expressive speech delay?

my LO that receives PT for his 'low muscle tone" (and he's a walker, btw) doesn't point. his brother points at everything and he just grunts.
he doesn't sign (his brother does) and he will babble but i dont think he does as often as his brother.

I KNOW I SHOULDNT COMPARE THEM but it's so hard!!!!
my *%*$&%* PT that I hate suggested he may have an expressive speech delay; that droolers that keep their mouths open a lot often have this issue as well.
:headbang:

any thoughts or similar experiences?

 

My kids are roughly the same age as yours and neither of them is saying one single identifiable word yet. We think they're saying dog when they point at the dog, but they don't even say mama or dada or anything. My doctor told me not to worry yet either because these things tend to happen in leaps and bounds. Plus, they're not showing any other sign of developmental problems, so she feels that they'll just do it when they're ready. I am prepared to have to start speech therapy if we have to.. we'll see how it goes.

From what you've posted here, it sounds like your kids are mostly on track. It's hard to look at them as individuals and not compare them to their brother, but you have to ask.. if he was your only child, would you be concerned at all yet? And even if he does have an expressive delay, that is a dealable issue and not an indication that there's necessarily anything serious wrong. Your PT sounds like she's giving you a lot of needless worry, and I'd ditch her ASAP.

 

Mine are little older than yours, but we're in the same boat as far as seeing differences between our boys and their communication. We just started working with our local early intervention program and Andy & Will both qualified for adaptive delays and only Will qualified for speech delay. Andy will talk up a storm on most days. We are now moving into compound words like 'backpack' and 'cocoon', but we're lucky if we can get a 'mama' out of Will on a good day. He grunts alot, doesn't gesture, makes lots of noise with his mouth like blowing raspberries, etc., but 'mama' and 'baba' are the only two words he can express right now. And it's a struggle to get him to even say those two words. He is much more shy when it comes to making noises compared to his brother. We call Andy 'the entertainer'. Andy can put on a show and loves an audience. Will struggles with getting too much attention and seems more than happy to let Andy do all the talking. Our speech therapist is now pushing sign language as another way for Will to communicate until he is ready to do so verbally. I'm not sure how well the sign language is going to work since Will just doesn't seem interested in gesturing, etc., but we'll see.

I struggle with all this speech delay stuff because my gut tells me most of what we're going through is mostly driven by his personality. I keep thinking that he will start talking when he is good and ready, but then I worry about how far behind am I willing to let him get before there is a bigger problem than we are dealing with now. That's what motivated me to go ahead and contact early intervention. Every kid is different, even identical twins I don't think my two little identical twin boys' personalities could be more different then if they were 7 years apart and not even brothers It's soooo hard not to compare how one is doing in certain areas compared to the other one. Trust your gut and seek help if you think there are bigger things at play other than just a difference in personalities.

 

I never had mine tested, because late talking runs in my family, but I am pretty sure both my girls (and DS2) would have had an expressive speech delay. Neither had any words--at all--until 25 months. It was clear they understood me, and I just did not worry about it. DS2 talked at 22 months, and was fine, so I just assumed they would be, too, and they are. They exploded into speech over the course of about two months. They rapidly "caught up," and then surpassed expectations for their age.

 

I agree that you need to ditch your PT! Though there may be signs of an expressive language delay, I have never heard the signs she mentioned. We just went through the early intervention evaluation process for both of my boys (almost 19 months) and they both have expressive language delays (9-11 mths developmentally for M and 12-13 mths for C). I waited until 18 mths to start the process in order ot give them time to "catch up". At 12 mths, they both had 1-2 words, but were not pointing, clapping or waving. In the past few months, they have made leaps and bounds with the pointing, clapping and waving, but only 1 additional word for M and 2 for C. However, the amount that they understand (receptive language skills) is well above age level. Everything else they evaulated (gross and fine motor skills, cognitive development and social skills) was at age level or above. Based on this, I could just chalk it up to them being "late talkers" and wait for them to start talking more on their own. However, speech therapy through early intervention is free and it can't hurt, so we will be starting in a few weeks. I am also eager for them to learn better communication skills to help alleviate their frustration at being unable to communicate what they want. So, I guess the point of all of that, is it can't hurt to have the evaluation and see what a speech therapist thinks. If therapy is needed, look at it as giving your children every possible chance you can to be the best they can possibly be.

