I was wondering if there is any good info on why many infants wit GERD have slower speech.....Zoe is nearly 1 yr old and says nothing....makes lots of sounds , laughs out loud follows voices and is attentive but still does not utter mama or dadad etc as do most babies...any one got any info?
thanks

Have you had Zoe's hearing tested?

I really wish I knew the answer to that, but as my son turned 3 on Friday and still isn't talking, I don't. As Lesley mentioned, getting Zoe's hearing tested is a great starting place. You may also want to look at speech therapy. If you do find some good info., Ginny, I'd love to hear/read it. Good luck!

Yes, it is common for refluxers to get behind. I am sure there are many reasons and would love a good article on this as well. They have good reason to be behind, constant pain, swallowing, being sick all the time, thats enough right there, I would think, and I am sure there is much more. Its hard to think about talking when your just trying to figure out why your throats always on fire and feeling like crap. Poor babies!

Eli, our 2 1/2 year old never talked but he always felt like crap. After his fundo, not kidding here, his speech took off like a rocket, just a few days after his surgery we noticed a huge difference. Its like he had all this stuff to say and finally didnt have that pain keeping him from trying to talk. So, I know the refluxing was just to overwelming for him to get past that. These poor little guys.

And, Like Janette, if you find anything good out there I would love to read about it too. And, with the speech therapy, I know here in the states, at 3, they begin a free speech program at the public schools for children. I had the number and was going to look into it for Eli at one point. A teacher friend told me about the program after she made comments that Eli should be atleast trying to talk :?

Erin, was Eli not even very vocal (as opposed to not saying words)? Daniel sounds like Zoe. He verbalizes and has what I think is a good range of sounds -- strings together "sentences" and uses inflection -- he just isn't speaking words. Daniel had very few sounds before his palate surgery, so I know he has some catching up to do.

Also, some kids are just slower to talk. My niece's ped was talking about early intervention because she was almost two and not talking much, but then she just took off. Now she's about 2 3/4 and when we talk on the phone I understand about 75% of what she says. And she has a lot to say!

Eli didnt say anything before the surgery but mama, baba, dada, and nandy for his brother. He didnt string anything along, let alone a sentence. Now he is talking up a storm though. I know alot of children his age and older with reflux arent able to put much together. We should move this over to the new speech section. This is a good one for it.

Hobbes just says HMMMMM and is not even at the point of saying MAMA, DADA, or even Hi or Bye and He is going to be 3 in May. He doesn't speak two words together or sentences. I am hoping and praying that the speech therapist will be involved with him by the end of April. I think that if you are concern that maybe it is a good thing to mention to Zoe's Doctor so that maybe she could see a speech therapist before to long.

Shannon

Yes, I do believe in your state, if you call your local school they can see at what age they can start speech therapy. I know it is common with refluxers. I wouldnt worry too much at 1. Alot of kids just take off one day out of nowhere. She still has lots of time :D

Shannon, so you have speech therapist set up for Hobbes? How did you find out about it? And, what age do they recommend it becoming a concern? Eli was 2 1/2 when a teacher friend told me he should be saying more and that something was wrong with him. I was shocked because I hadnt even worried about it yet and then I got worried and paranoid.

Hobbes is on the list for a speech therapist which can be next month or in September. He has been on a list since June. I know that something was wrong by a year because he was even then just going MMMMM. There was no words or sounds at all. His hearing is fine. But there are behavoiral problems (he started to bang his head on the floor, as well as punch himself when he gets frustrated, it is very sad to see and at times it mades me cry for him :cry: ) that are raising "Red Flags" so the specialists and some doctors have said. But Our ped :twisted: doesn't think that there is a problem not till he is 3 which is in 2 months. I know diferent from the Child Developement worker and speech pathologist who did aNn evalution on him. I should know more tomorrow when the child developemnet worker comes in and maybe she will have the report form the CD specialist on if it is just speech delay or some thing more serious like a speech disorder. I will update tomorrow.

Shannon

Most words that Evan tries to say only come out as "dada" and he just turned three. I think he was around a year and a half when we started speech therapy with him at the children's rehab. centre, after having the hearing test done. It's hard to believe that Hobbes' ped. isn't concerned, especially since H. is nearly 3, but that's how a lot of doctors are these days. I hope that you get some answers tomorrow, Shannon! That poor little guy needs to be in speech therapy, and there must be somewhere in a big city like W. that has free speech therapy for young children. I would think that it would be covered by your MHIP. I look forward to hearing how it goes tomorrow!

Oh, poor Hobbes, he is obviously frustrated. Do you think it is because he cant express himself? I am sure you will get some answers tomorrow. I will be anxious to hear what is said tomorrow. I am sure getting him speech Therapy will help him with his frustrations. I know Eli hits himself when he is upset or hurt or anything. I wasnt sure if I should be concerned or not or if it is just phase. Let me know what they say..... :D

I should have mentioned this earlier, Shannon, but have you tried a few simple signs to help him express himself? I'm thinking of simple words like more, done, juice, milk, etc.

