Possible delay

My twins are 3yr3mo old. DS was first to walk and first to talk, but once DD started doing these things, she excelled quicker than DS.

Currently DD speaks waaaay more, and more clearly than DS. DS is not AS verbal, and when he does speak, it is hard to understand what he is saying. Most of the time he sounds like he is just saying the beginning sound of each word in his sentence, but the first and last words are usually clear. For example, "we gu go oussiiide" would be We are gonna go outside. Sometimes I really have to have him slow down and say each word individually in order to understand what hes saying.
I think this may be caused by *where he puts his emphasis when he's talking. Certain words he stresses more than others and the 'others' sound whispered or skipped over. So, in the above example the emphasis is on WE and SIDE.
I also read the other Speech Therapy post, and my son is almost a year older and still has some trouble with answering yes/no questions correctly. . and if asked what he did in school the only thing he ever says is 'play'. His twin sister will elaborate way more. She will tell me if someone went to timeout, or if they made artwork, etc. DS will copy what
DD says, but cant relay much more than that.

My other, less urgent of a concern is him not knowing what certain foods are called. We will be eating dinner, (which are the same common foods in rotation every 2-3 weeks) and if he wants more of something, he will ask for something we are not even eating. Not that he actually wants what he says, but he just doesnt know what he's eating. I guess this is just something I have to work on, but it seems to me they are things he should know. i.e. rice, macaroni, corn, egg. He does know pizza,hot dog, chicken/nugget, apple, applesauce. He'll call all other fruits apple too. So, Im going to work on this.

Any thoughts or suggestions? TIA

ETA: DS also cries rather than asking for something. If one of the other children asks and I give them something, he will start crying if he wants it too, instead of using his words. He cries A LOT at home, but his teachers havent mentioned an issue.

 

Hmmmm...I don't know. Have you considered having him evaluated by a speech therapist? If you are concerned, that is where I would start. -OR- maybe just bring it up to your ped. and ask for his opinion. It sounds like there might be a possible delay, but sometimes just in time these things seem to work themselves out.

Another thought, has he had his hearing checked recently. My nephew had some speech delays and it was due to his hearing. He had many ear infections when was 12-18 months old that resulted in scar tissue. He had to have tubes put in. Now he is playing "catch up" with his speech.

 

Thanks for your response. Yes, he had a lot of ear infections from about 7mo until he finally got tubes at 18months. (both of the twins had tubes, although his ear infections were always worse than DD)
I've thought there might be a hearing problem as well. I will definitely be talking to their Pedi about this at their next appt, if not earlier.

 

I would definitely have his hearing checked. The ear infections are a huge flag. In your shoes, I would definitely have him evaluated by a speech pathologist too, it can't hurt! The earlier it is addressed, the sooner it can be fixed if necessary. By the way, if your pediatrician downplays it and says to wait a little for it to sort itself out, I would still have him evaluated by an slp. There is obviously a range of ages for appropriate speech progression and girls tend to be more verbal earlier than boys, but you have a number of separate speech and communicative issues going on here. I would do it for peace of mind.

 

I'd have him evaluated by ei(possibly the local school system since the are over 3). They should be able to evaulate him in all areas just not speech or hearing

 

Thanks ladies. I have been paying closer attention to his verbal skills lately and he is much easier to understand now than just a couple of months ago. .but he still doesnt know as many words as his sister. I am going to work with him at home more and talk to the pedi.

Thanks again!