4 In September and My Little Boy Is Still Not Speaking Well.

Don't refuse services because of suggested reasons "why" he is delayed. From your description it seems that he is delayed in his ability to communicate and this is impacting his social development, which will impact his emotional development. Please access the services of your school system immediately. They may have summer services, but would definitely have services in September. And if services are not available this summer please consult with your pediatrician and insurance company to see if insurance would pay for speech/language services now. I'm so glad you wrote and sincerely hope you get him help, because this is an absolutely wonderful age to make significant progress. Best of luck.

Regardless of what's wrong, your son needs help. At his age the local school district has a legal obligation to provide services. Contact them for an evaluation as soon as possible so that therapy can begin. The further you delay therapy the more behind he will be academically when he is ready to start school.

Also, my advice to you is to stop trying to diagnose your child on your own. While you are an expert in your son, you are not qualified to "label" him. Find a developmental therapist who can. You were given a diagnosis by a qualified professional, but decided that person was wrong. It seems like you clearly know something is different with your son but are afraid to hear what that problem is. Bring him to an expert who can give you answers.

Are you saying he's four and he has never received speech therapy?? do not worry about the diagnosis just get him into therapy ASAP. My son has services from age 2 to age 3 and made great progress. I refused to wait when services were available. It doesnt matter right now what the diagnosis is just get him as much help as possible.

I agree with those who say your son should be getting therapy. However, be aware that expressive and receptive speech delays are NOT always autism. He could also have a speech delay or disorder. Don't believe anyone who tells you all late talkers are "on the spectrum" as this is NOT true. There is a great board for parents of speech delayed children who are not autistic: www.naturallatetalkers.com. Check it out. But yeah-he should be seeing an SLP regardless of the "reasons" for his delay.

Oh, they have done your son a terrible dis-service. I'm a pediatric PT who has worked with many kids who also received speech therapy, and know many wonderful speech therapists. To start, age 1 is too soon for a speech therapy evaluation. Most won't even test a child until age 2, so that evaluation could very well be inaccurate. Second, SO many kids are falsely labeled with autism. If you believe, either correctly or not, that he doesn't have it, it is your right and your job as a parent to seek out a second opinion by a "developmental pediatrician" or other expert. If you believe he might be tongue-tied, that is a very legitimate concern. Have you mentioned this to his pediatrician? If you aren't happy with his previous assessment, try a new pediatrician or see if yours will refer you to an ear/nose/throat (ENT) Dr. Regardless of the cause, it is obvious that your son is delayed quite a bit and should have been receiving early intervention, which is free until age 3 and then passed on to the school district. If you contact the Special Education Dept. of your local school dist. they should help you with the process. This does not mean he will be in special education classes, but that is the dept. that handles therapists. My son was a late talker, but kids who simply talk late and don't have any other issues generally catch up quickly. A few months after saying his first words, my son was speaking in long sentences. Your son needs some help to catch up and I hope you can find the right person to help you on your way! Best of luck!!!

fluid in the ears. It makes what they hear muffled so it is going to be said the way it is heard. Mine also does this. He passes a regualar hearing test but we are going to do an abr on him. Now he has tubes but it was being blocked by wax which was being held in place by ear infections. We got that taken care of and we can understand a little but he is still very hard to understand. Almost everything he says comes out wrong. The only words he says that are right is mama, dada, buba, six and eight. he can only do his abc is singing form and I have to do 3 letters at a time and they are so jumbled it is not right. An abr is diffrent than an actual hearing test it test the brains response to sound not the ears. I have made alot of progress with mine but we are still working on it. go to an ent and have him checked. INsist on an abr. They will sedate him when they do it. It will tell you how much he can hear and if there is partial loss or full loss and if it is permanant or temporary. Mine can't get here fast enough but the red tape is taking forever. He may only have mild to moderate hearing loss. which on the 4 yr old test will only say he can hear if they did the booth test. Did he cooperate to do the headphones test? I am betting you only got the booth test which is accurate but not thorough sp?. If you have any more questions Im me.