Please let me know if any of you have ever heard of symptoms similar to the ones my sons experiencing. He is 15 months old and does not seem to understand ANYTHING I say to him. He can communicate with me, if he’s thirsty he’ll bring me his cup. But if his cup is laying there and I say, “Where’s your ba-ba? Bring me the cup.” He just looks at me. The same is true with other everyday things that he should know ie, bath, bye bye, car, ball… he just does not seem to understand me. He has a horrible history of ear infections and had tubes put in in Dec. The doc thought for sure he’d catch right up, but no. He had his hearing checked and they say it is perfect. Please tell me you have heard of this before? Thanks for ANY input!
Re: help? receptive language
Yes, I agree with Pattim. Get that referral - you might need to get him into an early intervention program right away. It’s good that you’re paying such careful attention.
Re: help? receptive language
The only words he say are mama, dada, baba. He can make sounds but only with an “a” sound. Ra, na, va…. It’s so strange…thanks for your help, and what is that auditory processing deficit?
Re: help? receptive language
I have two sons who received speech therapy as preschoolers. With my first, I went through the school district because he was over 3 by the time we sought help. With the second, the pediatrician insisted we have him evaluated before he was two because of family history. He ended up in a early intervention program. It was much easier qualifying for the early intervention program. I don’t know how much is specific to the area where I lived at the time (New York) but I would seek help immed. Ask your pediatrician about how to get your child evaluated for an early intervention program. With my first child, he didn’t qualify the first time he was evaluated.
BTW, it was fascinating to watch how the speech and language therapist got my barely two year old son to speak.
Beth
Re: help? receptive language
He is vocalizing and that is good. Does he ever babble like he is talking but it has intonation and stress of a conversation? Since he has had so many ear infections he doesn’t have a mature auditory memory. A child learns to speak by hearing and practicing what he is saying to match what he hears from his peers and parents. To learn to speak and process speech is an amazing feat in itself. Since he has had difficulty with hearing chances are he needs an intensive speech and language intervention program to catch up.
The /a/ sound is one that is easy to make your mouth is wide open and you just have to turn on the voice box. Another one that is easy to say is /uh/. One thing that just crossed my mind is how is his oral motor coordination? Can he make raspberries, puff out his cheeks, does he have trouble with sucking or feeding? The other vowels take more strength of the tongue muscles so if he has weak oral musculature this would also explain some of his problems.
Hearing Acuity is just hearing the tone but auditory processing is comprehension of what is heard. If he has an auditory processing deficit he has difficulty processing what he hears and attaching meaning to it.
Re: help? receptive language
My niece went through an Early Intervention Program in NJ because she was born with a double cleft lip and palate. She began speech and language therapy right after her major cleft palate repair when she was just a year old.
Because of the cleft problem, she’d had repeated ear infections as a baby. Her hearing was very bad most of that time so she had the double whammy of missing sounds because of a hearing issue and not being able to speak well because of the cleft issue.
The Early Intervention program is godsend - do ask about it.
autism?
I just wanted to thank everyone who has responded. My son went to the developmental ped this am, and they believe it is autism, even though its still early. So now I have a whole new thing to worry about. He has been enrolled in the early intervention program..(I still know nothing about that) they will be coming to my home 3 times a week. I hope it will help him. If anyone has any info about autism in this young of a child ( 15 months) please help. julia
Dad...do you have some ideas or resources for her?
the person coming to your home is probably a speech path and she/he will have lots of ideas to help you with him and developing his language. He is still young and that is on your side. I have seen some kids wtih autism that received early intervention at 3 years of age and now they are doing great in kindergarten. You are very fortunate that they have placed him in an early intervention program.
Dad will probably have some great ideas and resources for you..
Re: autism?
The autism was going to be my suggestion, but I wasn’t sure if I should suggest it on so little information. Since he is only 15 months, it can still be hard to tell. You also have to look at other things, too. Some places to check out: www.autism-society.org
www.hyperlexia.org
so young
Yea, they say that they can’t give him a positive diaganosis until about 2 yrs. old. But the more I learn about autism it does fit him. Although today he did so good. He imitated, he interacted with me just fine, we had a good time playing and reading books. He laughs so much and is such a cuddler, it’s hard for me to believe it could be true. I keep hoping maybe it’s just a mistake. i have been looking for books everywhere but I can’t find any that pertain to young kids.(Toddlers) I really hope if he does have it maybe by the time he starts school he’ll be okay. I just don’t know what to expect, maybe I am being unrealistic? What do you think?
Re: so young
Julia, I can understand your fears. Nowadays, though, it’s known that there’s a wide range of autism types so they call it a spectrum. People with severe dysability lie on the low end of the spectrum; people with high-function lie on the opposite end. All of them share certain qualities but there’s a wide variation in behavior nevertheless. I’ve taught many high-end kids. Some of them are smiley, cuddly kids. Their language processing skills are still weak though and they benefit greatly from help, the sooner the better.They often also need occupational therapy for sensory integration issues.
It’s so wonderful that you are so attuned to him, acted quickly and now your son will begin getting help right away. Make sure you learn from his teacher everything you can do to help him at home. I don’t know of any books that are specific for toddlers either. I like LinguiSystems books.
Re: so young
I can tell you from personal experience though the wonder of early intervention like you are getting for your son. My son entered early intervention at 23 months. At that point he would of been considered severly Austic, now at almost age 10 he is considered very mild. He is also very affectionatte and has a normal IQ, as others on the list have said there is such a wide continium. I think it is wonderful you are getting intervention at such an early age usually this can be difficult. Good luck to you and your son.
I would get a referral from your pediatrician for a speech and language evaluation ASAP. Also, just because his hearing acuity checked out ok doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have some kind of auditory processing deficit due to chronic ear infection. However, he is still too young to check out for an auditory processing deficit. Continue to do whatever you can to help him catch up. Sing songs with him, tell him nursery rhymes, tell him what things are repeatedly and help him make the connection.
Can he articulate any sounds at all? Things like ma, ma, da, da, ba, ba? What kinds of sounds is he making expressively??