Speech delay in soon-to-be 3-year-old

[MOMOTWO]

My daughter will be 3 in April. She speaks only about 12-15 "words" clearly (ie., mama, dada, wa-wa "water," ba-ba "bottle," Rella and "inderella" for Cinderella, na-na for "banana," etc.)
She is also attempting to put three and four word phrases together, but is having difficulties with word enunciation. (ie, what sounds like "air ma e?" for "Where Matt (my 5-year-old son) is?")
It seems as if a lot of the new words she is trying to say are missing the first or last sounds.
Also, she can say a sound in one word but not another (D in dada, but won't or can't say dog or Duke  for our dog)
There are no other developmental issues we have found with her ... she plays well with other kids, is a very happy child, can understand and complete multi-task requests (such as go into the other room, get a certain toy and bring it in here and give it to Matt.) She has been evaluated for speech therapy/other therapy and found to have some sort of delay. She has been receiving speech therapy for about 5 months, but it doesn't seem to be helping like we expected. It seems that no one understands that the issue here is her expressive speech, not receptive speech, cognitive learning, comprehension, etc. Her motor skills (fine and gross) are wonderful and have even been evaluated to be a little ahead of her age group.
At first, we chalked it all up to the fact that she didn't have to talk. Her 5-year-old brother never stops and has always been able to tell us what she wanted before she tried to say it herself. Also, after a certain point, we were able to decipher what she was trying to say to us. She gets her point across no matter what, using gestures and other non-verbal communication.
Now, though, we're wondering how much could be pure stubborness (or knowing she doesn't have to talk) and how much there could be a real problem.
I've also done a lot of Internet research trying to find something that the therapists have missed. All of the information has gotten so twisted and deep, I'm trying to dig my way back out to reality.
We're taking this very seriously and hope to figure out exactly what it will take to help her catch up to her peers.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[RockRose]

I think for now you can discard the thought that she's purposely being stubborn about speaking.

Has her hearing been thoroughly checked?  I know you say she has great receptive language,  but often kids with minor hearing loss will appear to have normal receptive language but their speech is unclear.

Since she is doing so well in all other areas,  you have a lot of reason to expect she'll catch up.

[MOMOTWO]

That's the other thing. Her hearing is great. She's been informally checked and everyone, including doctors and therapist have ruled out hearing problems.
I've been reading a lot about Developmental Apraxia/Dyspraxia of Speech and I'm not sure if I'm trying to find something specific to explain her problem or what, but a lot of things that are described in the reading fit my daughter's issues.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, though. I'm hoping that since she's OK if every other facet of her development that she'll be OK in her speech, too.

[RockRose]

Hmmm.  I understand what you are saying about apraxia.  

This may be kind of a red herring,  but my neice's speech development was a HUGE concern to my family.  At 3 1/2,  she didn't say any words that sounded like what they were supposed to.  "Da" was nightgown,  etc.  She had a language all her own,  and if you didn't know the code,  you couldn't possibly guess what she was saying.

She's fine now,  at 22 years old.  I don't know what caused her speech to be so cryptic.

But it seems to me,  that on balance if the child is on target with everything else,  is pleasant enough to be around,  tries to communicate clearly through other means,  and in general seems like a typical child of that age,  somehow they learn to overcome this language problem.

[miscdesign]

Have you looked into whether or not she has a tongue tie.. my son did when he was 3, it impaired his speech.  He had a "tongue tie release" done and he was speaking better after that.  My dentist caught it - at his first dentist appointment.

[hikermom]

I hear what your saying. i am in the same situation. My son will be 3 in April and he is in Speech and just got into the speech program with our public schools. I have him sighned up to go to a camp in March. i think it is hard when your child only has a speech delay. THere is not much out there. But I really believe that you just have to stay your kids advocate and keep pushing as much help as you can.
My peditrican has really helped in hope. He asks what we are doing and says as long as we have him caught up by kindergarten.
Hang in there. Your not alone.

[my_3_sons2007]

my 3 year old was talking the same way. They understand everything but can't get out what they want to say. They leave out beginnings , middels & endings to thier words. With that said.. he had a speech eval by our geneticists which thought it to be apraxia. after being sent to the hospitals rehap services for a formal eval it is indeed Verbal Apraxia. There is a speech test just for Apraxia. If your theripists doesn't have that test I would suggest that maybe you find one that has this test. The rehab is done a little different for apraxia than for that of other speech disorders as the Apraxia is more speech & brian comunicating with the body. Like your daughter my son tested on a 51/2 year old level for receptive speech & everything else but a 2 year old on expressive speech. He also has always drooled alot.. even during infancy 7 has a hard time getting all of his food to his mouth during meals which are both signs of Apraxia ( it uses the same message from the brain to opperate the mouth for these functions.) Have you been to Apraxiakids.org. I found alot of helpful info there!! Good Luck!!

