What We Are Doing To Help With Our Toddler’s Speech Delay

Before my first son, Luke, had turned two I remember stumbling across milestones for two year olds and was caught off guard. I was reading all of them and when I read that two year olds are supposed to be saying fifty words or more consistently every day and start to form two word sentences…I remember being shocked. I never realized that Luke could have a speech delay.

He said words but definitely not fifty and definitely not consistently. He gestured and pointed at things he wanted more than he used words to communicate.

I immediately started to get concerned since he was obviously behind according to the milestones. He definitely had a way of communicating but just honestly didn’t talk a whole lot.

So we set up an appointment with his pediatrician to get his advice on whether he thought he could have a speech delay.

He told us that some two year olds talk in full on sentences and others don’t talk as well. There is a huge spectrum of what looks normal and just varies from child to child. But he referred Luke to get an evaluation to make sure since having a speech delay can make him behind with his social skills.

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So there’s a couple options you can do if you and your child are experiencing a potential speech delay.

You can either be referred out and go through your insurance and see a private speech pathologist or you can do what we did. Our school district has an early intervention services from birth to three for children that any kind of delays like speech. The evaluation is free and then if your child needs services then you can have them bill your insurance or go through state insurance or they work with you for payment options.

The whole process from the eval to getting therapy took about a month. Luke got evaluated and did in fact qualify for speech therapy. Now sometimes your insurance won’t cover because some insurances won’t pay until your child is three and over. That’s why it’s “early” intervention services. But because our insurance covered and we qualified for 25 free visits, we decided to do it.

So it’s a decision you and your spouse will have to make if insurance doesn’t cover.

Sometimes toddlers speech won’t blossom until they are three. But you know your child best and you know if they truly could use the extra help.

So for the past five months or so, we have been doing virtual visits due to COVID. Just recently, he had another evaluation for his speech delay which determined that he needs to continue therapy until he is three. But since he has improved so much, he will probably not need any more therapy once he is three.

He will have another evaluation in another two months in case anything changes with his development and if he needs more therapy then he will be referred out. And most likely, the school district will take over.

So that’s the gist of when I knew something was lacking in his speech development and what we did to take care of it. Now I want to share how the experience has been and what we have been doing to help with his speech delay.

Our Experience With Early Intervention Speech Therapy

The experience overall with Luke’s speech therapy has been pleasant. His speech pathologist is so sweet and so good with him. All of the staff are sweet and easy to work with. However, I will say that because the visits have been virtual…I feel like we haven’t gotten the full learning experience.

Some days it’s hard to get Luke to interact with his teacher via screen and then also hard for me to take care of Levi and make sure Luke is listening. But other days, he will be really involved.

But the biggest help has been being able to ask questions that I have anytime I want to. I am able to text her and she answers me right away. It’s so much better than stressing out and turning to google. She also gives me ideas and things to do to help with his speech and solutions to any speech issues he is having.

That has been a game changer for my peace of mind.

What I Have Been Doing To Help With Luke’s Speech Delay

Have Him Say The Word For What He Is Wanting

So before I realized he had a speech delay, if he pointed or gestured for what he wanted then I would give it to him. Which doesn’t help him in the speech department at all.

When he wanted something…for example his water. He would make a slurping sound (super creative, lol). So I would tell him, “water”, and ask him to say water. And if he tried and attempted to say water even if it wasn’t clear, I would give it to him saying water again.

If water is too hard which it was for him, then you can do abbreviations like “wawa” for “water”. And then eventually once they get that down, you can help them to learn how to say water.

If they whine or still gesture or point, then you will not give it to them until they try to say the word. Obviously, if a full on tantrum ensues then you can and try again next time.

Listening to nursery songs

We started playing toddler songs in the car everywhere we went and at home throughout the day. I would sing the songs with him. And I can tell you that it made such a HUGE difference right away.

He started saying new words and talking more and even singing along. It was really fun to see.

Reading books and being interactive

We started reading more books to Luke before nap and bed time. But we wouldn’t just read them. We would point to the pictures and have Luke tell us what he saw. If he didn’t know or couldn’t say the word, then we would point and say what it was. Eventually, he would get it down.

You can even do fill in the blank. Read a sentence leaving a word out and see if they are able to say what word you left out.

Playing Games using sight words

This is one thing I learned from Luke’s speech pathologist. She told me that toddler’s learn best during play. You can pick what words you want to work on with your toddler and find an activity to do with those words.

For example, a great word activity is anything to do with a farm. You can get a little farm toy set (they have these anywhere) and focus on animal sounds and names. It’s best to start with the sounds first then work towards the animal names. Luke learned to say all the animal sounds first then he was able to say all the animal names.

Another fun game is playing with toss and catch with a ball. Super simple and easy. But you can work on words like, “Throw” or “Roll” or “Catch” or “Fall Down”.

You can really do any activity and just have them repeat words. But only pick a few words to try otherwise they can get overwhelmed and end up getting frustrated.

Below is a great book that I have that has helped with ideas for activities to help foster speech for your toddler:

My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child’s Language Development

Narrate Everything You Are Doing

This seems like a little much but it makes a big difference. The more words they hear, the more they will say. Everything you are doing, just talk aloud. If you are doing the dishes, then you would say, “Mama is going to go do the dishes. Wash, wash, wash.” It seems funny but trust me, it works!

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

When you want them to learn a new word, repeat it at least three times. Repetition is huge when it comes to toddlers learning new words.

Recognition, praise, and correction

Telling your toddler good job and recognizing their efforts helps boost their confidence when it comes to speaking. Luke is very shy and sometimes gets a little self conscious when it comes to trying to say new words.

I have noticed a huge difference when I tell him he is doing a good job trying. And even if he doesn’t say a word correctly, I will say nice try and pronounce the word correctly so he hears how to say it right.

Make Sure Your Toddler Is Watching Your Mouth When You Speak

This is so important. Make sure you are making eye contact and talking slow to your toddler. This will help with annunciation.

Give Choices: Avoid asking yes or no questions

I was notorious for asking yes or no questions. Luke’s speech pathologist brought up the importance of giving choices when asking questions. For example, “Do you want water or juice?” Instead of just asking, “Do you want a drink?”. That way they have to say either water or juice to answer. It works wonders for expanding vocabulary.

Add on to what your toddler is saying by making it a conversation

Even though your toddler may have a limited vocabulary, you can still help them by adding words for them. For example, when Luke first started talking he loved saying cars, papas, and outside. But he didn’t know how to add fill in words. So I would help out when he said, “cars” and “papas” while playing with his cars then I would say, “Oh yeah, the cars are going to papas.” Or I would say, “The cars are going fast. Are you taking them to papas?”

You just want to expand off of what they are saying if that makes sense.

Practice saying vow sounds in the mirror

This was another suggestion from Luke’s speech pathologist. She would have us practice saying, “Eeeee” and “Oooo” and exaggerating opening our mouths while saying those sounds. I would have Luke copy me.

Apparently, this helps with enunciation. You can do with sounds that are hard for them to say. Luke has a hard time saying “H” sounds so we practice those sounds.

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These are a handful of things that we have been incorporating daily that have made a huge difference. It takes a lot of patience and practice. But Luke has improved leaps and bounds since we have started doing the above things and then of course having speech therapy once a week.

If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to comment below. I will do my best to answer. I hope this helps.