My Son Has a Speech Delay.

As a music therapist, my advice would be to use music. Children learn tons of words through singing because it holds their attention longer than just talking. Teach him songs (you can even make them up) to sing when he feels a certain way. You can make up an "I'm so mad song" or "I'm hungry" song. Even if he can't say all the words correctly, you would still be able to understand what he wants to say. Also, music is a great way to hold attention and vent frustration. Buy him a toy drum and teach him to play it when he gets upset instead of acting out. Good luck!
M.

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A.,

Just wondering--have you had his hearing tested? Sometimes even a slight hearing loss can make a huge difference in how a child responds to and creates speech.

If a hearing test was not one of his evaluations, you might want to try it.

J.

There should be a place in your town that can evaluate your sons speech. If you are having a problem locating one call your local school and they should be able to direct you to someone that can help you. Most kids do grow out of their speech issues, but if not once he goes to school a speech therapist can be assinged to him to help him. As far as ADHD, the newest research is showing most is food allergy related. I honestly didn't believe it was true until my then 3 year old was diagnosed. I took him off these things: Dairy, processed foods, sugar and food coloring. I will tell you it worked. Before he would NOT even sit long enough to watch a 30 minute show and NOW he is in preschool and sits for hours reading. I recomend it to everyone I know because it worked so well. I recomend trying it for 30 days, and if it doesn't work you can add those foods back in, but I really think it will help. I sure hope this helps.

Hello A.,
My son also has the same situation as your child he has a speech problem and has severe ADHD. what i have been doing is working with my son daily we go over sounds and words and over time he is getting better. it use to be that you couldnt make out what he was saying and now you can. aand with his ADHD i put him in sports he plays soccor gymnastics and swimming, and that also has helped out with his behavior.

My 3 yo grandson is speech delayed. I agree with Rebecca that the inability to talk helps to create other issues especially acting out in
frustration.

Did you know that Federal law requires all school districts to provide Early Intervention for children with special needs including speech disorders? My grandson was evaluated and is getting speech therapy paid for by the school district.

My grandson has not been diagnosed with ADHD but he is high energy and seems to nearly spin out of control at times, bumping into walls and falling down. Some of my reading indicates that this can go along with certain speech disorders. I've found that when I grab him and slow him down for awhile, by holding him and focusing his attention onto one thing while I stay with him seems to help him maintain beter ontrol of himself. Making the room quiet by turning off the TV and having everyone else in the rom quiet down also seems to help. It's so easy to have Mom in the kitchen which is open to the living room, cooking and "yelling" a conversation while the TV is turned on and the kids running around. Before we know it the kids are in meltdown mode.

I know that some experts say to not let your children watch TV but we've found that TV is a great way to calm him when he's buzzing. He watches the TV in the playroom with no other activity going on. After a brief period of time he comes back out to the living room and is able to be social again. It's a way for him to focus and allows Mom to get dinner on the table. Often when he's left to just play he gets "hyper."

Here are a couple of web sites that I found helpful.
www.aafp.org/afp/990600ap/3121.html

and www.tayloredmktg.com/dyspraxia/das.shtml

Hi A.,
When I worked as a preschool teacher, I had a boy with a speech delay and many of the problems you listed.
After working with the parents and their son extensively, we decided that some of his problems stemmed from the inability to express himself verbally. This caused him great frustration and lead to his acting out in class. His parents found help through the local school system. They got connected with a great speech therapist. She even came to the school to help him verbalize with me and his classmates. We saw improvements in his speech and behavior.
I don't know if you have pursued this route, but I just thought I would throw the idea your way. I hope you find the help you are looking for.
R.

Hi my son also has a speech delay. We took him to the doctor and requested that they do a hearing test. This is when he was 2 he is now 4. The hearing test came back fine. So I then requested that they have him try speech therapy. So he started in that which was free. Then when he turned 3 he started with the school district that is free as well. We also put him into a preschool program so he could be around children. That has helped him a lot. I do have a feeling that he may have ADHD, but I havent had him tested for it yet. I have read though that diet does make a big difference and maybe if you changed the diet then it may help. But we have a lot of the same problems as you do with our son with the whole behavioral bouts. It is hard. Good luck and if you have any questions please write me back.

Hi,
I can empathize. My son is turning 4 today actually. He has a bad speech problem. This isn't shocking cause I had the vast majority of my siblings need this. My 2 year old daughter sounds better than him sadly. He is getting assistance through the public school actually. I would call your local public school if you haven't already. Maybe instead of preschool getting him into an actual assistance program is a better idea. We live in LaVista, NE it did take a month for the eval but after that is smooth sailing. He also has a behavioral problem although his is closer to aspergers syndrome...a form of autism. They are gonna work with him on that as well. So I would suggest you look into it.

The Jordan School District has a wonderful program for this. And it is FREE!! A bus will pick him up and drop him off where you need.