My 6 year old doesnt talk!!!

Hi, I have a 6 year old soon to be seven and I am running out of options here in brazil. My son doesnt talk and never had. The doctors say he is delayed, but when does the speech stop being delayed? He is a smart boy he understands everything in Two languages of course his portugese is better then his english because he was raised here. I was reading about the wolf- Hirschhorn syndrome.. My son has a lot of the facial features, as for the mental retardation he is like 9 months slower then other kids.. He walked when he was 2, he sat when he was around 10 months and stood up around a year or so.. he has seizures but seems that they are getting better almost a year since he had one, but the speech is limitied to vowels like to say two he says OU... I need help and I know its hard to say something without knowing the person, But its not like I can go to the doctor and have my kid tested for everything.. I just want to know if he will talk.. and if he will have any health prob. in the future, maybe you could suggest some test... thanks

[Jordanna Joaquina, MS, CGC]

We are sorry we didn't answer your question sooner. Given your son's problems, we recommend that he meet with a medical geneticist for evaluation. A medical geneticist, also called clinical geneticist, looks for signs and symptoms that are suggestive of genetic disorder and is a specialist in managing such disorders. Your doctor should be able to locate a medical geneticist near you in Brazil. We wish you and your son the best.

[mammo]

Something is definitely wrong for you child to not be talking by now.  This goes way beyond "delayed."  Your child hhas to be in school by now, and he cannot function there without being able to speak.  You DO need to take him to the appropriate specialist and have him evaluated ASAP!  Something is very wrong.

[tejodouro]

I agree with mammo.  Does your son interact with other children of his own age? does he play and socialize? does he have repetetive gestures such as waving his arms or fingers? does he play normally with his toys or does he just line them up? depending on your answer to these questions and if he is not social and he is not speaking, maybe he has autism.  Does Brazil provide help with speech and language testing and therapy? at six years of age, he should have been in speech therapy a long time ago. you need to see a "child development specialist" doctor (not a general pediatrician) and have him evaluated for speech and autism.  The specialist also should refer you for a genetics doctor to make sure that he does not have some sort of syndrom (syndrome).  Is he talking but with vowels only? if he is doing this, maybe it is a speech articulation issue and the sooner you put him in speech therapy the sooner you can help him.  When it comes to speech articulation, there is alot of help that the right speech therapist can do for the child.  Given that you are in Brazil, maybe there is not much help there. I am not familiar with Brazil.  You need to get your child evaluated so that the right professionals can help him. In the US we start helping these children at 1.5 to 3 years of age. The sooner you help them the better the chance of solving their issues.  Given that you speak english so well, if you can not find the right help in Brazil, and if you have the financial means, maybe you need to bring him to the USA to be tested at one of the pediatric centers of one of the major Universities. Deus abencoe-te e ao teu filho. Obrigado.