View Full Version : My 3 year old still can't talk
adele84
Jan 13, 2009, 10:34 AM
My son is 3yrs and 2 months and still can't really talk he can say about 10 words clearly,he will try to copy words I say to him but gthey don't sound anything like what they should.we go to a speech tharapist and as yet she says she isn't overly worried as he understands everything and will try to copy words.I was just wondering if there could be a reason for this and there could be some other problem causing him not to talk
RosesSpins
Jan 13, 2009, 10:41 AM
Have you had his hearing checked?
Str8stack71
Jan 13, 2009, 10:41 AM
My son had the same problem... speech delay.. contact your local health department and inquire about some type of head start program in your local public school system... my son was three and was enrolled in pre school for a half day program to aggressive speech therapy... however, before you do this stuff make sure that you take you child to his pediatrician for evaluation to make sure that nothing is wrong... I have heard of children's tongues being attached too far forward and having to be cut back a bit, etc... I know it sounds crazy but it can happen... none the less, get child check at doctors and then contact health department... and remember that the squeaky wheel gets the oil... sometimes you need to be very persistent to get anywhere with the local health dept and school board... hope this helps.
kp2171
Jan 13, 2009, 11:04 AM
Not an expert in this area, just my experience...
My son, now five, has been checked each of the last two years. His cousin, 7 months older, speaks with clarity and with thoughtful pause. My son can mumble words together in a way that its impossible to decipher his real words. Now, at five, he can certainly speak with clarity when he cares to.
When he was your child's age, there were times when he would talk to strangers and they had no clue about what he said... and I could work it out only from being around him and knowing him well enough.
The speech therapist said she wasn't one bit worried... he could make many of the "required" sounds needed, even if he didn't always link them well... and she thought his "mind was running faster than his mouth could handle"... some sounds he didn't know how to make, but he could position his tongue correctly... for ex, he still struggles at times with "L", but he could mimic a "clicking sound" by placing his tongue at the roof of his mouth and drawing it down with some suction... so we also played a lot with making sounds with our mouths, which a little one loves to do anyway.
Sometime between 4 and 5 he began to understand our request to "speak slowly in a strong voice"... and even though he still will mumble and jumble from time to time, its those moments when he very clearly speaks well (usually when he wants something or is correcting some "mistake" I have made) that comforts us. But there clearly were times when he was 3-4 that we wondered why he couldn't speak with the clarity of others his age.
His sister spoke very clearly, in crisp, thoughtful sentences when she was younger than 2.5... he is just a different little soul.
My son also responded well to singing and to reading. He loved to finish sentences, and we would use books to encourage his learning to say words, especially books that repeated words (like Sam I Am in green eggs and ham)...
kp2171
Jan 15, 2009, 10:29 AM
i remember in Oprah show, i think Saluta Glutathione iv can help for that problem for children specially those with autism.
Uhm... while issues with verbal communication can be seen in autistic children, there is nothing in the OP that remotely points exclusively to autism or the need to self medicate her child at this stage... no difficulty relating emotionally to others, no mentioning of sound or other sensory issues, no withdrawl mentioned...
I'm all for considering alternative "treatments" when its appropriate, but I don't get for one moment why autism was mentioned in the context of the original post...