Very speech delayed.

Anyone on here have a severely speech delayed child ? & by that I mean, like 3+ & very far behind, not like 1.5 years. By what age were they finally starting to talk in a somewhat normal fashion ? Were there any underlying issues ? What helped them out ? Feel free to share anything.

My son is 3, he turns 4 next month though, & has a very limited vocabulary. He can say mama, papa, taw taw (Thomas the Train  ), up, yea, no, pwah (please), bah bah (bye bye), jew (juice haha), pah (poo), mah (more)... um maybe a few more but that's it. he signs some things too like: sleep, eat, drink, juice, potty... he mainly gestures, points, & grunts.

He is not autistic, he understands a lot of what people tell him. He was crawling @ 8 months, walking unassisted @ 12 months, he potty trained himself at 30 months (exactly 2.5 yrs).

The past two Fridays he has been taken to the Speech & Language Department of C.U. Boulder for more extensive observations/evaulation. 3 hours both times. Today they told me that they strongly suspect he has childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), which is a disorder. So there isn't a 'cure' I don't think. They suggested therapy 2-3 times a wk in a more clinical environment (he's been doing speech therapy 1 time a wk at the house). I really don't know anything about apraxia.

Maybe I'm just tired but I feel completely worn out & I feel like I'm about to have an emotional breakdown.

<blockquote><b>Quoting £ex Zeppelin:</b>" Anyone on here have a severely speech delayed child ? & by that I mean, like 3+ & very far behind, ... [snip!] ... apraxia. Maybe I'm just tired but I feel completely worn out & I feel like I'm about to have an emotional breakdown."</blockquote>




K is like that. I know how hard it can be. *hugs*

Quoting £ex Zeppelin:" Anyone on here have a severely speech delayed child ? & by that I mean, like 3+ & very far behind, ... [snip!] ... apraxia. Maybe I'm just tired but I feel completely worn out & I feel like I'm about to have an emotional breakdown."

Both of my kids talked late. They only knew a few words at 2.5. It helped us to download the your baby can read videos. It just goes through the names of things, they can't read (but I think that's a crock of smurf anyway) but their vocabulary exploded.

Perhaps that could help?

My sister was/is very speech delayed. For a long time her speech was akin to a 3-5 year old. She still takes speech therapy at her school. Shes 11, almost 12 years old now and is much better. She still has trouble pronouncing a lot though, but shes very understandable.

p.s she has asbergers, so i dont know if thats any bearing at all

My first was/is like that. Once she started kindy and had to communicate with other kids, she got wayyy better. I think there's more motivation for them to communicate with their peers. Does your LO see much of other children?
She still has lots of trouble with pronunciation but her vocabulary had increased x10.

I have a friend who has a 4yr old nephew who still "baby talks"... But the parents aren't concerned, although I would be. Sorry I don't have much advice   Good luck though, try not to stress too much!! Is Rocco in preschool or anything?

Quoting Meece:" My first was/is like that. Once she started kindy and had to communicate with other kids, she got wayyy ... [snip!] ... your LO see much of other children? She still has lots of trouble with pronunciation but her vocabulary had increased x10."

yea, he spent the past year in preschool w/ others. he has another year of pre-k before he goes into kindergarden though. I hope he learns pronounciation better so that if his vocab goes up, people will actually know wtf he is saying. that's good about your daughter though ! was there not anything else going on?

Quoting ma ♥:" I have a friend who has a 4yr old nephew who still "baby talks"... But the parents aren't concerned, ... [snip!] ... be. Sorry I don't have much advice   Good luck though, try not to stress too much!! Is Rocco in preschool or anything?"

people have been telling me not to worry, that he'll start talking 'any day now' for years. I'm sick of it. I'm also sick of people asking me, "so is he talking yet?" & acting like he is mentally retarded or something   & yea he is in preschool, not over the summer though. thanks lol it's okay if you don't have much advice  

Quoting H&K; wanderlust:" <blockquote><b>Quoting £ex Zeppelin:</b>" Anyone on here have a severely speech delayed ... [snip!] ... I feel like I'm about to have an emotional breakdown."</blockquote> K is like that. I know how hard it can be. *hugs*"

he's 3 too right ? is he in therapy or anything

Quoting £ex Zeppelin:" yea, he spent the past year in preschool w/ others. he has another year of pre-k before he goes into ... [snip!] ... up, people will actually know wtf he is saying. that's good about your daughter though ! was there not anything else going on?"

Ah I mean preschool lol. (we call it kindy over here) Her doc thought it could be apraxia but didn't refer her (that was when she was 2.5) He wanted to wait another year. Its been a year and a half now and he says if she keeps improving like she is she'll be fine once she starts school. It must be so frustrating for them with the pronunciation though   DD hates it when I don't know what she wants. Good luck with your LO. It's frustrating for parents too.

My sister was severely speech delayed for a long time. I'm not sure exactly what age she started to catch up at was, but it was well into elementary school. Maybe 10 or so.

Never did find out why. She wasn't diagnosed with anything, had her head scanned a ton of times, was in therapy for years... she just didn't want to speak I guess.

Apraxia has been put on the table for dude too. He isn't as delayed as rocco, but he's not as old. Lol. he seems to be improving dramatically though, so I'm pretty sure that isn't the case.
i have a cousin that has a little guy with cas. He's five and says maybe three words, but he will spell out what he's saying to you with an alphabet mat, or point and gesture. Super smart kid, just can't speak. I know they do speech therapy and he's in school. They say improvement will either happen or it won't, but there's no way to say.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Máthair:</b>" My sister was severely speech delayed for a long time. I'm not sure exactly what age she started to catch ... [snip!] ... with anything, had her head scanned a ton of times, was in therapy for years... she just didn't want to speak I guess."</blockquote>




Damn that is crazy. Damn stubborn kids  

Quoting £ex Zeppelin:" people have been telling me not to worry, that he'll start talking 'any day now' for years. I'm sick ... [snip!] ... something   & yea he is in preschool, not over the summer though. thanks lol it's okay if you don't have much advice  "

People are mean. Just ignore them. Didn't Einstein not talk until like 5yrs or something? Anyway, just keep working with him, I'm sure he'll get there. Being around children does help too, so that's good  

<blockquote><b>Quoting thechelseamonster:</b>" Apraxia has been put on the table for dude too. He isn't as delayed as rocco, but he's not as old. Lol. ... [snip!] ... know they do speech therapy and he's in school. They say improvement will either happen or it won't, but there's no way to say."</blockquote>




That's good he's improving a lot !! That probably relieves you lol. I'm just anxious about it all, SO is all nonchalant about it, "oh he'll speak eventually."