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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Working on Developing Speech for Child
thecrazyisout 12:20 PM 09-07-2011
Hi there,

I have a child that has a minor delay in his speech. Looking for suggestions on how I can help him and work with him through out the day. He isn't to the point where he should be evaluated, but just looking for help!

Thanks in advance!
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Blackcat31 02:32 PM 09-07-2011
(My tone is nice and helpful NOT negative...LOL!!) Please don't take this wrong, but how do you know he has a speech delay? The range for speech development is so wide and what we think is a delay or a problem really isn't always and vice versa.

With that being said, if he was already diagnosed with a delay, I would think the best way for you to be supportive would be to work with his speech therapist and have her give mom some activities you can do with him during the day that will help support her work with him.
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thecrazyisout 02:39 PM 09-07-2011
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
(My tone is nice and helpful NOT negative...LOL!!) Please don't take this wrong, but how do you know he has a speech delay? The range for speech development is so wide and what we think is a delay or a problem really isn't always and vice versa.

With that being said, if he was already diagnosed with a delay, I would think the best way for you to be supportive would be to work with his speech therapist and have her give mom some activities you can do with him during the day that will help support her work with him.
I understand where you are coming from...I assume he is delayed since he will be turning 2 soon and I can hardly understand anything he is saying. In addition, his words are few and far between. I have recommended an evaluation, and I think the mother is in progress with this, but in the mean time, I am hoping to find resources to help his own progress while we get the "real" help he may need
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Blackcat31 02:57 PM 09-07-2011
I ask because my own son didn't say a word until he was almost 3 and my daycare provider asked me to have him evaluated. The speech therapist we saw said many kids do not have understandable speech until 2.5 or older and although it is not as common, it is normal. My son never did need a speech therapist and when he did begin talking, his vocabulary was very good.

I have a 2 yr old boy in care as well that talks with only one word here and there and even those words are hard to understand. I just tell him to say; " __________" and then let him do it. I sometimes tell him to repeat it if I think he couldv'e done better but for the most part I just let him be and even though I have only had him since June (when he turned 2) he has improved a good deal since.

I think all you can do is to say things clear and maybe ask him to repeat and just keep doing it every day and sooner or later he will get it.

I was also told that there are many letters and letter combos that kids do not master until age 7 so 2 seems too young to really worry yet. Especially in boys.

Also most the speech therapists, and child assessors in my area don't even ask parents to have their child evaluated for any type of delays until age 3.
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daycare 03:26 PM 09-07-2011
Originally Posted by thecrazyisout:
I understand where you are coming from...I assume he is delayed since he will be turning 2 soon and I can hardly understand anything he is saying. In addition, his words are few and far between. I have recommended an evaluation, and I think the mother is in progress with this, but in the mean time, I am hoping to find resources to help his own progress while we get the "real" help he may need
My own child did not start talking until he was 2.5. He will be 4 soon and he still is hard to understand at times, but there is nothing wrong. He can use really big words, however, some letters are really hard to understand. Like Y-R-L-CH-TH and so on. Trust me, BTDT with the doc and they told me that by age 4 if he was not forming sentences and communicating in someway to bring him back. You have to think about his home life and what goes on there. Like does he have older siblings that talk for him? Does mom/dad baby him and don't force him to use words? There could be many reasons why he just isnt talking that much yet/////

I know you want to be helpful, but I say you just keep on loving that little guy like you are. Like Blackcat said boys are usually slower than girls and will eventually catch up... LOL allthough, I am not sure they ever mature....lol jk
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sharlan 07:20 PM 09-07-2011
First of all, IMHO, do not force the speech issue at this point.

My eldest gd had a large vocabulary at 2, but others didn't always understand her. Others, my fil especially, would ask her to repeat herself over and over. At 2 1/2, she stopped talking altogether, not even yes or no. It took a professional to get her talking again.

My eldest gs, now 4, barely spoke 6 mos ago. He only would use 1 or 2 word answers. He could not carry on a conversation no matter how hard we tried. We had him evaluated by the school district. They felt he wasn't severe enough to qualify for services. We just started talking, talking, and talking to him. If we weren't talking, we were reading. Now he's doing great.
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snbauser 02:43 AM 09-08-2011
Originally Posted by thecrazyisout:
Hi there,

I have a child that has a minor delay in his speech. Looking for suggestions on how I can help him and work with him through out the day. He isn't to the point where he should be evaluated, but just looking for help!

Thanks in advance!
If the child is difficult to understand, the best thing you can do to help him is repeat, repeat, repeat. If you can figure out what he is saying, repeat it back to him clearly and slowly so he can hear it said the right way. If you can figure out what he is saying, try to have him show you and then you can repeat it back to him. Has he had a lot of ear infections? Sometimes kids who have a lot of ear infections when they are young take longer to learn to speak clearly because what they have heard for so long was garbled.
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LittleD 04:34 AM 09-08-2011
Does he have a good vocabulary, but you can't understand him? Like saying bop-bop for ketchup? Make sure you are at eye level when speaking with him. If he asks for bop-bop, you say "Öh, you'd like some ketchup?" and put emphasis on ketchup (or whatever word he uses) Don't give him milk or juice or water without asking him to say it. Not forcing, but say Would you like some milk (emphasis on milk) and if he nods his head, say Tell Miss X you'd like some milk (emphasis on milk) Praise when he tries. For a child who has few words in his vocabulary, use smailler sentances. Car go down. Modeling the speech while being at eye level goes a long way!
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SilverSabre25 05:29 AM 09-08-2011
Originally Posted by LittleD:
Does he have a good vocabulary, but you can't understand him? Like saying bop-bop for ketchup? Make sure you are at eye level when speaking with him. If he asks for bop-bop, you say "Öh, you'd like some ketchup?" and put emphasis on ketchup (or whatever word he uses) Don't give him milk or juice or water without asking him to say it. Not forcing, but say Would you like some milk (emphasis on milk) and if he nods his head, say Tell Miss X you'd like some milk (emphasis on milk) Praise when he tries. For a child who has few words in his vocabulary, use smailler sentances. Car go down. Modeling the speech while being at eye level goes a long way!
This is good advice, for any child really. I will give them words to say (like with the milk example) I would say, "Say, 'Milk please!'".

Actually, I do that with older kids too, but with more complex sentances.
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