Parents of Preschoolers  Discussion Forum

A few children have trouble speaking, and some may not start even after they turn 2! Why does this happen?

1. Does your child respond to other environmental sounds?
2. Does your child have difficulty forming words and sentences?
3. Did your child learn to sit, stand and walk at the appropriate age?
4. Most importantly, are you and your spouse spending enough time interacting with your child?

Try out some tactics to help your child!

1. Speak to your child in simple sentences about whatever is happening around her.
2. When speaking to your child, speak at a slow rate using pauses at appropriate junctures.
3. There should be consistency in the formulation of your sentences.
4. Read to your child often, from a story book.
5. If you feel your child still has difficulty grasping the language, speak to her in one language only, for the time being. Make sure your other family members do the same.

Does your child also have speaking problem? How do you help him? Share with us! abcd replied. Could you please suggest me what to do. star replied. My son is the same way I have him in speech therapy class Simran Channey replied. My son is 2 yrs and 4 months. He babbles a lot, can hear and understand everything. I have been doing whatever has been suggested by you however he has not started talking yet. He has recently started going to play school. I am getting really worried. Please suggest what to do. amudha replied. My daughter is 1 yr 4 months old.she talks well .From 8 months itself she started grasping and repeating small words whatever we say.She herself addresses people in mother tongue like athai,mamaa,anna,akka...If we ask simple questions in english she will respond very well.I bought lot of colourful picture books .She loves to identify the pictures and name them.She started singing simple rhymes ..now and there we have to hint her.around 7 months itself myself and all others in the family converse with her as if she is a grown up. eg..\" Do u feel sleepy?\" \" do u want a teddybear or duck ?\" \" do u want to wear frock or midi..\" \" what u want for dinner?\" \" comes let us go for a walk\" \" come let us go and meet akka\" like that..Slowly she started understanding all these now she replies very well with her choices ..I and my husband take her to Park ,beach and zoo whenever possible.There r lot of interesting things to show and share with our kid.After returning elders in home ask what and all she saw in zoo and park..She tell whatever she remembers ..like deer,elephant...etc. Few words she will use baby language like toto for Photo,Aebomine for aeroplane ,but she will tell correctly lot of difficult words like porcupine ,hippopotamus ,camel ,clock...and almost all words she tries to repeat correctly.friends u try showing lot of picture books,sing rhymes together and try to converse with ur kids as grownups.(but slowly and clearly)surely they will talk well.Dont worry. Meenakshi replied. Hi,
My son is three years old,he started speaking at age of 8 month old but now he doesnt speak too fluently as of his age kids do.He is in playschool now.he does not speak anything about his school when we asked him .he is very active and naughty,He generally hits kids of his age but not elders.

Could you please suggest me what to do. Meenakshi replied. hi ashima i am facing problem with my son but he speaks much more than your son,he is improving now but still i am worried i dont know what to do.Please suggest ashima and me on this namitha replied. Hi Rita

Good to see your message.

My best wishes to your son. It is indeed surprising to know that your three year old can read words.

My daughter is 2 1/2 years old although she had started speaking fluently by the age of 2. Since last few months (since she has started playschool) he has started stammering when she starts to speak it is not always. When I ask her to speak correctly she speaks in the correct way. I feel this could due to new languages she is hearing but still worried.

As you have written that you can email the sites where I can get the books. I can get it here in Mumbai from the shops also. But still if you can send the website so that I can find out more about the books it will be really helpful.

Thanks

Best wishes to your family

Namitha Hema replied. Hello Ashima,

I have a similar problem with my 2year 7 month baby boy..What is your findings?Please reply me. ashima replied. hi,my sons goin to b 3yrs next mth.he still doesnt speak properly only bables mama,dada,toy,baby etc but without any specific meaning.he communicates evrythin by takin our hand like he' ll bring his glass if he wants water,take us to door if he wants to go outetc.hes sttled in his playschool but doesnt engage with other kids,just watches them.hes v.aware of his environment so thst a gud sign.he dances on his songs,his fav songs keep changing.i feel hes v.conscious wid other kids as he knows he cant speak like thm so he stays away.he' ll watch but luk away wen they come near him.but he does ply wid older kids.hes learning to ride his bike but otherwise he doesnt want to learn anythin we teach him.so worried as hes so behind other kids.anyone advise pls.hes an active boy otherwise.he always listens to me but wont listen to others always.pls reply .thx. amita replied. Rita,
I saw you message & need help about my son ho is not speaking much at around 4yrs of age.My Wife is going nuts about it & appreciate if you could share websites/cd' s you mentioned in you post mom replied. Hi,
I am a mother of 2 yrs old son. He is speaking words and very few sentences. The words are also not clear. He says, mama. papa. adda(for grandfather, susu, payi (water), baa(ball), tie(light..). Also he make very few sentnces like mama payi chayie. Actually he is exposed to too many lan at an early age. I speak Hindi, father(side) kannada, daycare- english and tamil),, Not sure if this is confusing him. He understands everything also speaks some thing all the time but hardly everyone can understand. Please help suugest. I am worried. I told my FIL and husband let' s speak in one coomon lang English so that he can atleast speak that but they think otherwise. Nalinee replied. hello
My son is 2 yr. and 2months old. He could speak only a few words like dadaji, nanaji, mamma, papa, aati(for aunty), cococo (for coconut), appa (for both aeroplane and apple), tile(for light),dudu(for milk),chappa(for chappals), baby, bachcha, beta and only a few others. He could not speak full sentences. We have bought a few CDs of nursery rhymes and downloaded a few softwares also but he is not developing speaking skills with a good pace. He gets more interested in DVD player or the computer instead of what is being shown to him. The only sentence he says is like mamma ka hai (where is mamma) or papa ka hai and the similar ones. He is otherwise very active. He loves to play with balls.Im worried very much. Please help me. Should i consult any speech therapist? Chitra Srikanth replied. My son is two years now and he speaks quick sentences like :how are you? , how do you do? clearly but he does not respond when asked what is your name? He does not even show signs of having understood his name. Even when called out repeatedly he never responds. Though he talks he prefers to be submerged in his world of what ever he is doing. I have used disney channel and taught him the names of cartoon characters. Now he repeats some names and says oh doodle with mickey. Still this problem is not solved. I feel very bad at times when people call him and he behaves as if he is deaf.

