My 3 year old says very few words. Can repeat a word after you say it but will not on his own. If you ask him what a cat says he wont answer but if you say meow first he will repeat it. He acts everything out. If he sees a bird he will flap his arms.
If he wants chocolate milk he will point to the cabinet. Direct you to get a glass. Make a pouring motion then make the motion of pouring milk and squezing the chocolate out.
He puts puzzels together really well and seems to be very smart in other ways.
Taking food dye out of his life has made a difference in his behavior.
Its like he cant bridge between listening and expressing himself through words.
that does sound like cause for concern.
i would stop doing what he directs and only respond if he uses words.
what does his doctor say?
khairete
S.
ADD: Also, don't stop doing what he directs without words. Get the evaluation. The LAST thing you need is a child who gets frustrated because they are unable to communicate verbally and you're not responding to the communication they ARE capable of. Find out what's going on.
ORIGINAL: 3 years old is the cut off for Early Childhood Intervention. You should still be able to take advantage of this. Contact your school district to find out. Even if he missed it, mosts school districts are still required to support kiddos that need speech therapy. My son was 4 when he was evaluated for speech therapy and the school district provided free half-day preschool support.
Do what you can to get help for him. Also, if you have an ipad, there are speech/language apps that he can play with/use to communicate. If he has the words but can't get them out through his mouth, finding an alternative way for him to communicate will help you both. Speech, as you've found is not the only way to communicate. It's easiest for us because we can speak, but finding what works best for him is the ideal, whether it's 100% spoken word or a mix of spoken and assisted.
Feel free to PM me and I'll see if I can find more links for you if you need them :)
Did you have him evaluated by Early Intervention yet? If not, call them ASAP.
ETA: Others are correct that he might be too old for EI. But my experience with EI is that they KNOW how to get through the system, and even if your son is tool old for them to evaluate, they will know exactly who to contact him at the next level. So I would still start with them.
It might be too late for Early Childhood Intervention, but most school districts have a version of "Child Find".
Here is an example from Charleston, SC... http://www.ccsdschools.com/Academic/StudentInterventionSe...
Contact them for an evaluation. At the least, they can hopefully start him in some speech therapy.
My son (6 years old) has been in speech since he was 2 1/2. So please know I am not trying to minimize your concerns at all.
Have you tried simply not giving him what he wants unless he uses his words? With my oldest, I very often said, "If you want more milk, say, 'Yes.'" I refused to give him what he wanted unless he said something. This was, in part, because his older nephew did what your son is doing. He wouldn't talk and just pointed or grunted. He had 2 older sisters that knew what he meant, but I didn't have a clue, and I vowed to not allow that to happen to my kids. Except it's never quite that simple (wont' happen to my kid!). That trick might have worked with my oldest, but it did not work with my youngest ... at least not that easily.
My youngest is still in speech. In the early days his speech teacher suggests some "tough love" tactics, like not giving him the chocolate milk unless he at least tried to say, "milk." She gave me lots of other ideas as well. But it is important to at least try not to just give in and to require him to "use his words" when you can. Obviously if he's really tired or hungry or thirsty, that might not be the right time to push him. But if he's in an otherwise good mood, maybe say, "I will give you chocolate milk when you say, 'milk.'" Or "drink" or some other word you choose.
It really couldn't hurt to have him evaluated. If he's 3 years old, I'm pretty sure the window for Early Intervention has closed. But he is now eligible for services through your local school district. Those are free. You can call your local school district right now (even during the summer) and talk to someone about speech services. Some school districts have funding over the summer and some do not, but a phone call is still a good idea.
You can also call your ped and ask for a referral to a speech pathologist. We took our son to a private clinic before he turned 3 and then again the summer before kindergarten. You could get an appointment next week, but you probably won't get him in right away. So a call to your local school district is still a good idea.
Good luck!!! More than likely this is just a bad habit that he needs to correct. If it's more than that, speech is the place to begin.
What does his doctor think?
You need to get a speech therapist to do a receptive/expressive speech evaluation. Get it set up NOW. The faster you get him some early intervention, the more chance he'll be able to talk by the time he gets in school.
Stop waiting and go get an eval done.
Not talking at age 3 is outside the normal range of beginning to talk. Not saying there is something wrong, but I would be concerned (I had 2 delayed talkers--both were talking and in speech before age 3). What did his pediatrician say at his 3 year check up? Other moms suggested Early Intervention, but I think that is for birth-36 months. The school district will still offer free services, but it falls under a different category. Is he in preschool?
You need to bring this up with the pediatrician. Our son wasn't talking at two and we were referred for an evaluation. Our son ended up being slightly delayed, but once he started daycare at 2 1/2, he was so confident about talking he moved on to sentences within weeks of combing words for the first time.
I detoxed my home and my 7 year old who couldn't read yet was at grade level 8 weeks later. She told me about a year later that she knew everything I was teaching her. She simply could not regurgitate it! There are neurological toxins in many forms. Cleaning supplies, bath and body products, processed foods, etc. Get all the outside stimuli out of his life and then see where he is. Detoxing was simple and inexpensive for me. My sister walked me through the process. PM me if you want more information.
God bless,
M.
He needs an evaluation just to make sure there are no issues.
Your pediatrician might not be the "right" person to see. Please consider seeing a speech pathologist or some other person whose specialty is speech issues. A nearby Children's Hospital might have a whole section just for pediatric speech too. It's worth a bit of a drive to get checked out BY the docs teaching the new docs.
