Down Syndrome Support Group

Kimber has been doing speech, physical therapy since she was around 3mos old but my daughgter enrolled her in the hospital program when she was around 6mos. because her doctor said she had enough muscle tone to be doing more than what she was..She just started going to ocupational therapy this last month..So for you answer to ur ? I would talk to your doctor and listen to your heart to what you think he is ready for..My daughter does now do the evaluation's through the state because of the fact that they say them things just to get you ur finacial help in Wyoming and sometimes they don't even get help if they are doing border line so I don't know who evaluated him or what but that makes a diffrence too..Good luck and let us know what you do do...Hugz Vic..PS..Kimber does know around a 100 words and sign around 50 so the therapy does help.

hi, Our katie has been in speech therapy since she was 3 months old. Although she has only just been evaluated in the last month and she is 15 months old. We have started to learn sign language. Its never to late to start.All of our chldren are different, just go with your instincts.

I guess I don`t understand why you need to have a speech therapist at three months, unless you`re having feeding issues. I am also not understanding what your baby is being scored on. Maybe there are some things I still don`t know about. At seven and a half months Adia is babbling and making noises and blowing razzberries and she eats great with a spoon. We are currently working on sitting unnassited and crawling.Please let me know if I`m missing something. Misti.

Our son was enrolled in a Birth to Three program when he was 11 days old. Starting at about 3 months we had physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and a teacher come to our house until he was 3. You can start sign language at any age but the earlier, the better. You can get a book or dvd on beginning sign language for simple things like eat, milk, more, etc. You'd be amazed how quickly they pick up on it. They continue using sign along with speech at school. They use it at my son's school during song time and music too. It's really a good tool and helps them to communicate when they can't speak well. I know of parents who teach sign to their "typical" babies and it helped them learn speech earlier too. Our son is 5 now and I can't even tell you how many words he knows (says) now. It's more everyday. He can even "talk" along with some of the videos he's seen over and over like "Caillou" which he loves to watch! So don't worry, you haven't blown it. It will work out fine.

Speech Thereapy has not been mentioned for Olivia so i thought it was a later thing, i am intrigued that all your children have had something to do with speech thereapy so young. I am going to ask at our CDC centre when i go. so glad it came up on this dicussion. xxHazelxx

The thing about speech is there is so much work to be done by the child before they can actually begin to speak at all. They have to work on using all those muscles they need for speech and chewing and so on. They may have sensory issues and may not be able to handle certain things in their mouths. ( food textures toth brushes etc.) The best thing is to get started on all areas asap. The same is true for gross motor and fine motor issues. A friend of mine was told their daughter did not need physio as she walked on target . Now at 8 years she is back having physio with a vengenance as there is issues with her back and spine stability. She should have had ongoing physio from a baby .I always worked with my own son even though he had great gross motor skills. He is now classed as "normal" ( low end though. I still work with him though. ( just in games and work it in during the day not heavy concentrated sessions). If you cant get your child into a program there is lots of info out there on the web you can access yourself to help your child.

Thats interesting as last week Olivia had physio round to see her and she said Olivia's muscles were good and she did'nt need any help etc but would check her again at 1year old. I would not like it to turn out that infact if help was given to her now she would benefit and not suffer later. I will keep an eye out and watch her carefully. That was interesting comment you made, Thankyou.
Olivia eats everthing given to her and has no troubles, so far so good..... Nothing has fased her as yet xxHazelxx

Hey!!! You are not behind! No worries! A lot of the preparation for speech comes from body strength at that age anyway. Sitting up straight, diaphragm strength is all a part of developing speech. Don't get caught up in percentages and evaluations. Use them as a guide, but don't live by them; you'll make yourself crazy. You are an attentive parent and you are doing a great job. I know its hard to imagine.....my Max is 5 now. You will embrace all the little things that come with developing a little slower. They are sweet, innocent and sometimes funny. We all get sad, start comparing,worrying,obsessing, etc. Most important part.....you are doing fine!!! Your baby is beautiful!!!

HI everyone,
I am new to this board. I have a 10 month old daughter elena with Down syndrome. She gets early intervention through my states Infants and toddlers program. From the beginning they kept telling they didn't provide speech therapy until 18 months old if there are no feeding issues. I have been pushing for it along with her PT and special ed teacher. Finally just now they have agreed to let the speech therapist start coming because her tongue strength wasn't improving much. I really hope i haven't caused her much delay by not hiring a private therapist( i did look and couldn't find any in our area) she does say dada, hi, yeah, and mama, very clearly i am hoping that is a good sign. should i look to hire a private therapist in addition to the every other week therapy that she will start getting in another city perhaps? any opinions

I would never tell anyone not to do something, especially when it comes to your child, so if you wanted to look into a private therapist, they would let you know if it's needed in addition to the therapy she receives now. When Marcus was younger (he's 5) and still even now, I do my own lessons with him. Go through the abc's and sound out each letter: " a makes an a or ah sound. a,a,a, apple". b, buh, buh, buh, b", etc. Kids like repetition so even if you sound goofy to yourself, they don't care! Reading to your little one is good too. We also have a leap frog book that has narration and music with lots of different books to choose from for whatever you'd like to focus on. Beware of the Guess how much I love you one though. The first time I read it with Marcus I cried (just like I did with my older son when I read it the first time) and now when Marcus hears the music that goes with the story, he looks at me and says" you cry"? Gotta love 'em!