Almost 3 and still not talking well ...

**mytwolilprinces** · 20-01-2007 19:50

Hi everyone,

I guess I'm just hoping someone can put my mind at ease a bit here. My DS will be 3 in March and his speech seems to be very behind others his age. I can understand most of what he is saying but it's not clear to others. When he gets excited or is in a rush he stutters and it takes him AGES to say what he is trying to say. Sometimes after about 1 minute of stuttering he cries and says "I can't talk mummy"

He was slow to say any words and all (around about 18 months he said his first word) and still dribbles a lot!

Do you think speech therapy would be useful at his age - does anyone know what they do there? I sit with him and go through words daily but it doesn't really seem to make that much difference - what would they do that is different?

Also, do you think the dribbling is related somehow - he dribbles so much that it's embarrassing

Any thoughts/advice etc would be greatly appreciated

**mum23girls** · 20-01-2007 19:59

I would be taking him to the child health clinic and speaking to them about it...

My brother had a horrible stutter and it really is best to nip it in the bud, otherwise the kids at school won't be too understanding....

Sorry if that has gone the opposite to what you wanted to hear.... hope things look up for both of you soon.

**misskittyfantastico** · 20-01-2007 20:02

I would look into speech therapy, maybe just to find some helpful techniques.

**jessgray** · 20-01-2007 20:04

my ds1 is 21 months and he is also behind in speech development if you by the general milestones in books and stuff my ds1 is roughly around the 9-11.5 month old mark in speech

he has mild hearing loss in one ear and moderate hearing loss in the other. he is getting grommets this year i hope they will help his hearing

have you had a hearing test done to rule out hearing problems? i have been told my ds1 will need speech therapy afte rhe gets grommets so i dont think 3 is too young

**Lirael** · 20-01-2007 20:18

you wanna know my opinion of speech therapy???

its ****!!!!!!! or maybe only because I have to go through the government. maybe private ones are better.

**mytwolilprinces** · 20-01-2007 20:26

thanks everyone. I did actually take him to the child health clinic and they gave me a referral to the speech therapist - at the initial consult she said she thought he was fine and there were no major issues. Then I was put on the waiting list for a full assessment "just in case" anyway - 6 months later I have a message on my mobile saying that I've missed my appointment ( didn't even know I had one? ) and now I am back at the bottom of the list. So I'm looking into private speech therapists now.

I have had his hearing checked and it's fine, he did have some developmental delays when he was little ( slow to hold up head ) a bit behind in sitting up etc ... but apart from the speech he is on track with others his age.....

I am not even sure how well a 3 year old should be able to talk?

Thanks again for the replies.... I'm definatley going to look into it - hopefully it's worth while as from what I've heard it's really expensive!

**OJandMe** · 20-01-2007 20:31

My nephew had speech therapy and his speaking is much clearer now.

I'm concered about the boys too... they turn 2 in 3 weeks and all they can say is Mumma, Dadda and no. (and yuk... but does that count? And Oliver can say 'hello')

Look into it, but maybe just giving him lots of conversation and reading to him alot will help. But if he knows he can't speak properly,... then obviously he knows the way things are SUPPOSED to sound and it must be frustrating him as well. I think maybe speech therapy will be the best thing. it's worked wonders for my nephew.

**motherhoodlmb** · 20-01-2007 20:56

This is a little left field but my oldest son dribbled incessently - the top of his clothes were always dirty (and unable to be passed onto his younger brother!) Does your son snore? Mine snored like Darth Vader. Anyway, it turned out that his tonsils were almost touching

He had his tonsils and adnoids out just before his 4th birthday (and grommets because of wax build up) and he was a new kid. Clearer speech, not a dribble in sight and no more snoring. Just get your son to open his mouth and say ahhh, you'll be able to tell straight away.

All the best.

**mytwolilprinces** · 20-01-2007 21:16

Originally Posted by motherhoodlmb

This is a little left field but my oldest son dribbled incessently - the top of his clothes were always dirty (and unable to be passed onto his younger brother!) Does your son snore? Mine snored like Darth Vader. Anyway, it turned out that his tonsils were almost touching

He had his tonsils and adnoids out just before his 4th birthday (and grommets because of wax build up) and he was a new kid. Clearer speech, not a dribble in sight and no more snoring. Just get your son to open his mouth and say ahhh, you'll be able to tell straight away.

All the best.

Thanks - he doesn't really snore but he does get a lot of wax build up in his ears - not sure if that is related at all? I've now got the numbers for a few private speech pathologists so I will give them a call on Monday and see what they think.