2 year old boy still doesn't talk- should i worry?

[Lylah]

What are obvious signs of hearing problems? I wasn't worried about this because my son seems to be ok on this front. He likes to listen to music and can even emulate sounds based on what he hears. He also responds to his name as well as to basic instructions when we talk to him. Could he be having hearing problems still despite this abilities?

[kar]

I had my son's hearing tested at Adventist. The audiologist there is Joyce Tang--28350602. If you're worried about speech delays, a hearing test is the first step. You'll need to do this before you have a speech and language assessment. I believe it cost around HK$ 800.

My son sees Mandy Ng at The Speech and Language Centre in Sheung Wan. He's only had two 30 minutes sessions thus far...he's begining to "babble" a response back to us when we ask him something. I'm told that this is the first step. My daughter saw Mandy for nine sessions purely for articulation---my daughter could not pronounce some sounds. Her therapy went very quickly and she really enjoyed working with Mandy each week. As for cost, I believe it's around HK$ 420 for a 30 minute session---haven't received the invoice yet for my son's therapy so I'm relying on my memory... 28175450 www.slcentre.com

For a brief understanding of speech delays, see

http://www.keepkidshealthy.com/welco...eechdelay.html

I've also found the Apraxia Kids Website helpful (although I'm not suggesting that your children have apraxia)

http://www.apraxia-kids.org/site/app...PIIsE&b=700249

Hope this helps.

K

[emilyc]

Sorry, Kar, would you mind elaborating some more.

How old was your daughter when she took sessions with Mandy? Did she totally took only 9 sessions and got her problems cleared up?

Tks

rgds

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[kar]

My daughter was 4 1/2. She couldn't say any s-blend words properly and had trouble pronouncing l, r, and th sounds. It was purely an articulation problem and she worked through it very quickly. Mandy was amazed by her progress as well. Several months later, my daughter is still doing very well although I have to occasionally correct an r or th sound.

My son has a speech delay which is quite different. He is 22 months and doesn't use any words consistently. He only says mama and dada under duress and occasionally uses another word (but then we won't hear that word again). I was very worried about this which is why I consulted the speech therapist. It's too early to tell what effect the speech therapy is having.

K

[Lylah]

Hi Kar-

My son is 23 months and we are experiencing a similar situation as what you have with your son... in fact, almost exactly the same! He only says "mama" and "dada" when he is frustrated and almost crying and sometimes he will say "car", "cat" but then we never hear it again.

Would you recommend seeing a speech therapist already?

Lylah

[capital]

I guess I have a different opinion. If he is 2 and he still only has 1 or 2 words I would worry. There is typically a huge jump in vocabulary between 18- 24 months. A hearing test is pretty simple to do and usually if you end up going to a speech pathologist they like to have that done to rule out only hearing problems. Look at this website, it has a checklist to look at to see if you should be concerned. It is from the toronto preschool speech and language department

http://www.tpsls.on.ca/languages.htm

http://www.tpsls.on.ca/brochures/checklist/chekeng.pdf

[Lylah]

thanks Capital!

extremely helpful site. i have discussed with hubby and we have agreed to go for a check. Early intervention is always best. If my son's test comes back negative, then at least i don't have to spend everyday worried now.

Lylah

[kar]

Lylah,

I think you've made the right decision. Hopefully your son is just a "late talker" and there are no other issues. I was really worried about my son and just getting everything checked out has made me feel better. I'm not longer worrying about him late at night, etc. I'll have to wait and see to see if the speech therapy was actually necessary. However, if I didn't go ahead with it and later found out that he had a problem, I would feel really bad about the situation.

K