When my son was turning 3 and still no words from him, no response when his name was called, my sister who did a special education course encouraged me saying that even Einstein took 4 years before he spoke.
But we were frustrated.
We were anxious.
Other kids in his level were progressing really nicely.
There was one particular kid in the neighbourhood whom I hated so much.
He was much younger. At 2 years.
But he always spoke of how my son would not speak.
It was draining.
I was helpless.
My dad voiced out that I too took long before I spoke. It is only that I couldn’t remember.
But deep down, we could see that they were also concerned.
It is only that they never voiced their concerns for fear of making us get more nervous.
And so, it became an unspoken thing in the family.
Fortunately, he started calling everyone mum.
And then covid hit.
Speech regression.
Now, he didn’t call anyone mum. He was mum.
I decided to seek help from a speech language pathologist.
And they said that I made the right decision.
Her assessment was that my son had virtual autism due to too much screentime.
Well, cocomelon was an earworm in the house.
The king speech language pathologist was kind enough to share with us speech therapy exercises we could try out as well as advising us to stop isolating the boy from other kids.
Gradually, we became more intentional in having him speak.
We tried the following:
Reading books out loud to him
Playing around the house with him
Switching off Cocomelon
Taking him to a day care where he spent time with other kids
Taking him to the village where there were other kids.
For whatever you do with your late talker, do not embrace the wait and see approach says this research study. I know so many people, friends, workmates and even family members have told you that you can just wait and see how things are going to pan out with your late talking toddler. But it is both a lazy and backward way of solving things.
You never know what could be causing your child’s late talking.
Do not just dismiss their language delay problems as they showing signs of a late bloomer and that they are going to catch up with their peers as they approach the school-going years.
No.
Do not listen to those who tell you that your kid could be like Einstein who spoke when he was past the age of 4 years. Another bunch will tell you examples of other kids who took time before they spoke. They will even blame hereditary genes.
But that is a wrong approach to things.
Instead do the following as Hanen.org advices:
- Go for autism assessment
Your kid might be autistic. And you will never know this until it is too late. Not unless you go to a pediatrician or to a speech pathologist for a test. When tested, the medical personnel is going to advice on early intervention measures that you need to take such as going for speech therapy or having the kid socialize with others.
- Go for an audiology test
Your kid could be having a hearing problem. You will never know this when you take the wait and see approach. If they are not hearing what you are saying, they are not going to respond or even express themselves.
If detected early, you could have your kid get cochlear implants, ears dried off excess liquid or teach sign language to them.
- Go for a test on receptive language disorder
Receptive language disorder is where the child hears you but they do not understand you. Therefore, they are not able to respond back to what you just said. It can be cured by first understanding that is what your kid is going through and then speaking to them in simple, intentional phrases.
- Test on expressive language disorder
Expressive language disorder is where your kid hears and even understands you but they do not have the language to speak back to you. They have a problem expressing themselves.
