When is speech delay a concern?

[Katie]

Hey everyone,

Hi everyone,
just thought I would let you know what the 'norms' for language development are.

*Babies generally should start to babble around 8 months of age
*first words start to come around 1 year of age
*by 2 children should have around 50 words and are starting to combine words
In saying this, there is a large range of what is normal
Public waiting lists can be extremely long (eg 18-24 months in some places) so I would take the 'better to be safe than sorry' approach as others have said you can always cancel the appt and waiting lists usually get longer the older the child is.

I think books are better than flash cards as communication is a two way street and flash cards don't really give children the opportunity to start communication.

Baby signs or makaton can sometimes be useful for children whose language is delayed. Research has shown that using signs can actually help to develop language just make sure that you ALWAYS say the word with the sign.

Good luck

[Matryoshka]

*UPDATE*

So we've been to the DR, and she did think it was worth referring us. Basically she referred me somewhere called "early child intervention" or something, which is the public system in my area that deals with these things. I asked her if i couldn't get a referral for a private speech pathologist, and she said yes if i didn't mind the cost. She explained to me that speech pathologists are NOT dr's, so i won't get a medicare rebate. I might get something back from private health insurance, but if not its all out of pocket. She said they aren't classifed as drs, they are under the banner of chiropractor, etc.

She gave me a few private ones to ring, and i will get some quotes because its been 2 weeks and haven't heard a peep from the public system.

He has had the odd random garble of sounds, but increasingly is pointing to things going "ah ah ah" and is starting to seem frustrated.

So if the fees for the private SP aren't ludicrous then i guess we'll go that route so we can get on to it, hopefully not too long a wait there either.

[maz]

Fantatic news hon!!! (well it is cause you know were your going now )

We do early intervention. The waiting list is long but its fantastic.
Early intervention do more then just swpeech too, they do physio, have an educational advisor and an OT.
Good luck finding a private speechy to. From memory you pay an initial outlay of approx $140 then a weekly fee of approx $60