sharon sutari replied. Dear Editor,

My younger daughter is 3Yrs 9Mths & has had open heart surgery in May05. She is able to understand everything that is said & since the last few months speaks a few words but not complete sentences. She is presently in a play school (at nursery level)& can say a few of the rhymes only partly. Daily she sees a popular rhymes CD & is able to identify which rhymes follow each other. Also she is able to say alphabets from A-H (though not very clearly) & numbers from 1-10 (very clearly). Pls let me know if I shud get her evaluated by a speech therapist. anuradha replied. hi, my younger son is 2 years 9 months old. he is very active, intelligent, loves to mix with others and remember everything. but he is not speaking properly. he only says baba, mama, didi, dadu, appie(apple),mile(smile) , gari(car), mani(our driver's name), dudu(milk) etc. he can speak aroun 15-20 words but not says only first 2 letters of a word. his hearing ability is absolutely fine. we speak in bengali and english at home. he goes to a play school though due to his child asthama he missed out lot of classes. what should i do? will he be able to cope up with the other kids in nursery in a normal icse school in which he will be going from june 2006. i am very much worried and please tell me is it normal that a child is taking so long to speak. please i want a quick response.
Rita S T replied. Hello!

I'm a mother of 3 plus year old son. He could speak words about 1 plus years old and read words by 2. Before his 3rd birthday, he was very interested in reading everything around him, signs, notices etc and was reading Little readers. Now, at 3 years 10 months, he is actively reading and enjoyed Ladybird stories likes the Wizard of Oz and Enid Blyton which he can read independently.

When he was very young, I exposed him to loads of music and songs. I also spoke to him and read to him Mini Magic storybooks(they are really nice little books that led the child pull out strips which changes the colour of the animal picture that is inside). Reflecting back, I noticed that his speech and ability to read as well as interest in reading and talking was to a large part because of those books and toys that he played. (If you are keen, I think I can email you the site to get the books.)

Talk to your child and sing with him while playing the toys with him and I hope he reaps the benefits that my little one has enjoyed.

All the best to you and your precious little ones!

Warmest wishes,
Rita S T
Singapore
Mother of a cheeky 3 plus year old son
AB replied. Hi Editor ,

I really need your help & hope you can reply to my e-mail. My son is 2years 7 months old & does not speak full sentences . He speaks 2 word sentences e.g : bye mom , toy kahan hai ? , but really does not try to make any conversation himself .I think he understands all things i say to him , but sometimes when i ask him questions like ''what did you do at school?'' . he just does not respond...like he has not understood . I feel he understnds most things i say ....but not all of them .since i am a working mother , I cannot give him as much time so feel he is lacking behind

When he was 7 moinths old ,the doctors thougth he had a small head and was under constant supervision until he was 1.5yrs old , but ultimately after regular scans & developmental checks , the doctors ruled out the chance of anyabnbormality . his head is growing normally now & physically also he is growing normally . However he does not show any interest in lernining to speak in sentences. He has teh vocabularty of about 100words ( hindi & english combines) . Since we livce in the UK , He always gets confuesed between 2 languages .

to improve the situation , I have now started sending him to a full day nursery in the hope that he will pick up , but in the lst one month i have seen no development / change in him . Iam very worried that there is something not right . Dobnt know if it's just my paranoia or is there really something to worry about . I constantly keep relating it to his history of having a small head .


Can you pls advise me if i need to get him evaluated or noe as docs here in UK , keep ruling it out .

Pls can you give me some honest advise idf this is a mild case of autism , as i am going nuts thinking about this . Hoping someone can give me an honest reply ..... Durai replied. Hi,
Can anyone advise me on good Speech Therapists with their contact numbers in CHENNAI to treat my son who is diagnosed with mild Autism!! ap replied. My son has speech delay issue. He has been going to Preschool since he was 21/2. But sometime the teacher has hard time understaning him. Also they advice me to take him for speech eveluation done from school systems. He will be going to Pre school in Public shcool. My town start with Pre-K I got him test out for Speech delay. He will be qualifed for speech Program from the school. But i'm little worried b/c I don't want them to classifed him as handey cap. So I have the appount on 5/12 so let see. sath replied. my son is 25 months old. He does not show any interest to talk. He is able to follow whatever we say. He does most of the things by sign language like if he has to go to the bathroom he pulls me to the bathroom, if he wants water he gets the bottle of water to me to open. I have put him to a play school & he cries the whole time in the school. can anyone advise me