speech therapy??

Ok sooo i was told to have early intervention come back and look at my sons for the early intervention now. My one twin had pt for torticollis through early intervention.
What do they do for the speech?? they will be 2 in april?? do you think its to early to worry about speech yet?? they really dont say much.. but i just dont think they have anythign to say yet because they do babble back and forth to each other...

thanks in advance for all your advice.

Re: speech therapy??

I miss you guys!

You know my thoughts on this. I am in the minority here...but I wouldn't rush the EI. I know, most people will say "it's free, it doesn't hurt to get them checked" but lots of kids have their word explosion after they are 2. Your boys understand everything one tells them.

Personally, *I* would not worry until 2.5 or even 3. But that's me.

How do YOU feel about it? What is your gut feeling because really that's what counts here.

Good luck!!!

Re: speech therapy??

It is definitely not to early for a speech eval. Go through with the evaluation and the therapist will give you feedback.

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My son started speech at 2. No harm to begin the evauluation. Have their ears been checked. My son's speech delay was due to ear problems.

Re: speech therapy??

every child is different. i got the opposite. i have a toddler that doesnt stop talking and repeats everything. she just turned 2 and can say full sentences. she can recited her abc's, numbers and numbers in spanish. my niece who is 12 days younger cannot do any of this and is saying 2-3 words. every child develops differently an at their own pace. as long as your sons can understand what you say and you are able to communicate i think your fine. the speach pathologist that we saw at the library said not to worry till after the age of 3.

Re: speech therapy??

Posted by pmpkn087

I miss you guys!

You know my thoughts on this. I am in the minority here...but I wouldn't rush the EI. I know, most people will say "it's free, it doesn't hurt to get them checked" but lots of kids have their word explosion after they are 2. Your boys understand everything one tells them.

Personally, *I* would not worry until 2.5 or even 3. But that's me.

How do YOU feel about it? What is your gut feeling because really that's what counts here.

Good luck!!!

Re: speech therapy??

Posted by Tracey

Posted by pmpkn087

I miss you guys!

You know my thoughts on this. I am in the minority here...but I wouldn't rush the EI. I know, most people will say "it's free, it doesn't hurt to get them checked" but lots of kids have their word explosion after they are 2. Your boys understand everything one tells them.

Personally, *I* would not worry until 2.5 or even 3. But that's me.

How do YOU feel about it? What is your gut feeling because really that's what counts here.

Good luck!!!

I happen to agree with all of this - mine are both 2 years and 4 months - my dd really just started coming out with so many more words over the last week or two. ds is talking more as well.

They understand everything we say to them and tell them to do.

I'm not going the ei route only because I truly believe time is all they need.

Re: speech therapy??

sorry double post

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Re: speech therapy??

I did early intervention for my son...he was 18 months when he was evaluated and qualified for speech and education therapy.

I do see what people are saying with not rushing to get an evaluation. I now think it'd eventually would have come out on its own. But I'm glad I did it b/c he loves his speech teacher. She comes 2x a week and he really enjoys it! They basically just play! He's still not talking much, babbles but only a few words. But you can just see it working and helping him. His education therapist is another story...he does not have fun with her for some reason!

Good luck! Go with your gut!

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PLEASE DO NOT FLAME ME

I am a speech pathologist and I do not agree with a lot of the advice that is being given on recent speech and language topics. I don't understand why someone would wait until 3 to have an evaluation. Research has proven Early intervention as an effective program in treating language/educational disorders. The earlier therapy begins the better the prognosis. While I agree that all children develop at different rates, there are some children that are not developing typically because there is a cognitive/speech/language/physical impairment. For example, a child with apraxia WILL NOT begin to speak without intervention, regardless of how long you wait. Autism is another disorder that begins to present itself as a language delay but is obviously much more severe. Early intervention is key in identifying and treating these and similar disorders. I have never worked with a family who said "I wish I would have waited to get the eval done" Usually it is the other way around. Regardless of what advice you get from friends and family, only an evaluation by an SLP will tell you if your child has a speech/language disorder.

