Hi,

We have a beautiful Son who is just under 3 yrs & 8 months. He was crawling at 9 months, walking at 12/13 & is potty trained since just turning 3.

He is sensitive and affectionate, eager to interact with his very limited world of things interesting which focuses on cars, wheels, trains, planes, buses and the occasional bird. His speech is awful & is only coherent when talking about the few things he likes. He can repeat words of sentences but won't repeat more than 2 or occasionally 3... in a row. He seems to have some difficulty forming words with W's or I. He has an aversion to saying little words & will say things like "an toilet" for I'm going to the toilet. Or "an biscuit" for I would like a biscuit. He seems to freeze up whenever he really wants to say things to you about what he is doing but just can't make the words appear. He seems to stutter for a while before perhaps saying one of the relevant words like car or shop.

He has completed one 6 week course of speech therepy & is being assessed phschologically as requiring continued monitoring but seems to not fall in any strict category. He is quite awkward though v.tall for his age and can't do half the things other children do in the playground & is quite hesitant. Last week was his first ever successful climb of a blue ladder, crossing a rope bridge to a large slide & going down. He falls a lot at cresh & in the house.

My caring & worried wife & I are both feeling at times optimistic, at times v.depressed & at times frustrated.

Any and all thoughts appreciated,

Keith

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Originally Posted by Daddykeith

Hi,

We have a beautiful Son who is just under 3 yrs & 8 months. He was crawling at 9 months, walking at 12/13 & is potty trained since just turning 3.

He is sensitive and affectionate, eager to interact with his very limited world of things interesting which focuses on cars, wheels, trains, planes, buses and the occasional bird. His speech is awful & is only coherent when talking about the few things he likes. He can repeat words of sentences but won't repeat more than 2 or occasionally 3 ... in a row. He seems to have some difficulty forming words with W's or I. He has an aversion to saying little words & will say things like "an toilet" for I'm going to the toilet. or "an biscuit" for I would like a biscuit. He seems to freeze up whenever he really wants to say things to you about what he is doing but just can't make the words appear. He seems to stutter for a while before perhaps saying one of the relevant words like car or shop.

He has completed one 6 week course of speech therepy & is being assessed phschologically as requiring continued monitoring but seems to not fall in any strict category. He is quite awkward though v.tall for his age and can't do half the things other children do in the playground & is quite hesitant. Last week was his first ever successful climb of a blue ladder, crossing a rope bridge to a large slide & going down. He falls a lot at cresh & in the house.

My caring & worried wife & I are both feeling at times optimistic, at times v.depressed & at times frustrated.

Any and all thoughts appreciated,

Keith

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The other thing I forgot to add is that he tends to hold his right arm when running or walking. We don't know why. He can swing his arms together but just not the classic way - one forward one behind alternating. He had a couple of pulled elbows as a child & we wonder could this just be a habit

My question is why did he have pulled elbows as a child?

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Originally Posted by artlady

My question is why did he have pulled elbows as a child?

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We think that the first one happened when he was coming from the creshe to the house. We don't know how just that my wife was concerned he suddenly wasn't using his arm. It might have been in the crech before being collected or as he was being taken out of the pushchair.Apparently there is a tendon near the elbow that can become dislodged. The key thing is just don't ever pull a child very hard by the had or there is a risk. Which isn't always easy to avoid particularly when they might want to run the opposite directin & you need to hold onto them. The second time happened when there was a tug of war between him and I when walking down a road. My son refused to advance - I think he was about 23 months old at the time.. & I very foolishly tried to drag him away from a railing he was holding... I think with a view to either climb up some steps or down some steps of an old house. There was a stand off for a few minutes with him holding the railing & pulling one way & me standing firm & trying to encourage him to let go & move on.. & then a horrible small click & my son was in a flood of tears & didn't want his arm touched. It was obvious that the elbow had gone & we had to take him to a children's hospital to make sure it was back OK. It wasn't & isn't a happy memory.

When talking with my son recently I've tried to encourage him to swing his arm & he can do it... just not alternating. He also assurs me that it is fine & there isn't any pain. Which logically means he is holding his arm either because of a habit or for some other reason - the latter being the one that causes us to wonder could it be characteristic of some kind of disorder.

He gets really excited by things like a car having a punctured wheel or damaged fendor or panal... & will repeat "wheel broken" or "car broken" maybe 15 times even with you acknowledging it & expressing interest... which is also something we wonder is outside the norm... whatever the norm is for that age range.

Keith

I think your best bet is a full medical consultation with a pediatric specialist.He may need surgery on his arm to correct any damage that was done.

Sometimes repetitive behavior is seen with autism and Asperger's syndrome.

I think that all of these questions should be addressed at his psychological evaluation.

Below is a link that will give you some rough guidelines for speech progress.

SpeechDelay.com: Childhood milestones, ages and stages of child speech and language Therapy

Keep working with him. Use flashcards and take him out as much as possible (ie nature walks, park, etc). Have him point things out to you along the way. Ask questions like how many red cars did you see? Make it a game.

Get some pointers from his doctor because they should have gave you a plan for home. Stay patient and things will work out because every learn differently and your on the right track.

Have you had his ears checked? If he has an inner ear problem, it will make him feel off balance, can affect his hearing and his inability to hear could easily cause social anxiety. Most often children who are late talkers turn out to have a hearing problem. If his ears haven't been checked I would highly suggest it

I have a son who is almost 3 and I was concerned about his speech... his cousin was 3 months younger then him and was able to hold a full blown conversation with you... I took him to see his doctor and they told me that it was normal for a bo with a walking age of below a year to not develop his speech correctly until starting school... I was not happy with his evaluation so later booked him in to se another doctor who I had numerous appointments with... later he was referred to a eyes throat and ear specialist where they did a hearing test and found out my son had a hearing loss of 30% which made his speech hard to develop... they also told me it makes him more shy not being able to interact like other children so he has a lot of tantrums and mood swings and is not poetically good with other children his age... he is also loud and have been told he could develop a condition like adhd that makes him quiet hyperactive... they teach you how to move your mouth and use expresions which they will understand for there age... my son is does not have well developed speech for his ae but it is gradely coming along half the time he sounds like he is talking under water because that's what he hears it is something that can disappear as he grows and his ears develop more as its more inner ear then his ear drum... Hope this can help!