3 yr. old (Speech Delay - Born with PRS.

My son will be three this year (2007).  He was born with Pierre Robin Syndrome (soft cleft palate and a small jaw) and Sticklers Syndrome.  He has had 6 surgeries and been in the hospital 11 times since he has been born.  He had a trah put in when he was 2 weeks old and the dr. took it out when he was 19 mon.  Also, he has a V.P. Shunt in his head for hydrocephalus. His cleft palate was repaired when he was 10 months old.  Right now he is saying about 10 words and he is signing about 20 words in sign language.

My questions is that why does he scream. His scream is ear piercing and it hurt my ears when he screams.  I noticed that he does not like changes and when people come over to the house he starts screaming.  I don't know why he does that.  He is very strong willed. When he starts screaming, my husband and I put him in time out in his bed and we shut the door until he stops screaming.  Also, when he does not get his way he will start screaming to.  He is seeing therapist with ECI and they told us the reason why he screams is because he is delayed in talking.  He understands everything you tell him.

Is there anything that my husband and I can to to make him stop screaming?

[nathansmom]

Our son was premature as well and we're having some of the same issues. He has a pronounced speech delay and acts out something awful! A nice lady named rain sent me to this site www.sensory-processing-disorder.com. If that isnt indicative of your sons behaviour maybe you and I can look around and see what we can find together on the net. The doctors in this area aren't very forthcoming with any ideas for me at the moment. At first I thought maybe it was because he became frustrated due to lack of language skills,  but my son understands everything that is said to him as well and doesn't seem to respond to it when he gets in those moods. I'm sorry to hear you're having such a rough time.  I hope the website she gave me helps. :0)

[mum2beagain]

My son was premature, has hydrocephalus (VP shunt) cerebral palsy and sensory processing dissorder. his speech is delayed too but with speech therapy thins are getting better. He is now 3 years 3 months and in just the last two weeks his speech has got so much better. He did go through a period just before this for about six months of screaming, whining even hitting his head on the floor several time a day, even though he could understand us he was extrewmely frustrated that he couldn't communicate with us. I tell you his whining grated on my last nerve and drove my husband bonkers!  

The only thing that worked for us when he got into one of his tempers was to distract him, singing, books, whatever it took to calm him down. I now see wasn't a bad child, just extremely frustrated, We too had to just put him in his room until he calmed down sometimes as nothing else would work.

On a positive note it does pass, deal with each day as it happens. Keep the speech you use with your son to very short sentances so it is easier for him to understand e.g instead of saying 'Please don't throw your juice cup' we would say 'No throw juice',  if you think about it those are the kind of sentences kids string together when they first start to talk, using simpler language certainly made it easier for our son to understand and begin to use words himself .

I wish you all the best.