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My Toddler has a Speech Delay update

Ad. This blog contains a link to Speech Blubs app. I contacted them for help and they kindly gifted me access to the app in return for an honest review on my blog. Everything contained in this blog is my own honest opinion. As always I would never promote anything I didn’t honestly love.As promised here is the follow up to our experience using the speech blubs app. It’s been about 8 weeks now since we started using the app. If you haven’t already read the first part you can go check that out here.If you remember our son was 2 1/2 in June with basically no words, just Mama and Dada. He was very quiet with not a lot of chatter or babbling. There were very few animal sounds that he would repeat. He had been on the waiting list for speech therapy and an audiology assessment since December 2019 but due to the Covid restrictions we were unable to be seen.We were kindly gifted the Speech Blubs app after a friend recommended it to me. I wrote to them and they kindly offered access to the app in exchange for an honest review on my blog. I have already written that blog post so this follow up is not a requirement but I just wanted to share with you all his progress.The Speech Blubs app is really simple to use. You start by answering some questions about your child and they give you a quick report to highlight any potential problems. That can be done without purchasing a subscription if you are curious to check it out. You then input some information about your child’s likes so that they can tailor the app for you. The main screen is simple for a toddler to use and Ezra picked it up and was really engaged with the games right away. I think he particularly liked the children saying the words or sounds. He seems to prefer copying the children rather than adults. He loves the picture filters too and the little stories at the end. The Dinosaur section is his favourite at the moment as he always selects that option when we open the app, he is currently obsessed by dinosaurs. I love that it is really simple for him to use and it’s really difficult for him to accidentally click out of the app. There are also no ads which is perfect.The progress Ezra has made has been fantastic. He now has around at least 50 words that he regularly used (not including names). For example – hat, teeth, nose, car, dinosaur, rice, scooter, please and ta. He can name the family members now although he finds the names Jack and Isaac a little tricky it seems. He is able to ask for more and say no and yes to requests. This has been a real breakthrough as can you imagine how frustrating it must be to not be able to show your preference. He also is making more animal sounds but not all. His favourite thing is to roar like a dinosaur. He can now count to ten without prompting and enjoys to bring a book to do this. Another difference that I have noticed is that when he plays with his toys he chatters away. Mostly it is incomprehensible but the odd clear word pops out. It is a joy to watch him doing this when he used to be so quiet before.Many of the words still aren’t perfect and I’m not sure if that is just normal language development or if there is anything else going on. I would think that a stranger could understand many of his words now. We are still waiting on a face to face speech therapy assessment. I have been in contact with her to update her of our progress. She is going to send me a list of words and I am going to record Ezra saying them so that she can assess his speech that way. Audiology are due to restart clinics next week so hopefully we can get that checked on too.I will update you as progress happens. He is due to start nursery school in January and I would love for him to be able to communicate more clearly by then. With this rate of progress I am more optimistic than I have been. Thank you Speech Blubs for your help. We really are grateful.You can find out more about what Speech Blubs are up to over on their blog. Here is a link to their app too.Hope you’re all keeping well. Love and peace xxx

53 comments

  1. My eldest had a speech delay and was later diagnosed with autism. My twin boy is 2 and a half now and he also has a speech delay but he is so different to my eldest. I can see him understanding is perfect and he is trying he just needs a bit more practice than his twin sister who talks all the time so he doesn’t get much chance to speak 😊

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  5. My second son who is 23 now, had delayed speech, he has learning difficulties so he was delayed with everything, but his speech improved with time

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  6. This is brill to know about. My little one is just turning one and was born with a cleft lip and palate. Although it’s repaired now he is going to struggle and will be going to speech therapy. It’s good to know things like this.

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  11. I don’t have any personal experience of speech delay, but my older sister still did not talk when she started Primary School, she relied on her younger brother to talk for her! (Turned out it was laziness more than anything, why do it when you can get someone to do it for you!) My parents’ have spoken about their concerns at the time, but we joke about it now

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  13. My brother was delayed in speech; I remember when I was little we always had a Disney film on and my brother learnt to speak by mimicking and then repeating the whole film word for word. His favourite was Aladdin. Now we can’t shut him up…

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  16. My daughter had speech delay there was very little support or services so we researched ourselves and took matters into our own hands in a very loving way – it worked – always the chatterbox now

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  18. Our daughter had a good understanding and grasp of language. Her own speech wasn’t very clear, so she had a speech therapist come to our home who also taught us games to help her with the articulation. Times are very different now

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  19. I don’t have any experience myself, but speech and communication development is mind boggling. One of my daughters friends speaks their own language, as in one they created themselves.

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  20. No experience of speech delay but of hearing problems – so my daughter would say words incorrectly. I’m glad clinics are opening up again and you are starting speech therapy soon.

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  21. All three of my children have been under Speech Therapy at different times, for different reasons. My youngest (also Ezra) was quite speech delayed but, thankfully, seemed to make massive progress during lockdown and has been discharged now. The app sounds really good.

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  22. We have known children with delayed speech who did have a problem needing help, but also very similar children whose talking suddenly takes off who don’t need intervention. Obviously those who need help benefit from early intervention, but it’s probably best parents don’t panic but trust helpful professionals.

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  28. My grandson is non verbal and has autism, he is 6 now and now says a few words but he doesn’t speak in sentences, my daughter had to take him to speech therapy a few times which really helped and the school he goes to works really hard on his communication skills

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  30. Most of my foster children have had speech and language problems, some due to neglect as a baby and some due to asd/learning disabilities

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  31. My son had a speech delay and didn’t actually start talking until he was 4! He was just like your boy in that he would lead us by the hand if he wanted something. He had such a great vocabulary but just not the speech-I tried everything with him-flash cards, picture boards, word magnets, alphabet puzzles and games (he knew his ABCs when he was 15 months old!) it likely helped him understand the vocab but the speech just ended up coming when he was ready- he’s a very stubborn little boy.
    For anyone struggling with a child with a very late speech delay and shows no other developmental delays I highly recommend reading Thomas Sowell’s Einstein Syndrome. It was such a relief to read. That said, this app sounds great and I sure would have given it a go. It’s great your son has progressed so much with it.

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