Speech delays

Hi, i have two year old twin girls. Actually they are two years and three months today. They were born at 33 weeks and had a few weeks in the nicu. Olivia met most of her milestones while Mia did not. She began OT at 9 months and then we added PT and Speech. She didn't start sitting up 'til she was a year old, and didn't start walking 'til she was 22 months!!! She still a little wobbly but has come a long way. I am very concerned about her speech, or lack thereof! Her receptive speech seems to be fine. She understands everything even without gestures. However, she only says mamamama and i actually finally got her to say "ahhh" on command. That's IT! Most of the sounds she makes are nasal sounds and she basically uses gestures or sign language along with nasal utters to communicate her needs. She's also a very laid back child. I would love some feedback from any of you that have experienced anything similar. We just met with EI for her re-evaluation and decided to drop PT and add another hour of speech. The OT threw a term at me that i refuse to google but am concerned about. She said one thing to look for in the future is 'oral apraxia'. I am going to go back to our neurologist for an evaluation. She has been tested for all kinds of genetic issues and has had an MRI of the brain and all turned out fine. I just wish she'd say SOMETHING! Thank you in advance for your input.

 

Hi Carla -- I'm dealing with something similar with my son Kevan, who will be 3 in June. I have a bunch of ideas for you, but no time to post right now -- I'll be back later to post or send you a PM!

 

I don't have any experience with speech delay, but I'm sure there are others out there with some good advice. I'm glad EI is adding some ST. I did have a DD in EI because she did not walk until 20 months.

 

My twins were speech delayed and have been in EI. Now Truman has caught up and Spencer still gets ST and OT. Spencer said just isolated words until 2.5, then his speech really exploded. He has a good vocabulary now and is starting to put sentences together. His SLP's suspect mild apraxia. Apraxia is a motor planning issue. Longer sentences are harder for Spencer because of this. Don't be afraid to google it, it is very treatable with ST. Also, your SLP should be telling you more!

Hope this helps!

 

Thank you so much for all your input. I am a pre-k teacher and spoke with the speech therapist at our school who was kind enough to offer to come over and see what's going on with Mimi. Mimi doesn't say anything at all. She basically makes some random sounds when she's excited but that's it. I'm hoping that adding a second hour of speech per week will help. I'm also going to follow up with our neurologist to see what he thinks. Again thank you so much and Becca i look forward to hearing from you Carla

 

Has she had her hearing tested ? Despite following requests to "go to the kichen to eat" or "time for bed" and saying a few words, we found our daughter had quite a bit of hearing loss. (was fine at the baby hearing testing) she has grommets /tubes in her ears now and hearing has improved and saying more words and sounds.

Heather

 

Thank you Heather, great suggestion. Yes Mia has had her haring tested several times. The last time however, was very difficult to test her. They determined that she fell within "normal" range but wanted her re-tested. I actually just scheduled her next hearing test for April 2nd because i'm starting to have my doubts. It's all so frustrating. I just want her to be ok. I made follow up appt to her neurologist and pedi. We'll see how that goes! Thanks again for the suggestion! Carla