Re: preemie-l Re: New Subscriber (fwd)
Sheena L Carter (scart01@emory.edu)
Thu, 13 Jun 1996 17:18:10 -0400 (EDT)
Parents:
Not to take anything from those who have recently reported
wonderful, if slightly late, language gains, but as hearing impairment is
the #1 cause of language delays, please have that checked out at the 1st
hint of delayed or unusual speech. Also, a speech and language
evaluation is not a bad idea even by 18 months if a child is not making
good progress (naming, beginning to put words together, etc.) It
is true that spontaneous gains are often made beyond 2 years of age and
that slow language acquisition does not necessarily mean anything about
future development. However, if your child happens to be one with a problem
which could be corrected early and you wait until therapy or auditory
correction will have diminished impact, you will regret having been
comforted by the standard instruction "wait it out". (Here I have to
disagree with the many pediatricians who advise waiting until age 2 or
later -- probably because I am much more likely to see children whose
problems do not resolve than a pediatrician in a general practice.)
(Mary, congratulations on your child's language advances!)
Thu, 13 Jun 1996 MarAim@aol.com wrote
> Hi!
>
> My son in the last 3 weeks went from saying only about 50 words to saying
> everything and many sentences! Every day he amazes us with new words and how
> clear his speech has gotten. Even my mother (who swore there was a serious
> problem despite what the drs said) is convinced he's normal!
> he'll be 2.5 in another week, and we were repeatedly told to wait until 2.5
> to be concerned.
>
> Mary
>