Worried again

[Astrolady]

You have to do what you think is right. You can't listen to what family says. Does she go anywhere where you can compare her to a range of other kids around her age??

We never knew Kameron had an issue till he started playgroup and kids 18mths younger were talking better than what he was.

Love

[AnyDream]

Antheia, you won't really know unless you get her assessed. I was in the same position with my DD1, i had a feeling that she wasn't quite up to speed, and when I got her assessed it turned out it was a "mild delay". It needed some work to get her up to speed. Even so she still has a few problems from time to time.

I would absolutely put her on the waiting list and if it's longer than a month or two to wait, WRITE A LETTER to your state MP and the minister for health in your state. (I did this and it resulted in more funding for another speechie, cutting the waiting list from 14 mths to about 2 months). I can't impress upon you how important it is if you are worried to get it checked. Often the solutions involve strategies like reminding your child to "use her words" and also getting her to watch your mouth when you are modelling a word she finds hard. But you need to learn in what way she needs your help.

The really interesting end to our own story is we only just discovered last year (DD was 9!!!) that she has a mild Auditory Processing Disorder...that means the sounds get jumbled between her ears and her brain so the meaning is distorted (her hearing is fine). Suddenly everything falls into place...it explains a lot of avoidance behaviour with her school work. So now she has a set of classroom strategies and the teacher teaches using visual cues as well as just talking at the kids and she's going great guns. If your DD is having trouble understanding what is being said, you need to get this checked out...a normal hearing test is needed but also asked for the Auditory processing tests as well.

Good luck, it's not something to be afraid of, you will feel so much better (relieved I mean) when you have seen a speechie and discussed your concerns.

[Antheia]

No i don't have anyone to compare either of them to. They don't go to child care anymore which is a pity.

Also, what do they do in the consultations? Because if they want her to talk to them well she won't as she never talks to strangers (good thing i supose!) she jsut shys away. So they might think she cant talk at all.

[Rouge]

Just go for it. You've got nothing to lose, and you'll only beat yourself up later if you find she does need some extra help and it starts to impact on her at school as a result of not doing something sooner.

[Nai]

I agree with the others to put her on the waiting list. At least then you have the option of going when an appointment comes up.

Also I have just had my 2 yr check up with the MHCN and the next scheduled one is for 3y 6m so I would also ring the MHCN and book her in for the 3y 6m check which is standard.

You need to do what you think is right and what you feel comfortable with. Your family can offer advice but ultimately you need to do what you feel is right for your daughter. If you truly feel she may have problems then for your own peace of mind get her assessed.

[AnyDream]

Antheia, the speechies are pretty familiar with all sorts of kids from the very talkative right through to the silent but deep! LOL Pretty much they just sit down with them a play a few games and win their trust...DD used to love going along!

[Astrolady]

Yep speechies just sit there and play games with them and talk to them the whole time. They will take notes etc during the sessions as well so they can put it into a report. It isn't just about speech, but about how well they can understand things as well

Lachlan is upset cause he wont be going to his speech therapist anymore, as he is now under the Department of Edu's care.

[Jac]

No i don't have anyone to compare either of them to. They don't go to child care anymore which is a pity.

Also, what do they do in the consultations? Because if they want her to talk to them well she won't as she never talks to strangers (good thing i supose!) she jsut shys away. So they might think she cant talk at all.

I am a speechie. It doesn't matter if she doesn't speak in the session. The speech path will ask you lots of questions about her communication to get a good idea of how she's going. They can also do non-verbal tests (which most children, even shy ones, usually co-operate with) to assess their ability to understand language, which is an area you expressed concern about. The longer you wait to get her seen the worse the delay could become, given you mentioned that you think she is going backwards. It won't hurt to have her seen, even if she has absolutely no delay so I can't understand your families arguement there TBH. Your description of her speech sounds typical of a child younger than 3 years.

As far as Charlie is concerned, does he repeat sounds/words that he hears you say, other than the ones you mentioned? He should have about 5+ words at his age. An interest in communication, even if he is unable to use many words, is what your looking for at his age.

Has their hearing been checked?

[Antheia]

Charlie doesn't repeat words at all except mumma and dadda. He has started saying what i think is thankyou, kinda sounds like dan-do. Other than that it is just babble.

[Jac]

I really urge you to get them both checked. Early intervention has the best outcomes for children (so the sooner they are seen the more likely they will come along in leaps and bounds). You might only have to try a few small activites at home that will make a world of difference to their development.

[Trillian]

Antheia, stop dilly-dallying and just get them BOTH checked out NOW, or at least get their name on the list or otherwise we will see another thread in six mths time about how they still haven't progressed and you are still worried about them. By not doing anything about this you do run the risk of it getting to the stage where any early intervention is going to be more intensive than it would be if you catch the problems now.

Paige is only 6mths older than Lily and we have just had her referral sent off via the preschool she goes to. It was a problem we were aware the whole time, but we allowed for her either just being a bit slower than the older kids, and it just being age-appropriate issues. Her teacher has been watching her over the course of this term to see if there is any improvement (and between enrollement in october last year to now, there has been a huge improvement, but still not enough kwim?) and yesterday after speaking with her teacher we decided to get the wheels in motion NOW, instead of waiting another 6mths to see if there was any improvement before acting on it because if we did that, that's another 6mths of waiting when we could have been doing something about it.

And honestly Antheia, even if money is tight, you can still always save up to go and see a private one while you are waiting to see the public one and then claim it back from medicare - that way you can have the ball rolling.

Either way Antheia, I think you are doing them a huge disservice by waiting around. You've had an early childhood teacher and a speech pathologist come in here and give you their thoughts and if that isn't enough to spur you into action then nothing will.