I can't compare him to her but....

[SIZE=10pt]I'm worried about Michael. Mikayla is talking up a storm. She is saying 5 word sentences or more. "Mommy went to work in the car." "The geese are flying south for the winter. They are up in the sky. The sky is blue mommy."
Her vocabulary amazes me! At 2 yrs. 2 mths she is saying words clearly and is using words such as (astronaut, siren, fuschia, migrate, hibernation) She is using pronouns, contractions, possessives ('s), contractions properly.

Michael on the other hand talks like this, "Ma zhsodifwlen ldjflafh;df;odh f cookie!" "lksdfaovjlfaoeopcldj pumpkin." Jibber jabber, jibber jabber..then a semi understandable word.

Being a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of hearing I KNOW about language, vocabulary and speech/artic. Should I be worried about Michael or am I over reacting?

Autism runs in my husband's side of the family. So that always worries me with Michael too. What do you all think?

Bridget :unsure: [/SIZE]

 

What does his doctor think? I don't really know for sure, but I would say that if he is trying to communicate with you in some way, then that is a good thing. We have friends whose 3 year old I couldn't understand at all. It would be the same, he would talk & I would catch maybe one word. He has been in speech therapy for maybe 3 months now & I can understand him now, not perfectly but so much better. And there was never any talk about autism, he just needed help with his speech so that we could understand it. He always would communicate, just not clearly, does that make sense?

 

Mine are 22m and I have had (unsubstantiated) autism concerns more so from odd, OCD-ish behaviors they have. They have a ton of words, but only a few two-word sentences. 40% of what they say could not be interpreted by anyone but DH & I (and 50% of that only by me). Their biggest problems being that they still don't articulate consonants throughout a word:

Potato Head = PAY-oh-EEE
Elephant = eh-FAH
Strainer = STAY-ah
Taxi = Tah-EE
Chocolate = CHAW-at

I really think each kid is just different. As long as he is saying words, gaining new words on a regular basis, and showing that he understands what is being said to him, I wouldn't worry. I have a niece that is the same age as the boys and she is talking circles around them right now. It's hard not to compare.

 

I have b/g twins who are now 25 months, so one month younger than yours. My DD is talking much more than DS, and I've heard that's "normal". Also, from how you describe how your DD talks, I think she's way, way advanced for her age. So I'd be very careful in comparing the two kids. My DD is just now saying 3 word phrases, no 4 or 5 word phrases. My DD does not use contractions or possessives. Is Michael showing improvement in the number of words he can say? Can he say 2 word phrases? Do you know approximately how many words he can say? I've heard that by age 2 they should be able to say 50 to 75 words (I could be wrong about that). I can't tell you not to worry, but I think your DD is just so advanced, it's not a good idea to compare them. Just my opinion.

Take care,
Thea

 

QUOTE(SweetpeaG @ Jan 18 2008, 01:12 AM) [snapback]577718[/snapback]
Mine are 22m and I have had (unsubstantiated) autism concerns more so from odd, OCD-ish behaviors they have. They have a ton of words, but only a few two-word sentences. 40% of what they say could not be interpreted by anyone but DH & I (and 50% of that only by me). Their biggest problems being that they still don't articulate consonants throughout a word:

Potato Head = PAY-oh-EEE
Elephant = eh-FAH
Strainer = STAY-ah
Taxi = Tah-EE
Chocolate = CHAW-at

I really think each kid is just different. As long as he is saying words, gaining new words on a regular basis, and showing that he understands what is being said to him, I wouldn't worry. I have a niece that is the same age as the boys and she is talking circles around them right now. It's hard not to compare.


[SIZE=12pt]Michael too has a lot of OCD behaviors as well. He can count object great, but focuses on counting things instead of other things around him. Ex: While playing football he had to stop and count all of the laces on the football. While reading a book he counts all the little tiles in a picture of a kitchen that has tiles on the wall. When he was a baby he would stare at his hand for hours. I am also getting a lot of the same thing as you are with not articulating consonants:

chicken = chee chaw
crayons= ans

Sometimes even the most familiar words I end up not understanding. Michael sounds a lot like your boys.

Bridget[/SIZE]

 

Do you have Early Intervention in your area? Can he be evaluated to see if he needs services?

 

I try SO hard not to compare them, but it's difficult, especially when there's that much difference between them developmentally. Your situation sounds much like mine, your daughter sounds like she's actually ahead with her speech for her age! The same goes here, Sarah is 3 going on 13, and comes out with things I can't believe! Alex, on the other hand, is behind with his speech and, it seems to me, also with comprehension. Having 2 kids the same age SO far apart developmentally has been difficult for me to swallow at times.

I think Early Intervention is a great idea. As I always say, if nothing else it will just ease your mind! Or, he gets services he needs and catches up. It's a win for all of you either way!

 

I would get him evaluated. I'm in No. VA and just had Ethan evaluated at 30 months by EI. I had been concerned about autistic tendancies for about a year, but those concerns slowly left giving way to concerns about expressive speech and sensory issues. At 2 years, Ethan really didn't talk much but knew all his letters by sight and sound (would not say the actual letter). Then a few months ago he put all his letters in alphatetical order, spelled his and his brother's name with those letters, and can now do 48 piece interlocking puzzles. He does like to do his letters and puzzles, but spends as much time playing with other stuff. His speech really started talking off last month and I'm understanding more and more words every day. Sometimes he sounds like he is speaking a foreign langauge though. The sensory stuff keeps changing -- right now he likes to smell things.

