around for some sort of comeback that takes 10 minutes to post.

I wrote a paper on speech impediments in small children for a linguistics class at BYU. I read that delayed speech is becoming more and more prevalent, and many children psychologist believe it is because parents have a tendency to talk at their children, rather than attempting to converse with them. I'm most certainly not saying that's the issue here, but it couldn't hurt to consider it.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Black Diamond Bay

I wrote a paper on speech impediments in small children for a linguistics class at BYU. I read that delayed speech is becoming more and more prevalent, and many children psychologist believe it is because parents have a tendency to talk at their children, rather than attempting to converse with them. I'm most certainly not saying that's the issue here, but it couldn't hurt to consider it.

I agree BDB.

I was mostly messing with SU. It is Friday, so today is the day I lend him out for a pack of cigarettes.

[FarrahWaters]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

Doesn't talk and cannot talk are two different things.

"Doesn't talk" is what you should be doing right now.

"Cannot talk" is what you experience when you are fumbling around for some sort of comeback that takes 10 minutes to post.

I disagree. Six months ago, my son COULDN'T talk. (he was 3.5) He would look at you, try to form the words, but his mouth and tongue couldn't cooperate. It's called a motor planning problem.

[Jeff Lebowski]

We have a son who was developmentally delayed. We didn't get a proper diagnosis until he was four years old we took to some specialists at Primary Children's Hospital. By then it was almost too late to address some of his issues. I don't want to alarm you, but you should take him to a top-notch pediatric specialist who deals with such cases. Then perhaps to another for a second opinion.

Best of luck.

[Levin]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

We have a son who was developmentally delayed. We didn't get a proper diagnosis until he was four years old we took to some specialists at Primary Children's Hospital. By then it was almost too late to address some of his issues. I don't want to alarm you, but you should take him to a top-notch pediatric specialist who deals with such cases. Then perhaps to another for a second opinion.

Best of luck.

Thanks, Jeff.

[UteStar]

My son spoke 2-3 words when he turned 3 years old. He had the language of an 11 month old is what we were told. All kinds of diagnosis were thrown around. We enrolled him in preschools, we read to him every night, etc. At age 5 years a couple of months, he spent over an hour to test his speech. He fell in the 'normal' category and had the speech of a 4 year 11 month old. In 2 years, he has basically caught up. The biggest issue is improving his social now.

Therapists will throw around things like full blown autism or Aspergers or Pervasive Developmental Delays, etc...the best thing we did was listening, receiving some help, getting him around other kids playing, reading to him, etc. Not every situation fits, but thankfully for us, it helped us tremendously. Good luck and keep us updated.

[CardiacCoug]

Originally Posted by UteStar

My son spoke 2-3 words when he turned 3 years old. He had the language of an 11 month old is what we were told. All kinds of diagnosis were thrown around. We enrolled him in preschools, we read to him every night, etc. At age 5 years a couple of months, he spent over an hour to test his speech. He fell in the 'normal' category and had the speech of a 4 year 11 month old. In 2 years, he has basically caught up. The biggest issue is improving his social now.

Therapists will throw around things like full blown autism or Aspergers or Pervasive Developmental Delays, etc...the best thing we did was listening, receiving some help, getting him around other kids playing, reading to him, etc. Not every situation fits, but thankfully for us, it helped us tremendously. Good luck and keep us updated.

That's good advice. These things like autism, Asperger's and PDD are way overdiagnosed in very young children, usually by alarmist teachers or therapists who don't recognize that there is a wide range of development that is within the normal range.

I didn't talk much until I was four years old and my parents put me through a lot of speech therapy for years after that. Our oldest son was not speech-delayed but some idiot teachers at his pre-school told us he might have autism or ADD when he was 2 and 3 years old because he wouldn't make eye contact or sit in his chair. They put him through all of this formal testing and labeled him as being "on the autistic spectrum" which really upset my wife -- she was worried he would never live a normal life, etc. I thought all along that he was totally normal and he has turned out to be a totally normal, smart kid.

I think it's OK to go ahead with some type of evaluation for your son, just keeping things in perspective, like it sounds like you have been. Most likely he is just fine. Doing some formal hearing testing is probably all I would do.

I'm sure some will disagree with me, but I don't believe that even if a kid has autism, Asperger's, PDD, etc. that "early intervention" with therapy makes any long-term difference. Therapists like to claim that diagnosing a kid early is important to justify their existence, but I don't buy it. Now if a kid needs hearing aids, that is a different story and you want to do that as soon as possible.