How long does THIS phase last?

My kids are speech delayed... but I'm guessing you've all been through something like this at one point.

About 200 times a day... DD uses her whiny voice and says 'my Chris want'. All. day. long. It's driving me absolutely insane. I tell her I don't understand... doesn't make any difference. I know she means 'we want something', but yeah... aaaaargh.

How do I handle it? I'm guessing your kids went through this phase at 2.5 or something? Sigh...

 

I know it is frustrating and I know how much I hate repeating the same thing. I think repeating what you want them to say is the best solution. :hug: All three kids are in speech so I am there with you. Good luck!

 

Agree with previous poster. We are at a point where the babies know what they want, have some words for it but not 100% of the concept/words. So, when they only use half the words or half the concept, we give them the words. Usually this sparks them to repeat it. For example, Henry needed help opening something. Henry will walk up to me and say "Mommy, Help!". I will then ask him "What do you need help with?" and he will shove whatever at me and say "Open". Then I tell him "do you want mommy to open that box?" and he will repeat "mommy, open the box." It takes longer than me just grabbing whatever and doing it but it builds up the word/concept skills. Also, from what I remember with DS#1, this phase lasts a while. It's probably 4-4.5 when they walk up to you and just state "Mommy, will you open this box?"

 

Matt is speech delayed also. We have gotten to the point where he is very good about using a combination of sounds, gestures and dragging me to whatever it is he's talking about. It took a while but now everyone is amazed that we communicate so easily (he makes practically no consonant sounds)

ETA our speech therapist told us not to even try working with him on words other than the most simple (bat, dog, run, etc) because the frustration would just cause him to regress. So we try not to pressure him with alot of repeating what we say, we just talk in full sentences with good enunciation.

 

I agree with both the running commentary and being consistent about not giving in when you don't understand. That whining is soo frustrating and so hard to reverse out of. Lately what I have been trying to do is prevent the whining by trying to do some positive games with them during the day in a non-frustrating setting. I sit down and go through shapes or colours or look through a book and point things out just to increase their vocabulary. I have found that works wonders as they're trying to describe things more. Lately I have also made more of an effort to praise them when I find them sitting and talking quietly to themselves and I get involved in their conversation. I find if I do this before stressful whining times like meal times or going somewhere they're in a better frame of mind and I just sort of continue the "game". "Here, mommy is going to get a bowl, what colour bowl is it? Which colour bowl do you want? What else do you like for lunch? What is mommy making? Toast?" That kind of thing. It's kind of exhausting all day long but it seems to work.

 

Yes but sadly all this doesn't work because I try to speak French to them during the day (they only speak English but understand it). It just seems whatever I'm doing, I'm just going to fail... pretty upsetting. Dh is home at night for an hour but doesn't spend that much time talking to them... but they watch some tv during the day so at least they get some exposure to English.

Really don't know what to do! She can't even say 'I am hungry'. She says 'do' instead for everything...