Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Any late talkers?

I have two sons. My DS5 is HG and has had a few behavioral issues in the past but is doing well in K this year. He has a great teacher. He was a very typical gifted kid and he talked very early and we conversed with him when he was two.

My other DS2.5 is way behind in talking. He has never put two words together. He has some words and I know he is bright. He can identify and name every letter of the alphabet, knows his numbers and some of his words are octagon and circle. I just had him evaluated by a speech therapist and we are waiting for the report. Today I read the book "The Enstein Syndrome" and while it gives me hope that he will eventually speak, I am also so worried that it is likely he will be four years old before I have a conversation with him.

I'm hoping to hear from a parent with a similar situation and ask if therapy helped. Our pediatrician immediately ruled out autism and other development issues. Our DS is very social and his hearing and ears checked out fine with the ENT.

Worried parents,
Elaenor05

Hi,

My DS now 2.8 was a little bit late and now talks well but I'm writing more to mention my research on the subject from when we were deciding whether or not to pursue speech therapy.

Most of the studies on speech therapy are not done very strictly. When it's not a randomized controlled trial I'm suspicious... of course they improved somewhat but maybe they would have anyways. I did however run across one study in 2 year olds that seemed well done, they randomized children either to a program or to a wait list. Here's a link:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2614563/?tool=pubmed

I liked hearing that parent based intervention made a difference.

Polly

My DS14 drove me crazy as a toddler because he rarely spoke. He understood every word said to him and could follow complex directions at an extremely early age, but he just wouldn't put more than two words together. As a 3-year-old, in preschool, all of his friends would call the teacher by name, but would just point and and utter something that made him sound like Rocky after getting hit in the face repeatedly and losing some teeth. I was so worried that there was something terribly wrong, that I had him evaluated. The results showed his comprehension level to be that of 3rd/4th grader, and the speech therapist recommended that I simply be patient. He was simply soaking in so much of the world around him, that speech-wise he just couldn't keep up. She said that if he was still having issues in six months to see her again. At the end of that school year (2-months after testing), he was still not talking. Then, at some point during the summer something just clicked and he started speaking in whole paragraphs. He walked into his preschool, at the start of his 4-year-old year that fall, went up to the school's director and spent 15 straight minutes recounting our vacation to Pennsylvania Dutch country in great detail. I thought the poor woman was going to have a stroke, I don't think she had ever heard his voice in the two previous years he had been a student there! From that point on there was no stopping him. That year he learned to read, type, multiply, and more. Fast forward ten years and that same boy is now on schedule to graduate high school next year, and already has 30 college credits under his belt. So, please don't lose heart. Even if he is four before you have a conversation with him, it will be well worth the wait!

Hi,
My dd2 was similar to your son. My other children all spoke early, but the latest trend has been baby signs and I decided to experiment with my dd2. She did well at first, and had 25 signs by her first birthday. By her second birthday, she still had 25 signs and about 20 words. I was very worried, but her pediatrician said she will be fine, etc. The months passed with absolutely no improvement. Suddenly, at 28 months she decided to talk. She is now 30 months and talks all day! She speaks in full sentences (e.g., "I don't want any mowe mik, I'm full, I want mik tomowow" she knows the alphabet upper and lower, numbers, colors, shapes, knows and can count up to 20 items, and has started to read some words. She went has changed so suddenly that its incredible she is the same child. I read Einstein Syndrome when she was 25 months, and it seemed incredible how those children progressed, but now I am witnessing the phenomenon. Keep talking and reading to him, he's learning, and before you know it, he will surprise you as well!

My DS-now-6 was a late talker although not quite as late as your DS2.5. He too had letters, numbers and shapes among his early words. How long has your DS been using a substantial number or words? In my DS's case, at his 22-month checkup he had fewer than 5 words that he used regularly, but then as he turned 2 I had just given up recording his words because he had well over 100 and I couldn't keep up, and by 26 months he was talking in 4-5 word sentences. He never stopped, and from then on nobody would guess (or believe, often) that he'd been speech delayed. The health visitor who had done his 22-month checkup had guessed that it would happen like this, so had told me to call in 6 months if he hadn't had a language explosion by then; so no therapy experience to share.

One thing is, DS never actually seemed to have any trouble communicating. We had our "he understands every word we say" (i.e. even when we're not talking to him) realisation when he was around 15 months, and much earlier than that he would understand anything said to him. We did a bit of sign language, and I suppose a lot of gesture interpretation!

