Hi all,
We have two adopted LO's, they have been with us for three years now. smallest is now 3 1/2 years old.
We have been growing increasingly concerned regarding his speech development, in that he hardly says anything at all, and doesn't makes sounds much at all.
He's a confident little guy, happy, interactive, and totally understands speech, and has good comprehension - he easily follows conversations, knows names of things, colours, can understand he/she/it, tenses, sequencing, numbers, actions, etc. He understands when asking him questions, and takes direction really well. He has a good imagination. He has no problem hearing. He's cheeky, etc. All in all, a normal little boy, BUT he just hardly vocalises at all.
"words" that he does say are things like:
a short "Eh" for yes;
a short "nu" for no;
"mo' mo' mo" for "more more more";
We get him to say "please" - he makes the "P'h" sound, then "sss"
He sometimes likes to "sing" along - but it's just more exhaling and making tones.
He now just about says "Dada" and "Mama"
He never "babbled" as a baby.
We raised our concerns with his nursery about a year ago, and they said they would monitor at the time, but not to be too concerned. A few months later we asked them to get a speech and language therapist assessment, as they could get one through the NHS/council (not sure).
We didn't hear anything, and after 2/3 months we asked what was happening and the nursery said that they had been turned down as the nursery is not in the NHS area our GP is in.
We then applied directly through our health care visitor, only to be told again that as our GP is in a different NHS area we would need to get an appointment through our GP.
We then made a GP appointment who agreed he should be seen, and a week or so later we had an initial assessment meeting.
We have just had a letter through about yet another assessment meeting????
His language development has me really worried, and I feel like there is no urgency from anybody to at least try and find out what the problems are (if any).
So:
1. Is his speech development a massive cause for concern? Am I overly worrying?
2. The speech and language team are almost on board now, I'm just so frustrated it's taken so long to get them involved. I suppose I'm just after a little reassurance, as it's hard to speak to friends and family (one family member has suggested getting taught sign language is hindering him speaking...)
Any help/suggestions/reassurance would be most appreciated.
