Speech Issues with My 21 Month Old...

Well both of my boys spoke clearly very early but my best friends kids were like you're explaining and it just worked itself out. I think it's a little early to be worrying about that he's still rather young not even two yet. Hope it works out.

Play with mirrors and work on the sounds he has trouble with. Show him how your mouth makes the sounds and then let him go at it with the mirror. This is not an uncommon problem to have with boys at this age. My three year old still had trouble saying words with l and r in them. He can say the sounds, but his muscle memory for the words uses substitutes or drops them completely. We repeat many words until he gets them right. Good for you getting at this early and making sure there's no physical problems exist. Make everything fun and don't worry, too much.

Hello DD,
We had the same issue with my son. It did turn out that he had fluid in his ears. He never "complained" about it and therefore, I didn't think there was anything wrong with his hearing either. Since then, he has had two sets of tubes put in. His speech did improve, but not immediately. We worked with ECI until he was three. Now, he is six and his speech is just fine.
R. B.

Get you child evaluated by a professional. I noticed this very thing in my neice and they were so hung up on her being normal. She wasn't and I finally figured out what was happening and the parents got her help. She was dropping off the endings of her words. Her hearing was fine when she had the test done. I suggested she check with her pediatrician and get the dates of when she had ear infections...sure enough she had a severe ear infection at 22-28 months. We do not realize how intricately knit together our bodies are but that is the time frame when kids pick up word endings. She had a residual sound she made, Et Uh, and the family would point it out to her to draw attention hoping she would quit saying it. I figured out she was saying "And Ummm" without the word endings it sounds like Et Uh. She corrected it and has done fine since. There was some issues with spelling/reading later on. tested. Best of life to you and your family.

Hi DD!

As a speech-language pathologist, I am thrilled to see that you are seeking professional help. I am also excited that you are not denying your child early intervention because he is a boy. Seeking professional services will either help you plan a course of action to help your child, or put your mind at ease.

Yes, I have worked with many children your child's age who fit the description you gave -- so this is not so unusual. Research constantly states about the benefit of early interevention - so kudos to you for starting the process.

Your son is very fortunate to have a mother whom is truly being an advocate for him.

Best Regards,
S.

Sounds completely normal to me. ECI is a good idea but do not worry yourself. Children don't really start speaking clearly until 2 or older and most of the time at the age of 2, it's the parents that understand them the most. Definitely give him more time, he's VERY young to be talking clearly. That's great that he's understanding you and at least starting to vocalize himself.
Take care and don't worry! : )

You are probably just over reacting a little. My 24 month old doesn't talk too much, like his older sister and brother did at his age. I work in a department that deals with early childhood disorders so I'm always asking about my son. I'm always told how smart he is and how he doesn't need to talk when mommy, daddy, sister and brother gets him what he wants by him using his non-verbals. With you saying he understands, sounds a lot like my little one. One day he'll talk sentences you can understand. One thing they tell me to do is go over words with him, and say little phrases. I'm pretty sure your boy is just fine.

We have gone through the same thing with our younger son who just turned 3. His only problem is articulation. He was the same way, he talked a lot, but we couldn't understand him. We put him ECI until he turned 3 and now he is in the PALS speech program here in McKinney. He is getting easier to understand, but still has a way to go.

It's great that you are getting help so early. I'm sure he'll do great with early intervention!!

My oldest had speech issues and didn't enunciate words, he'd actual leave out parts of words. We worked with ECI until he was three and then our school district had a free program that we were able to take advantage of. My middle son had no issues at all. Now my youngest has just started speech twice a week with our school district. My oldest is now in second grade and had 3 years of speech thru the school district. He no longer has issues with his speech at all.

Trust your "mama gut" ... which it sounds like you're doing with the ECI evaluation and ENT visit. I started thinking my son's hearing was off around 8 months and sure enough, he had middle ear fluid which was causing him some hearing loss. We worked with our dr. to see if the fluid would go away (sometimes it takes a few months after an ear infection) and it didn't so he had tubes put in at 13 months.

We also had an ECI evaluation at that point because I thought his speech was off for a 13-month old. He was evaluated and found to have a speech delay (probably caused by the short-term hearing loss). They can tell those types of things ... even in children under 2.

So, while things may just work themselves out as others have suggested - why wait? There are resources available and you can get your son on the right track now. Even if it turns out there is no speech delay per ECI and no hearing problem per the ENT at least you've had those two things professionally evaluated and will probably feel much better about how he's doing.

I think you're doing the right thing - kudos to you. Also, congratulations on the upcoming new addition to your family!