need some advice (hopefully from an SLP)

[Guest guest]

I know my daughter is only 20 mos and it is still

early, but I'm just curious about a few things. Most

importantly, how do you know if a child is just a

" late bloomer " as many people call it? My FIL didn't

really talk until he was 3 and turned out just fine

with no therapy and INSISTS that Kaeli will probably

do the same thing. He and my MIL are constantly

making me feel bad about worrying so much.

I want to list her " words " or approximations. If

someone can PLEASE tell me if this sounds " normal " or

if it does indeed sound like it could be apraxia I

would be sooooo grateful!!

ball-baw

book-buh

bug-buh

milk-ma or ba

no-na

yes-da

boo-bah

daddy-da

bye-bye-bah bah

hot-hot (most of the time w/o the t, though)

hair-ai

eye-a

banana-ba

please-buh

more-maw or baw

that-da

bow (like a hairbow)- baw

I know it looks like she says a lot, but they all are

mostly just some form of ba or da and they are usually

said like someone else described....bow would be more

like baw a baw a baw. The only reason I know that

these sounds mean what they do is because she either

has a sign for them or points it out. The therapist

we went to said that I should count all of them as

words, though.

Those are the ONLY sounds that my child makes. She

will repeat some form of ma, ba or da after me if I

say a one-syllable word that begins with it, but will

not make any attempt at any other words. In fact, if

I try to get her to say dog she will do her dog sound

(uh-supposed to be a bark). Cat is mmmmm (for meow).

car is a raspberry noise.

One last thing....she has NEVER babbled at all. She

never strings sounds together. She may repeat ba ba

ba or da da da, but she will not combine bada.

So, could I please have someone tell me if I'm

worrying too soon or if this really does sound

strange.

PS-She has been evaluated, but did not qualify for

therapy. Expressive-15 mos, receptive-20-22 mos.

Told to return in 4-6 mos for re-evaluation.

Thank you!!!

Bridget

mom to Kaeli (20 mos)

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

Keep your ears open for more sound approximiations. From your daughters

list it looks like she could have apraxia, but remember she is young.

Children with apraxia substitute sounds that they can't make for sounds that

they can. Even if it's not close to the way the word sounds. This is all

they know because they can't form the sounds the correct way. This makes

their speech unintelligble. Keep track of the list see if it grows and see

if and when she starts putting more than one word together with another.

Your doing the right thing by staying on top of it time will tell and in the

mean time your in the right place and make some phone calls in your state for

early childhood intervention programs so that if there really is a probem you

have the information and are ready to deal with it step by step. Good luck

Keep us posted, and remember we are always here for you.

Kerry mother to

7 and Apraxic