 

Mine get developmental therapy for speech. It certainly can't hurt and I feel more at ease knowing I'm not alone in getting them to their milestones.

 

the baby i am referring to (the non-pointer) claps his hands. in fact, my pointer does NOT clap yet!!

 

First, I do think you need to ditch the therapist.



And, your son is really young to be very worried just yet. In California, EI won’t even test for a speech delay until they are 18 months old.



However, one thing you mentioned makes me think you should at least keep an eye on it, and if possible seek an independent consult with a private speech pathologist or developmental pediatrician. They might not see/give you an opinion until your kid is 18 months old, but I’d at least start calling around now and find out when/if you can do so (so if they won’t until 18 months old, you can jump on it as soon as possible if there are still concerns at 18 months).



Reason I say so is from experience- my twins (21 months old) DO have a speech delay- my twin B has an expressive speech delay, my twin A has an expressive AND receptive speech delay. I started getting concerned around 15 months when they only had 1-2 words each and were not babbling appropriately (not nearly enough, or right type of babbling). I was floored when I found out my twin A also had a receptive delay- because he appeared to understand everything, but receptive language is tricky- I noticed that he often looks at/watches his brother and copies his brothers response if he doesn’t understand the verbal words (he doesn’t appear to ‘get it’ as much when his brother isn’t in the room!)



Even if your son does turn out to have a delay, speech delay among twins in very, very common (some studies show that 78% of twins have at least a mild language delay)! That said, the fact that your guy isn’t pointing yet (not concerned about the words- OK to not have them at 15 months) is the reason why I do think there might be a possibility of a language delay, which is why I think you should maybe seek a real “expert” opinion - an independent consult with a private speech pathologist or developmental pediatrician. Most (certainly not all) kids that meet ‘typical’ language development milestones are pointing by now (pointing is part of language development in expressive language). It could mean absolutely nothing, or it could be an expressive delay, could mean he has a receptive delay (which will also affect expressive), or it could have to do with his muscle tone? A speech pathologist or developmental pediatrician can give you a much better idea of what might be going on, if anything, and I think with everything you’ve been through with this lady I wouldn’t take EI’s word for it…. Or wait to see when/if you get a better person… I think going elsewhere you will get an objective and likely much more accurate opinion (and you can still get therapy through EI). And there are SO many possible reasons for a delay if he has one, from maturation delay (just develop the skill later) to fluid in the ears which can be drained out (not preventing hearing, but reducing intelligibility) to muscle articulation problems which can be helped with excercises, to environmental reasons (split attention from parents which is very common w/twins, siblings being more verbal) to speech disorders to stubbornness…. Anyway a lot of possible reasons.



But, just because it is common with twins doesn’t mean help isn’t needed for a delay or it will necessarily resolve on it’s own. I see some parents here had kids that caught up on their own and that is great. However, unfortunately, there is no way to tell which kids truly will catch up on their own and which kids needed help/can catch up on their own, unless a child does NOT get therapy and doesn’t catch up. That is why I think you should seek an outside consult- because if your child DOES have a delay you can start right away with appropriate therapies with EI, and learn tools that you can use at home. Plus, if there is any delay recognition from a developmental pediatrician or independent speech pathologist might help you get more services. If your child does need therapy, the sooner they start the better the benefit. The absolute worst case scenario would be your child would catch up on his own and he didn’t need therapy. But, the therapy doesn’t hurt and will probably be fun. So far the therapies have been nothing but fun play-based therapies for my twins. I sat in on their 1st session and they had a ball!



If you want to talk about this feel free to PM me. I can also give you some recommendations to some boards I belong to re: late talking.

 

I had a late talker and it was due to needing tubes in her ears since she had hearing loss. Sometimes it is hard to determine because she seemed to always respond to twinkle twinkle... yet didn't respond at other times. hearing loss can be hard to pick up. Write down when he does things, what words and sounds he says and when. It might be nothing, or it might be something important. Keeping good notes will help when you go to see professionals.

Heather