plunket check up ...speech!

My mates boy is 2 and a half and is only just starting to put small sentences together and plunket have never been concerned about him just told her to encourage him to use his words more. I thought it was mostly girls talking in sentences at that age. Kids develop at their own rates and you should only be worried if its concerning you. Thats just my opinion anyway and i dont always agree with my plunket nurses ideas.

I'd take those comments with a grain of salt!
If he understands you & can folllow simple instructions then he is fine. Obviously he is concentrating on his motor development & will progress with his communication when HE is ready.

bahahaha my Kals must have ADHD too!

Amy didn't talk much at two - just a few words and a lot of her own words and abriviations (sp?). The plumket nurse we see gave us a referral to the speach therapist which was just one session here at home (about an hour). She gave us some things to practice and work on each day for about 10 mins and now we can't get Amy to stop talking!!

The reason that many give a referral at 2 (when a lot of children are still not that verbal) is because they are not seen for a year and it is harder to *fix* at 3 than 2 and they miss a lot in that time in terms of development and interation with others. Might be worth getting checked just in case.

Edited by jaycee

Jack is the same age and he has a very small amount of words although I have noticed in the last fews days they have increased. He speaks alot less than his friends who are the same age of a month or so younger. However Jack's motor skills seem so much better than his friends, so Jack has obviously been focussing on those rather than words.

As Helen said if it is not going to cost you much too go I would but only to see what they say. I wouldn't be worried too much

I would probably take him if they've recommended it, what can it hurt? At least you will know for sure that there are no problems then.

Jake is 20 months and can say lots of 2-3 word sentences (started saying two words ones at 16months), and probably well over 300 words now (I lost count) ... he can pretty much repeat anything you say. But I have been told by his daycare a couple of months ago that he speaks better than most of their 2 year olds, so maybe thats unusal (although a few of his friend are the same - and funny enough the boys are saying more than the girls in his coffee group).

talked to my brothers friend who is a speech thearpist and her son is a few months oldeer then mine and hers says the same amount...she said it was normal and im wasting my time going as ty can do alot of other things that kids his age cant and its not like he isnt trying too...she said that once #2 is born that his speech will pick up faster..........she also mentioned eintstein which is so correct..................plunket has been so wrong on a number of things with ty its lucky i dont panick and do my own research before taking the next step.........no wonder so many people think there doing something wrong

Have a bit of faith in yourself and your judgment. You are the expert on your baby not plunket!

It can be quite liberating to ignore plunket advice and just carry on doing what you believe in and be proved right!

Babies don't grow in a straight line like the growth charts and they don't all do things on cue like they've been studying the plunket book while you haven't been looking.

You would know yourself if you thought something was wrong. Not talking at this stage definately doesn't mean your baby won't be any less bright later on, it doesn't really mean anything at all.

Everyone always says 'all babies do everything in their own time' which is soo cliche but only because it's true.

freckle wrote: Also when children do have difficulties with their speech or language it isn't necessarily a reflection on parenting!! it definitely doesn't mean the parents a doing something wrong... some children just have some difficulties with no identifiable cause....

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totally agree and that is why i think plunket nurses need to learn how to speak to parents /communicaton and not be so judgemental.....my friend got told by a nurse basically that she was doing everything wrong and she shouldnt be bottle feeding etc......she ended up adopting mini out.........i feel for her every day.

on another note..........specialist said ty was normal and so many kids have been put on to him from plunket that shouldnt have been and he was so angry.....ty can make his bed ty his laces etc and he gets frustrated cause he cant talk the words he wants to use but i think he is trying to say the big words first......i asked hubby where the dictionary was and there ty was trying to say it.........now that he knows baby is coming to play soon he has been saying all the baby words like nappies etc.............having said all that tys friend is 3 and he still says not one word which is scary....i dont think i would wait that long

from a different perspective - I saw a documentary a while back where scientists were studying childrens and babies behaviour. There was a case study with a woman who had triplets, they were all very different temperament and development wise proving that parenting didn't play a major factor in the ways the children developed.

One of the girls was a bit slower to talk the mother was worried about it but found out she scored very highly much more so than her siblings in empathy tests i.e flash cards of facial expressions and guessing their emotions. And she scored much higher in i.q and general observation testing also. Of course this is just an individual example but it gives you an idea on how children develop in different ways.

I totally agree... I would be the first person to ask for help if I thought there was anything wrong with mine or they needed specialist help etc. But what i am saying is that usually the mother will have intuition that something is a bit amiss and go look for help themselves if they feel like their child needs it or bring it up with plunket themselves etc.

In a situation where the mother feels the child is doing well overall then are told by plunket that there is something amiss with they child they should trust their own judgement and not be swayed or put off by someone elses assessment.

There is nothing wrong with asking for help, seeing specialists etc. but i feel in this case and many others the child is doing more than fine for his age.

I think there just needs to be a balance here - just because someone says there could be something wrong with your child it doesn't mean there is - even if it is from plunket.

I have a bit of an issue with plunket because they told me off for giving my 10 month old formula out of a bottle. Apparantly blue milk out of a cup is the only option!!!! My boy like alot of children that age couldn't really handle a cup properly so it just wasn't going to work for us.

Plunket on the whole is an amazing fantasic service and provide so much support for mums but I don't always agree that's all.