Mario Said:

How long did it take for the refferal for speech therapy for your toddler?

We Answered:

I think it was 5-6 weeks until we saw a therapist, after my son's initial diagnosis. We had realized something was "not right" at around 15 months, after a lot of pushing his Dr agreed to refer him to a neurologist (that was what took the longest) who made a diagnosis of autism at 19 months. We were referred to our state early intervention services, they came out within 2 weeks to do an initial evaluation, speech serves started a few weeks later. He was 21-22 months by the time he started regular therapy, and at 2 he started a preschool program for autistic children. He has been in special ed classes for years now, and at 8 1/2 is a happy, healthy, highly intelligent boy who has a few quirks. Good luck, and remember the earlier you start therapy the better the outcome, so good job!

Wanda Said:

Any one have a toddler or preschooler who had to have speech therapy?

We Answered:

My son is 34 months old and has been in speech therapy since he was 27 months old for apraxia. His therapist believes in play therapy. He goes for 30 min 2x a week. She plays with him one-on-one doing things like reading stories, playing games and things like that to encourage speech. She also helps him to make the sounds that he has trouble with. The worst part of my son's apraxia is that he has little to no lateral or vertical tongue movement. His ST taught me some things to do at home to help him. There is TONS of repetition....and it does work. within 2-3 months he had gone from 10 words to 50 words. In a few more months he was putting 2-4 words together and had a 150+ word vocabulary PLUS knows 50+ ASL signs.

My very bright son ,who could not say his name in february, knows his ABC's, can count to 15 or so, knows his colors...and just got mad tonight and told me "i inside. daddy is stupid again!! ( dad had told him to put shoes on and he did not want to).

If you are interested I have an excellent article on developmental apraxia that I can e-mail to you. Several moms ( including me) have found it to be very enlightening and seen a lot of our children in it.

Sylvia Said:

does it sound like my toddler might need speech therapy?

We Answered:

It sounds like his speech is developing very normally and I definitely wouldn't bother with therapy. His receptive (understanding) skills sound great too. The way he pronounces "do" for two is a totally normal process in developing speech skills that every child goes through at his age. They also aren't supposed to master the "r" or "th" sound until they are at least 4 to 5 years old. Happy early birthday to your son! :-)