I also wanted to pass along my professional advice on bottle feeding past 1 year (another post I read recently). It IS detriemental to both speech and feeding. Bottles and sippy cups with bottle like spouts promote the immature tongue thrusting pattern. This pattern can cause weak oral motor skills, dentition problems and lisps.

Message edited 2/5/2008 10:08:39 PM.

Re: speech therapy??

I say go for the evaluation. Get an opinion of someone in the field. IMO, it can't hurt. My DS receives it already for differnt reasons and he isn't even a year. Good luck.

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Re: speech therapy??

I am a speech pathologist who does early intervention, but putting my "mother" hat on I would have to advocate for having the evaluation done for piece of mind. Long story short I was at a party recently and a pediatric physical therapist was playing with my 5 month old and said "why you have a little head tilt to the right don't you?" (referring to possible torticollis) and left it hanging in the air...I didn't know her from a hole in the wall. Needless to say I had it checked out, even though my gut said "he's fine" just to be SURE that he was.

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Message edited 2/6/2008 7:27:30 AM.

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Re: speech therapy??

ITA - it's "early" intervention.. it cannot hurt to check it out... catching it early can help alot!

Re: speech therapy??

Posted by lipglossjunky73

Posted by HELLO

PLEASE DO NOT FLAME ME

I am a speech pathologist and I do not agree with a lot of the advice that is being given on recent speech and language topics. I don't understand why someone would wait until 3 to have an evaluation. Research has proven Early intervention as an effective program in treating language/educational disorders. The earlier therapy begins the better the prognosis. While I agree that all children develop at different rates, there are some children that are not developing typically because there is a cognitive/speech/language/physical impairment. For example, a child with apraxia WILL NOT begin to speak without intervention, regardless of how long you wait. Autism is another disorder that begins to present itself as a language delay but is obviously much more severe. Early intervention is key in identifying and treating these and similar disorders. I have never worked with a family who said "I wish I would have waited to get the eval done" Usually it is the other way around. Regardless of what advice you get from friends and family, only an evaluation by an SLP will tell you if your child has a speech/language disorder.

I also wanted to pass along my professional advice on bottle feeding past 1 year (another post I read recently). It IS detriemental to both speech and feeding. Bottles and sippy cups with bottle like spouts promote the immature tongue thrusting pattern. This pattern can cause weak oral motor skills, dentition problems and lisps.

Well said! No flames here!

Re: speech therapy??

I personally think it can't hurt to have them evaluated.

That being said - my cousin has twin boys and they were very late talkers. Like you said,they have their own language and didn't really need to communicate with anyone else. I believe at around 2.5yrs is when they really started to talk....and well....they haven't stopped since!

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Thanks everyone... i just left a message with my service coordinator so now ill just wait for him to call back. see what they say.

thanks again!

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As a mom of a 3 year old diagnosed with Autism ... thank you for posting.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND -- "therapy" is fun! It's playing constructively! It's educating the parents on how to interact! It's enjoyable!

I hate even calling it "therapy". I think there is a lot of misinformation out there. I understand that moms are afraid of autism and afraid to hear that the'r child may be delayed -- but if you have any nagging doubt about development -- use your mother's instinct and get them checked out. More than once if you have to. It will be OK no matter what is discovered. They are still the same child whether they require services or not. You'll still love them as much and you are just as good of a parent. In fact, you'll feel better about your parenting knowing you've covered all your bases.
Go with your gut.

Re: speech therapy??

i'm also a speech therapist- i did one of my grad school internships in EI.
like most of the others said, definitely get them evaluated for your peice of mind. its definitely not too early.
as your probably know from their PT, therapy is more like fun for them- its like playing and its there to really just teach you how to interact with them in order to bring out more language and speech from them...
good luck!