Language Early Intervention for 20 Month Old Son

My 19 month old only says mama and dada. He has been in early intervention for a couple months for speech, and will soon start OT for feeding and motor planning issues. I highly recommend! My older son had OT and Developmental Therapy with EI, and everyone we have worked with has been great! I love that I never have to leave the house for his therapy! Saves a lot of time, and with winter here, it's awesome!

There is always the chance that you could get someone not so great, but you can always ask for a change. The waiting list for speech is probably 3 months. Get him on the list now!

I am a speech therapist and I would say the earlier, the better. It can't hurt to have him evaluated - if he doesn't need it, that's great. He may be just taking in both languages, but even if he doesn't qualify for services, they can give you lots of ideas. Good luck!

It is not unusual for a child who is becoming simultaneously bilingual to delay speaking and be behind his peers up through the age of about 5. However, if your child is not speaking at all (as in no small simple words at all) I would suggest speaking with your pediatrician. Illinois offers an intervention program at little or no cost through age 3 I believe; I think it requires a doctor referral though.

My son didn't start speaking until he was almost two and was raised in a similar situation. The clarity of his speech did not improve until he was almost 3.

Early intervention is wonderful. Do it now...they come right to your house for an hour or 2 a week and work one on one with your child. It takes a little time to get started, they need to do an evaluation, so I would call now. we had a wonderful sweet girl work with our son on his speech. He was not speaking at 2, but of course started right when therapy began but he couldn't say the hard c and k sounds for 2 years, so he needed the help!
Good Luck

DO NOT WAIT.
It does not hurt to get an evaluation by Early Intervention and you can get assistance for the payment.
After age 3, it becomes all on you (cost-wise) and harder to get services until school.
In the meantime, you could lose valuable years...
Speech and/or an Occupational Therapy evaluation can be ordered by a doctor's prescription, but you can go ahead and contact them yourself to get things started
I found this through a google search
http://www.illinoiseitraining.org/
good luck.
It may be he is perfect and fine (and great that he will be learning 2 languages and cultures!!)
but it does not hurt to do this.

Shweta,

My daughter is 26 mos. old and has some speech, but not alot. We contacted Early Intervention when she was 16 mos. old and had a free evaluation done. At that time, they determined she was at an 8 mos. level for speech. We then filled out some paperwork & based on our income, pay a monthly fee for a therapist through EI. My daughter has gone from an 8 mos. level in speech to 18 mos. So.. she's still a bit behind, but has made alot of progress. I personally think EI is great, and they come to your home & work with your child. When the child turns 3, they will be evaluated again, and if there are any delays refered through the school district for therapy with no out of pocket costs to the parents. Yes I think EI is a good way of finding out of there's a true delay in your child's development, and I think you should go with your gut as you know your child best. Good luck to you & your little one :)

EI is really really good. Your son may be fine - kids who grow up bilingual do take longer to talk - but you can always have him evaluated for your own peace of mind. Better to be a little over cautious than miss something that you could have fixed I think. Ask your doctor about it.

Hi,
Our Dr. told us to wait...she said he wasn't even 2 yet and sometimes it just takes time. I called Early Intervention anyway (you can look up the number on-line for your county)and they came out and evaluated him. He just barley qualified, but started receiving services. He began speaking pretty quickly and we were able to stop. I can honestly say I don't know wether it was the EI or time that made the biggest difference, but EI showed ME how to speak to him, how to lable things, how to be more specific...I thought it was helpful. Good Luck!

Commonly he process starts at 18 months. Early intervention can do wonders.

We did use Early Intervention. I think it is a wonderful service. It doesn't hurt your child to get him evaluated, so go for it. Don't wait since i believe the program either cuts off at age 3 or something like that??? My son didn't really talk until about 25 months (he had been in the program for one month by then). He had a language burst and so we had him re-evaluated after using the program for 3 months and chose to stop. Anyway, everyone in the program was really nice and helpful and his speech therapist was wonderful. SHe came to our house once per week to "play" with our son and he enjoyed his time with her while working on his words.

if your child had words and stopped using them then you need to contact a specialist for more assistance and make it clear your child has regressed with language. Early intervention is excellent!

YES! RUN, do not walk. My only regret about doing EI is that I didn't get the help sooner. We had a wonderful speech therapist - Clare Halloran. I don't know if she's still in the EI network but it can't hurt to ask your caseworker.

Good luck!