Erin, many kids that age hit others when they're upset. Is it possible that's what he's doing, but that he knows that he's not allowed to hit others? It's also possible that he's trying to discipline himself? It's probably just a phase, and I'm sure you're already doing a great job of discouraging him from hitting himself.

He hits himself when he is hurt or has his feelings hurt. I tried getting him not to do it, now I just try to ignore it because I dont know what else to do and me trying to stop it seemed to make it worse. It seems to us that he is telling the owie to go away. He is hitting at it saying no no wherever his owie is or if he is frustrated his whacks at himself and says no no. He seems to be getting better about it here lately.... knock on wood. I think we started it when he was little. If he would bump into something and begin to cry, we would jokingly say no no table, mean, and smack at it because it woul dmake him feel better and laugh but now he does it to himself :roll: Bad parenting at its best I guess, it was fun at the time but cause this negative affect that we cant get rid of, needless to say, we dont do that when he bumps into something and gets an owie anymore.

We've had to resort to ignoring the behaviour with Evan, too. It really does work wonders! I hope Eli is over this phase soon.

I had heard people talk about just ignoring bad behaviors and now I have started doing that hoping it works. We never tell him he is bad, we try to praise the good, and we just ignore the behavior we dont like, unless he is whacking at a brother or something. He threw dirt in his cousins eye on Easter.

He hits himself when he is hurt or has his feelings hurt. I tried getting him not to do it, now I just try to ignore it because I dont know what else to do and me trying to stop it seemed to make it worse. It seems to us that he is telling the owie to go away. He is hitting at it saying no no wherever his owie is or if he is frustrated his whacks at himself and says no no. He seems to be getting better about it here lately.... knock on wood. I think we started it when he was little. If he would bump into something and begin to cry, we would jokingly say no no table, mean, and smack at it because it woul dmake him feel better and laugh but now he does it to himself :roll: Bad parenting at its best I guess, it was fun at the time but cause this negative affect that we cant get rid of, needless to say, we dont do that when he bumps into something and gets an owie anymore.
My Lis and us did that as well to Hobbes and it make hom laugh as well. It is not bad Parenting. I think that it is a good way to show them that we are caring aboutthier owies. But with Hobbes hitting himself, he was doing it when he is watching tv, or playing even just waking up from a nap. I was concern till the speech pathologist saw this as well as as an Er Doctor. They were the ones that suggested that we take him to the Child Developement Specialist who could get a good diagnose on him becasue Hobbes can't function well in the morning right from waking up. His appointment was at 9 and he had only been up for an hour.
Janette, there is free speech therrapy for kids here but the list that a year or long to get into. Hobbes right now has been up to urgent and they are just starting him with speech, OT and a CDW. If I want to been him in Daycare they would give him a worker to go with him to work just with him. Will tell more tomorrow after 2:30 my time.

Shannon

We got that same advice, and it seems to be working, at least for now. For Evan, it's throwing things, and it's literally just to get some extra attention when Mommy is busy doing something else. Of course, if the behaviour is happening with anyone else around or is harmful, we have to deal with it.

We look forward to hearing what they say

Ditto what Erin said. Good luck tomorrow. We'll be think about you.

Hi and thanks for all the great thoughts...sounds like we are all mostly in the same boat. Zoe has had hearing checks and did have tubes placed in her ears due to repeated infections (surprise)hahaha...Zoe and her mom (my daughter) go to an early intervention program weekly, and speech therapy is part of this, so I think we are on the right track so far. Zoe began with speech therapists and feeding specialists whil still in NICU and they have followed her for her entire first year. She is being changed to whole milk with liq yogurt added for a bit of thickness as of todays meeting. She is making a lot more vocal sounds so maybe we are just too anxious. It helps to hear input from all of you who have passed this phase. I have search for information but really don't find a lot on the speech subject.
Zoe will be 1 on April 5th so if I get her dress finished we will post a picture!
All of you kids are darling!!!!
ginny

Cant wait to see a pic of her, and dont worry about her speech, you guys are working on it, and when she is 16 and wont shut up you will laugh about this, and say "now why was I worried then? I should be worried now!" Take Care!

The child developement worker was in and she told me that the specialist had not review the tape that she taped of Hobbes. So she is hoping that they will do it this week yet. But on the good note, I will not be left waiting for the new Child developement Worker to come in (this is the permant one that would be with us now till they think that the kids are developing better)she will be in a week or so. It is good to know that i wouldn't be trying to figure Hobbes out on my own. The waiting game continues. Hope that soon we can get some answers.

Shannon

Hope that soon we can get some answers.
Me too, Shannon! Me too...