Thank you to everyone who posted. It is always good to hear stories that give hope and all your children sound amazing. One other comment I will say about the evaluation with the Speech pathologist, DS was very non-compliant. He was LOVING the room and was making up his own little games but would not point to any pictures she showed him, or even pick out a specific toy among a few choices. Luckily, the therapist immediately saw it as a compliance issue rather than an ability issue. She kept searching for things that would motivate him to speak. She also said because he has overall good communication (just not through words!) she thought just a few months of therapy would jump start his talking.

And wayoutwest, you are right, if he is four before we have a conversation with him it will be ok, but there is a lot of anxiety in the meantime!

Thanks,

DS was a very late talker. He had ST from a little over 2 yo to 3 yo when he aged out of the first steps program. At 3 he still wasn't talking in sentences but, he was reading. This helped because I could get him to talk if he read stuff. On day around 3.5 yo he walked up to me and said "Hi Mommy, how are you doing today?" My jaw about hit the ground. He at 4.5 is now to the point where he has complete conversations. He still has speech issues with pronouncing s sounds, l sounds, sh and th sounds but, is doing so much better. I felt pretty bad for him because I know he was asking us stuff when he was younger but, even we had no clue what he was saying. Now if I can't figure it out I have him spell it, ha ha.

My parents have told me that when I was two and a half, I had the speaking ability of a 1-year-old, but by the time I was three, I was speaking like a six- or seven-year-old. My dad believes (and, given how I know I was later, I agree) that I went through a long "observational period" in which I was constantly acquiring language but didn't want to show what I'd learned until I was ready.

Just saw this post. Although late in responding, I thought it may be helpful (or not) to add my 2 cents. My DS4 (almost 5) is a late talker as well. He has been receiving ST since age 2, with about a 6 month break in there due to finding a better SLP. We have been seeing the same one for about 9 months now; and he likes going. He sees the value in it; and so do we. My DS sounds similar to cricket3's in his slow, gradual progress. My DS at this point doesn't have the banter his age-peers possess; but cognitively he is through the roof; and he can take care of himself well. He is a responsible little kid. It is extremely frustrating for him to not be able to get out something he wants to say. I too read "Ein.Syn;" and we fit into the profile 100%. My DS has expressive language and language processing problems - nothing else. He can read, is extremely strong-willed (especially lately-grrr) and also has picky-eater issues. If you ask him questions, depending on what the subject is, he can answer you, but not grammatically correct. He does not mind our telling him the correct way to say things. At times, he will run up to us wanting to tell us something so badly, but just cannot get it out. And since it is out of the blue, we can't help him get it out; and he gets sad.:( He is constantly talking, whether role playing with his cars or whatever, he has them talk to eachother like he had scripts for them, etc. If you ask him about what he did at the zoo, he would take time to process all he did. Often, we have to break it down for him "what did you see?" and he'd answer; "what did you ride?," and he'd answer; "what did you like most?" and he'd take a few seconds; but he'd answer. The answers are not the descriptive answers his age-peers have though, like how they could re-cap a movie from start to finish. He takes longer to process things. His SLP said that some kids need to organize things into groups in their heads to be able to have fast retrieval. Whether that's true or not, I don't know; but I trust her. So she is working on that, seemingly successfully. His voice still sounds "baby-ish" like a "normal" 3-yr olds'; and he is asked by kids he meets all the time how old he is? Some make fun of him; but we have given him comebacks that seem to be working, "so what" and such.:) If we just read a book, I can ask him questions about it right away, and the answers are there. He also has an amazing long-term memory; and always has. He is fantastically amazing with directions; e.g. we went to a bounce house when he was two on the other side of town; a year later, we went back to the same place and the turn was under construction. He told me to turn where I needed to turn even though it looked totally different, new buildings around and all. I was shocked (ha, but not really;). He has always been good remembering exit numbers, addresses, phone numbers, etc. He hope that it will continue to progress and eventually catch up; but we just don't know for sure. Is it stressful? All-consuming for me sometimes, especialy since he is home with me. There may be one school K-12 here that we just found that helps solely Gifted, 2E and plain LD kids; and I am waiting for a call back from them. It is hugely expensive; but we have decided that if he gets this special help at an early age, our decisions later on may be easier, hopefully, and easier to advocate for him elswhere. Otherwise, I will have to be in a hunt for a tutor for him to teach him in the specialized way he may need. We are hoping that he will eventually catch up; since we believe that these skills are most important; but we also don't know if he will. Faith is in play. Hugs to you! We're not the only ones.:)

My youngest was a late talker. She apparently knew how, but either didn't need to talk because her twin brother did it for her, or decided we were beneath her and had nothing to offer, conversationally.
She spent some time communicating in movie quotes when she was three. We had to be very careful what videos she was allowed to watch. When she told her brother "You'll never bring this family honor!" after seeing MuLan, she made him cry.