20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

Hi All -

My son is 20 months old and only says Mama. He will be 2 in May.

From most people I talk to, they say I shouldnt be concerned, he will talk when he is ready. Some of their children didnt talk until 2.5 to 3 and are perfectly fine.

I am pretty sure there are no other concerns that could be delaying his speech and the doctor seems to agree. He babbles constantly, just doesnt make any sense. He points to things that he wants. He doesnt have a hearing issue because he understands everything you say to him and reacts. He can put together puzzles, knows pictures and points when you ask him what it is, etc. He dances and claps and will pretty much mimic anything you do. He never had any motor delays either. He walked before his first birthday, has great balance, can climb and throw, etc.

So even though i dont believe there to be other concerns, I also dont see why it would hurt to have him see a therpist one day a week to maybe help him along. My doctor said if he is not talking by February, then we should go this route anyway.

I am not really interested in EI services because like I said, we're pretty sure there are no other issues and I dont really want to go through evals and wait lists when I could afford to pay someone privately.

Has anyone used a private speech therapist and if so, could you please provide some recommendations?

I am in East Islip/Suffolk.

Thanks everyone in advance!

20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

My son gets PT through EI. The process to qualify took a few weeks but was well worth it. I also didnt have any other concerns. He gets therapy twice per week free. I could afford the therapy out of pocket but id be getting the same type of results. You could always have him evaluated and in the meantime pay out of pocket.
I use kidz therapy for PT. They have been good so far!

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

Can't hurt to get the EI evaluation and do private therapy while you wait. He might qualify based on his expressive language. But if not it's still worth it to do the evaluation I think. (I'm a speech therapist). I don't have any therapist recommendation for that area unfortunately. Definitely interview a few before deciding.

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

Message edited 1/9/2015 2:15:46 PM.

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

Thank you everyone. So if I decided to look into EI, how do I go about doing so? I just see people talking about it on here and from what I've read it seems like it takes a while to hear back and qualify.

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

You can certainly pay OOP but why bother when he may qualify. They need to be delayed a 33% in one area or a 25% in 2 different areas. He could qualify with a delay in expressive language.

We are in Suffolk too.

We called dept of health and got an apt to fill out paperwork the week later. That day they gave us a list of centers. I called a center to schedule an eval that day and had an eval later that week. At the dept of health meeting we set a date a month out to meet about services in the event DD qualified. (the evaluators have a month to get their report in). So it was like a month later (5 weeks maybe) that we had services in place. The # is (631) 853-3100.

ETA we use All about Kids. I'm sure you can just call for an eval and pay them directly.

Message edited 1/9/2015 3:06:59 PM.

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

My daughter is similar to your son in regards to speech. The expressive language is the only area that is delayed. She says "mama", "baba" and just started saying "papa" for Grandpa. I've had her evaluated twice for EI in Nassau and she didn't qualify since it's just the expressive language that's delayed. In Nassau they go by the whole
Language score so even though her expressive comes up
Significantly delayed the receptive lang is high so it pulled up the overall score.
We're in the process of starting speech through insurance. Your insurance company will be able to provide you with a list of providers covered and then you just have to pay a co pay.

20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

I just had DS's CPSE and he is getting speech through Kids in Action on 111 in Islip.

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec

Re: 20 month old not talking - Speech Therapist Rec