Louis Said:

Speech Development in Toddler?

We Answered:

My son was like that (he is almost 7 years now) and it was a constant battle with "ear infections". Finally, at 3 years of age, we brought him to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor, and he inserted "ear tubes" into his ears, to ease the pain of ear infections, that caused my son not to hear words at all. We were "baffled" by the whole thing, cause his pediatrician, never mentioned a real "ear check up". Now, he learned all the words very fast, and I am very thankful to his ENT doctor !!!

Steve Said:

speech development in toddlers that was very premature?

We Answered:

My daughter was born at 25 weeks. She received Speech Therapy for seven months due to her severe delay. I'm so sorry that you haven't had any luck with the therapists from Early Intervention. Has she been evaluated by the School District to continue Early Intervention Services? Since she is still delayed, she should definitely be evaluated for services. They will have to evaluate her and if she's eligible for services (which it sounds like she will be) they will write up an IEP for her and she'll attend special needs pre-school.

I just want to warn you though, while school therapy is great on most levels, their entire 'basis' is educationally based. It means they will work with the children to make sure they can function within the school and the classroom. A private therapist will work with children based on "life" function and medical areas. I would highly recommend finding a pediatric Speech/Language Pathologist to work with your daughter in addition to the school therapy.

I also agree with the other responder that you might want to visit a Neurlogist and maybe even a Developmental Pediatrician. She could have a host of Speech Related difficulties; such as Apraxia of Speech.

As far as the other stuff you mentioned, it could very well be Sensory Processing Dysfunction. (Also known as Sensory Processing Disorder). This is due to the immature Nervous System and how a child processes things like noise, temperature, textures, tastes, smells, ect. A Developmental Pediatrician or a Neurologist could diagnose this and your daughter would benefit from Occupational Therapy.

In my opinion, this doesn't really sound like Autism, unless you've left out other behavior she displays. A lack of speech does not always indicate Autism; and one of the biggest indicators of Autism is LOSS of speech; not delay of speech gain. Of course, that's something you'd have to discuss with her doctors.

I know how difficult it is to see delays that don't go away. That whole thing about "preemies catching up by age 2" is nonsense anymore. That was originally coined about 20 years ago; before they were saving so many micro-preemies. While that statement certainly is true for some; it isn't for most anymore. I understand your concern. If you'd like; please join me at an online support group for parents of children with disabilities and special needs. Almost all of our children started out as preemies; many of them micro-preemies. I think you'll find tons of great information and support from other parents in your shoes.
The address is: www.specialparent.org

GOOD LUCK with your daughter and I hope you find answers soon.

Allen Said:

Toddler Speech Tips?

We Answered:

I found that it helped to get my son to tell me what he wanted instead of allowing him to point.He was shy at first but now i cant get him to be quiet lol.
Also try nursery rhymes those are great for speech and they can be fun for you and your child,even playing games with them like missing out words in songs they know and getting them to say the word.
Good luck and i suggest earplugs for the future lol

Debbie Said:

When or how do you determine if your toddler is behind in speech development?

We Answered:

Yes, the ear tubes could have caused some delay. Let your pediatrician guide you. He probably will catch up by the time he starts school. Don't worry so much.

Philip Said:

Toddler Ear Tubes and Speech Development?

We Answered:

He will probably need some speech therapy to help him catch up a little and correct some of the problems he is still having. He had hearing problems during the time his speech was developing and learned to speek a certain way. Speech therapy should be very effective for him and they make it fun for the young guys as well. By the way, you did the right thing with the tubes, my son is 5 now and had 4-6 ear infections a year before we had tubes put in.