His brother isn't as interested in these things but talks our ear off -- just like your Mikayla. Very advanced in speech, comprehension, articulation, all of that. He can do puzzles too and knows his ABCs, days of the week, the seasons, etc.

Anyway, I AGONIZED for a long time whether to have him evaluated or not and am so glad I finally did it. The evaluator did ease any concerns I may have had about autism, said his speech isn't too delayed at this point, and they don't do much with the sensory stuff unless a child is there for other reasons and they see it. She did tell me not to focus too much on letters and stuff because kids (especially if they have issues) tend to get fixated on things. I'm 99% sure I'm going to have a dr. do a physco-educational eval just to be sure he doens't need help with the sensory stuff and double check on autism.

I would do it to ease your mind or to get him help if he needs it -- the earlier the better. I wish I had done it earlier now -- would have saved me some worry.

Good luck!
Mendy

 

Same thing here. We just had Whit evaluated about a month ago. Carmen talks up a storm in sentences and he isn't that far behind but there was a difference. He didn't qualify based on developmental delays but he did as "atypical". He's pretty "active" so we are working with ways to get him to focus. Got ahead and do it. It is free and they have been great. Not sure what county you live in here in MD, but we went through Montgomery County and have nothing but good things to say about them. If he doesn't qualify, you have peace of mind. If he does, you get him the help now while he is essentially a sponge.

 

Meghan was talking more and making more sentences than Nolan at the same age. He has really caught up since last summer. I would have him (even have both of them) evaluated by Early Intervention. If it's nothing, it will put your mind at ease. If they think they detect something, you can start him working with therapists and such now. :hug99:

 

My girls are way younger than my boys BUT..

I already notice a HUGE difference in the two.At a very young age, my boys concentrated on how fast they could run, how many cars were in their basket, how high they could climb -the big truck next to us on the interstate those kinds of things. At just a year old, these girls are polly parrot - they repeat everything (or try to!) and my dad lives w/ us - he has aphasia (cannot understand oral speech) so we have to write to him - Ava will already use a pen and scribble her "secrets" to him!!
they will sit and let me read to them and are just different all around than my boys were. so maybe it is just a difference in the two?? My ds#2 did not even utter mama until he was nearly 3 and even then only did so after intense speech therapy - we just knew the kid had problems - he is my smartest,most well spoken son. My oldest boy who said mama at 4 months is my sweet boy with aspergers syndrome. so you never know?


eta: I am not trying to say that girls are smarter than boys at all - just in my experience my boys had different expertise than my girls do - they just focus on different things. everything just comes together differently (in my experience)

and also - we put my ds#2 in speech through the school at 2 -I wonder if your school does early speech therapy - it may be worth a try?

 

I would get an evaluation through Infants and Toddlers, it can't hurt! The cutoff is three, so I would want to get started now so that he can transition to Head Start (I think that's the next step) at three if needed. Ainsley has PT through them and they have been great. Hope everything is fine and he catches up soon!

 

Bridget, I agree, if you are concerned contact EI and get him evaluated. If he qualifies it is free in MD. After 3, the school system would provide the ST for him, but you probably already know that being a teacher yourself.

That said, I am already noticing a big difference between Emilie and Trevor. She is way more articulate than him, but I thin that is just the difference between girls and boys.

But contact your local EI (Infants and Toddlers program). I believer from our time in EI (don't qualify anymore) there had to be a 25% delay from their age to qualify.

Here is a link to Harford Co. infants and toddlers, here.

 

I asked my pedi the same question. He said that my DD is probably just more advanced in her vocabulary and speech than DS. He also said that at just around 2 you should be able to understand about 50% of what they say. The only reason you even notice it is because you do have something to compare it to. He' fine and if he is at least talkign and saying then no problem, chances are that she is probably doing all the talking for him.

 

QUOTE(bridget nanette @ Jan 18 2008, 04:06 AM) [snapback]577799[/snapback]
[SIZE=12pt]Michael too has a lot of OCD behaviors as well. He can count object great, but focuses on counting things instead of other things around him. Ex: While playing football he had to stop and count all of the laces on the football. While reading a book he counts all the little tiles in a picture of a kitchen that has tiles on the wall. When he was a baby he would stare at his hand for hours. I am also getting a lot of the same thing as you are with not articulating consonants:

chicken = chee chaw
crayons= ans

Sometimes even the most familiar words I end up not understanding. Michael sounds a lot like your boys.

Bridget[/SIZE]


Oh, yes, they do sound like long-lost triplets. Keep me posted if you do decide to go in for an eval (and what they say). I'm letting it ride for now; we've got a WCC in mid-March. Two months can be a big difference in language development.

 

[SIZE=12pt]I went to school today and talked to my speech therapy friend (she services my Deaf and hard of hearing children and has a lot of experience with the parent infant programs and actually used to do a lot of therapy in the homes for 2 year olds). She told me to bring the twins to school and she would be happy to evaluate them. So I'm bringing M&M for an evaluation next week. I'm definitely in the right field for this!!

Bridget[/SIZE]