re: Speech therapy for 7 month old.

Quoting Just Ames:" I am appalled at this. I really am."

   

Seems a little odd to send a 7 month old to speech therapy.
My one year old niece only says a couple of words (Momma, Dadda) and her pediatrician says she's right on for development.  

Quoting Rebecca ELdridge Renaud:" My husband and I just had a meeting with our local Early Childhood intervention for our 7 month old. ... [snip!] ... of her body. We are not sure what to except and where hoping someone could give us an idea of what could go on from here. "

Is she using any consonent sounds? or just "a" sounds in different tones and patterns?

As for what to expect, at this stage speech therapy will probably involve mimicking games, and other game style activities to try and promote overall use of her mouth. As of yet I wouldn't think of it as "therapy".
For speech and communication, development can sometimes lag and then catch up. Although it may be scary to have an interventionist suggest speech therapy for your child, I would definitely embrace it. I am a supporter of early intervention, and if there is a developmental concern you can start working on it soon before it grows to impact future communication.

Have you had her hearing check? At a young age that is sometimes related to delays or an absence of speech and language development. From what I gathered from your OP, though, this may just be an issue of development in her mouth muscles - another skill to practice and strengthen like fine motor control!

I would imagine the SLP (speech and language pathologist) will give you some face to face games to play with your baby. Also, she may give you some suggestions for oral toys and particular textured foods that may aid your child's overall oral control!

I think it's great that you are able to obtain support this early, especially if it turns out to be a valid concern. Some children do not get support until they are school age, by then their peer interactions and literacy skills are already effected.

From personal experience...I'm not a therapist or anything.

My son was/is severely delayed in both speech and motor skills. He didn't start speech therapy until 3 yrs old. He also started occupational therapy at that age. We were told that speech therapy couldn't really start any earlier then 24 months but occupational therapy could in fact have been started from a very young age.

If your LO is showing signs of having a harder time with one side then the other and showing signs of having a hard time with the muscle tone in the face/mouth area I would request that
1- LO start Occupational therapy ASAP. They can work on muscle tone around the mouth area. It's not necessarily a speech delay more of a lack of ability to articulate because of muscle tone or sensory issue where the brain can recognize and use those muscles. They can work also on the motor skills for that specific age.
2 - Consider Physio therapy if specific exercises are required to also help with the muscle tone.
3 - Ask for a referral to either a Neuro pediatric psychiatrist. To make sure that it is not neurologically sourced. Or just a neurologist in general. Babies have weird ticks and behaviors which can be natural. But some of those ticks and behaviors can be signs of seizures or neurological problems. A seizure does not have to be a typical full blown convulsing baby. It can be simply a drooping side of the face, a very tired baby, slight tremors etc.

The third is because a lot of times when a child has a hard time with one specific side all the time instead of both sides equally, there are good chances it is in fact to do with the brain versus muscle structure.

That is absolutely 100% what I would do and I would be causing a hell of a fight if the referrals were denied.

That is just my opinion though.

apparently you all haven't had any special needs baby. my stepson is 9 month old and has speech therapy. He is like yours...he can only say vowels. and by then they are supposed to be babbling. and he prefers his right over his left side. babies at this age dont have a preference or arent supposed. GOOD JOB!!! you are keen to notice subtle things with your child and get in touch with the early intervention =) not all moms understand the milestones and how seriously it can affect baby later on if not reached at proper timing.

Quoting TanyaFraiser:" apparently you all haven't had any special needs baby. my stepson is 9 month old and has speech therapy. ... [snip!] ... =) not all moms understand the milestones and how seriously it can affect baby later on if not reached at proper timing."

So what makes him "special needs"?

Quoting Just Ames:" So what makes him "special needs"?"

developmentally delayed. and has cerbral palsy.

Quoting TanyaFraiser:" apparently you all haven't had any special needs baby. my stepson is 9 month old and has speech therapy. ... [snip!] ... =) not all moms understand the milestones and how seriously it can affect baby later on if not reached at proper timing."

Apparently this assumption was made without being informed and is grossly generalized. There are plenty of members on this site who do in fact have special needs babies/children. Yes not every family goes through the same disabilities/therapy needs etc. Not all at the same degree either.

But seriously to assume that no one making a comment has gone through it or that some have no understanding about the milestones or how it affects a baby/child is seriously a slap in the face. It's not because a mother has not had a 7 months old go through speech therapy that it means she has no clue how hard and crucial it is to get therapy.

So please, next time you make a speculation, try not to make it so insulting to the members who do witness and fight through it first hand with their children every single day.

Thank you

A 7 month old kid is too young for speech therapy. You should go with what your Pediatric audiologists says, as he specializes in the evaluation and treatment of hearing loss in infants and children

I am a little late, but my five year old is in speech therapy. He started a little late because of our lovely school system. He actually started when he was three. I don't know if 7 months old is too young because neither one of my children had expansive vocabularies at that age. But, I would say that if you are being given the opportunity to start it early, and you feel that it is worth it, then do it. Ty has had tremendous success thanks to his speech classes and I would recommend them for anyone.

Like the others said, seven months sounds a little young, but early intervention may be key, and it definitely couldn't hurt.

What type of health issues did your child have when born? My son was on ECMO, and with that and all the trauma he had experienced they will keep a very close eye on him until he is 5. So if they noticed ANYTHING they would probably send him to someone asap. My son is 6 months old btw. They did tell me though that they wouldn't really be able to tell anything until he is 18 months old.