[hikermom]

www.apraxia-kids.org
this is the web site. I was intrested as well by your posting my 3 sons. I have been trying to get something concrete for my son. I have never heard about apraxia before and I have been emersed in the world of special needs. I couldn't find it throught your web site and so googled it I beleive it is the site you were talking about.
Momotwo.
Check it out I hope you find help. It is answering questions for me.... I have joked around about starting something up for kids who fall through the cracks. It is so hard and you feel like no one understands. It is nice to find information.

[Zachs_Mommy_4406]

Hi... My son is going to be 3 in April... and now after reading up on the web...I'm concerned that he may have verbal apraxia... I try not to go too crazy on the web.. because sometimes they give you TOO much information and make you crazy... Anyways.. here is what I've done in the past..

My son was not speaking at 15 mos.. we waited till 19 mos. and had him evaluated through Early Intervention (great program)... he was denied... then at 2 yrs. old he was eligble...  only saying mama and dada and more... He has been receiving speech since May of last year.. and he will now be 3 in April.. (he was just evaluated and accepted through the preschool program at our district for speech twice a week)... He has definitely progressed with his speech but has a long way to go.. The teacher has tried prompt therapy but he doesn't take too well of her touching his face... He was diagnosed with a oral motor planning disorder... I don't know if that is the same as verbal apraxia.

One of his big problems.. is that he's very smart receptively (not really a problem.. but I guess in his situation it is).. 79%tile.. and very low expressively 4%ile... He has a high IQ as well.. but since he is so smart.. he is so aware of his limitations taht he shuts down and doesn't want to try sometimes.. He will continue speech with his teacher now whom I love.. through August but then will go through the district..

My concern is will he be caught up by the time he goes to kindergarten.. or will thisbe a life long problem.. I feel so bad for him.. he's so aware of his limitations that it's heartwrenching... I'm thankful that there doesn't seem to be anything else wrong. but it's very hard for him and myself and his family... I have a 5 1/2 month old who I'm sure will be talking up a storm before him..

Has anyone else had a similar problem?

[tricialader]

my son is three and has a speech delay as well.  It can be very frustrating for both the parent and child when trying to communicate, I can so relate. I seriously doubt it is stubborness at all.  More likely frustration turning into the "why bother".  You have to be extremely patient and persistantly encourage. My son is in speech therapy and language classes.   I also took him to baby sign language class which was a fantastic help.  You may think that is a cruch and only enables the "lets not try to talk" thing, as I did at first.  But the first words my son was able to say correctly were the signs he learned. It is a great bridge for children with speech delays.  And it helps with the frustration.  Pre school, being around other children also helps encourage "wanting to try to talk".  My son is at the point when he is trying to say something I can't understand he looks me in the eye and repeats the word several times until I understand while making sure I am watching his lips. sometimes it is a process of elimation of the words I know he knows, but sometimes he gets his point across.  There are great tricks you can learn in speech therapy for difficulity with certain letters such as m, b, p, l,s and other usual difficult letters for children with speech delay. Every county offers this free. Call your board of education for the infants and toddlers program for such delays.  Some things you can do at home is use a hand held mirror to show your child how to correctly shape the lips and place the tounge with certain letters.  They sometimes think they are shaping the lips the right way but dont realize they are not unless they actually see it.  Use the favorite toys or movies to help. My son loves the thomas trains.  He knows all of the names.  And I use each name to work on certain letters and sounds and he never tires of trying.  Example "where is emily choo choo train" he finds emily,  brings it back and says "emily choo cho train".  The more practice the better.  flash cards are great too.  so is having speech time at home giving a treat such as a lollypop after each session as a reward for 20 minutes of practicing sounds.  You also probably need to give extra time with reaction.  And may also need to shorten directions or requests to one step or two steps. Example "brush teeth" then after "wash hands" as opposed to "brush teeth and wash hands". It varies child to child when a speech delay is overcome.  some it takes years. BUT... Speech delays are overcome and that is the light at the end of the tunnel you need to keep in mind.  They need lots of understanding and patience.  Practice, Practice, practice, and think about baby sign languae to help, speech therapy and things you can do at home to help encourage an interest in wanting to try.  Good luck.