late talkers?

my children are 23 months old and do speak some words (one of them quite well and quite many words) but the other one is a little bit behind. What do you suggest in order to help him -them to enhance their ability to talk btter, sooner more? I am sorry if the subject is quite common but I could not really track it down. Thanx in advance.

 

I would talk to the Dr and see what they have to say. Ours recommended an EI screening and we got a speech therapist at 18 months old. It can't hurt.

 

We had our well visit today and our doctor was not concerned since they say some words and follow directions. I am waiting it out. If mine had no words, or even no attempt at words, then I might be more worried. I'd follow up with your doctor at their 2 year check up and see if they say anything then.

 

Mine dd was seen by EI. She didn't qualify for speech (was sen for gross motor skills) and the therapist helped me a lot with her speech. One for the things he helped me with was to stop predicting what she wanted and needed and wait until she asked. (he said, "stop being such a good mom." ) What he meant by that was that he observed me giving her things (like a napkin, a snack, a fork, a toy etc) before she asked for it. He had me stop anticipating her needs and wait for her to ask, forcing her to use her words more. Not giving her an item until she said thank you and such. He helped me find a ton of opportunities in everyday life to encourage use of speech which really helped her communicate better and within a couple months she was almost caught up with her twin. It was amazing.

 

Did he tell you what to do when your twin would point at something that was obvious they want? I am trying to figure out how to get mine to use words. They communicate effectively by pointing and saying "want that".

 

I would say the word over and over again and ask her to repeat it. He advised to not give them the object until they tried to say the word. Even if the word was elephant and they only said "eh" give them the object. It is the attempt to speak I was rewarding, not accuracy of the word, that came by itself the more she spoke.

 

Thank you, i am going to start doing that.

 

I'd contact EI. It is free and you do not need a doctor's referal. At least get an evaluation. One of my boys just started Speech at 20 months (18 adjusted) for expressive language delay. He actually probably wouldn't qualify now (3 weeks later). But his ST said she much much prefers to see children when they just have a slight delay then when they have gone months with a problem or worse they see them at age 3, 4 and even 5 years old. Eventually the child gets so frustrated that they stop even trying and it takes a lot more work to get them caught up.

I figure any extra help with my boys is a bonus.

 

Mine didn't talk until 25 & 27 months, at all. They had good receptive language, an older brother who didn't talk until 22 months, a grandfather who talked late and a great-uncle on their grandmother's side who talked late, around 30 months. So, I didn't sweat it and they exploded and rapidly caught up. I never had them evaluated, though I'm sure they would have qualified as delayed in expressive language. I just know it runs in my family, so it didn't faze me. (Most importantly, they had good receptive language.)

 

I haven't personally read the book... but I hear that "The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late" by Thomas Sowell is a good read on the subject.

My LOs have picked up a lot of words from books. Our Target has a $1 section that usually has books in it. I pick those up for them and we read them and point out pictures then I let them keep them in their play area (good books are kept in another area). They often "study" them even when I'm not sitting and reading to them. During reading time they like to point and say the names of the pictures. They usually get trashed within about a month but for $1 I don't really worry about it. They get sad when the books tear or say bye bye so they're learning to take better care of them. It has been especially helpful for my son who seems to need time to reflect on his own for learning.

 

a friend has her dd in speech therapy and she told me about the same thing that the pp mentioned. making her dd say what she wanted. she would only give her a little food and make her say "more"... and she started introducing signs at the same time. she actually signed first then spoke the words later.

we did a few key signs too, Please, More, Drink, Water, Eat etc. at least they could communicate some of the major issues.

my friend's therapist suggested her doing the sign language to help. I will say that I thought ours were a little delayed, and they did so better with signing for a while, but now pretty much don't sign at all and are speaking everything.