When to Worry if a Child Has Too Few Words

[groovedaddy]

There is nothing simple about speech, and there is nothing simple about speech delay — starting with the challenge of diagnosing it.

Every pediatrician knows the frustration of trying to quantify the speech and language skills of a screaming toddler. How many words can he say? Can she put two or more words together into a sentence? Can people besides you understand him when he talks? Questions like these, put to the parents, are the quick and somewhat crude yardsticks we often use.

Crude or not, the assessment is crucial: the earlier it is made, the earlier the speech-delayed child can get some help, and the earlier the help, the better the prospects.

“The physician who understands delayed speech understands child development,” said Dr. James Coplan, a neurodevelopmental pediatrician in Rosemont, Pa., who created the Early Language Milestone Scale to measure children’s language from birth to age 3.

Guidelines by age can be found on the Web site of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association: asha.org/public/speech/development/chart.htm.

Article continues:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/health/09klass.html?th&emc=th

[Zoeisright]

1. My uncle didn't say much until he was three.

Then he started speaking in complete sentences. He went on to get a Ph.D. in math and work at NASA. Sometimes children who don't speak until later turn out to be incredibly smart. Of course, one anecdote doesn't mean much, but I thought I'd put it out there.

[groovedaddy]

2. I have friends whose youngest son (of 4) didn't speak until he was 4 years old.

When he started speaking, it was in complete, coherant sentences. They attributed his lack of speech to his older brothers, who did his speaking for him.

[rocktivity]

3. Exactly the same with my niece

But I did notice that when she DID speak, she always had something to say: "Look at the car...What are doing?...I'm gonna eat all those." that only lasted until she was four, though. She's a counselor now.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[gkhouston]

7. I can remember telling my mom that my daughter wasn't really speaking in

sentences yet, just rare two-word phrases. Within ten minutes the little monster said, "I really like this chair." :rofl:

I think sometimes the words are percolating around in their heads a long time before they come out of their mouths.

[hedgehog]

4. For the life of me - I don't remember any of my kids babbling.

I think they all developed a sign language I deciphered. I know they never went hungry!

I have a slight Southern Ohio/West Virginia accent modified by my grandparents' brogue. We're living in Upstate New York, and as each child was tested before entering kindergarten, they were referred for further speech evaluation. They all spoke with my accent, which sounded strange to local ears!

IIRC, my second youngest was reading and speaking pretty much simultaneously!

[Peregrine Took]

5. My great nephew didn't speak the appropriate # of words until he was 18 mos

per his pediatrician and he graduated from college last year.

[ananda]

6. Einstein

Wasn't Einstein slow to talk?