Child speech delay testimonies

From my point of view, she rarely seems to rush when speaking, but that's based on my standards, so maybe based on hers, she actually does...

Thanks for your advice, I will try to interrupt less her flow, even if she makes mistakes 

When she says ‘gradon’, do you feel she is trying to say it fast? Because of the anxiety I used to try and talk fast, but again I couldn’t hear the difference. 

For me, perhaps the adults could have let me talk without correcting all the time and encouraging me to talk, like asking for my opinion, so I would still enjoy talking and communicating. Singing might help or encouraging her to express herself in other ways, like art or writing. Just being appreciated for the little quirky princess that I was  I don’t know if what I wanted would have been helpful or harmful, so only do what you think is best or what the professionals advise 

Thank you Martin! We are lucky that, so far, the school has been really accommodating and supportive, but I'm waiting to see how it will be in Year 1... 

Thank you for sharing! What you're writing about not hearing the difference between what others said and what you said seems to be what's happening to my daughter too, for instance she cannot say "dragon" properly. She says "gradon". She can say "dra" and "gon" separately, but "dragon" simply doesn't come out. Now it makes sense with what you're explaining: she may not even notice there's a difference. What would you have liked adults around you to know when you were thst age so they would have helped you without adverse consequences on your self-esteem and anxiety?

Hi, I couldn’t talk properly when I started primary school (4-5 years old) and had to have speech therapy until I was seven. I remember sitting with the therapist, learning how to talk slowly and pronounce every syllable. I was fine with every other milestone. Before this somehow only my brother, who was two years older, could understand me and spoke for me, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best thing for me. 

To be honest, at 35, I still struggle with speech a bit. Sometimes, if I don’t think a sentence through in my head first then words might come out in the wrong order, or just tumble out incoherently and I have to pause, reset, focus and start again. I was quite self-conscious of this when I was younger, but as I’ve got older I’ve learnt to make a joke out of it when it does happen in the hope that it makes me seem more human. 

I can relate to your daughter’s frustration. I can remember my mum telling me that I wasn’t pronouncing ‘bath’ properly, but to me in my head, I was pronouncing it the same way and I couldn’t distinguish the difference. Being constantly told that I was doing something wrong (by parents, family, teachers) when it didn’t seem wrong to me increased my anxiety and my self-esteem went down when I started school. I only had to learn one language at that stage, but when I started learning French at secondary school (11 years old) I loved it and excelled at it. 

Overall, I still somehow managed to make friends, get a degree, get jobs and be in a long-term relationship. And I’m sure your daughter will too. I think that the most important thing is that she keeps enjoying talking and interacting and she feels safe and comfortable making mistakes. 

I hope this helps 

Einstein, a suspected autist himself, did not speak until he was five years old. Neurodivergent children develop at their own pace. My ADHDer child had great difficulties in reading and writing, her school were pushing her and had unrealistic expectations and it was having bad consequences on their confidence. Then some connection was made in their brain and reading and writing just happened over a couple of months. They are now an avid reader for pleasure and gained a first class degree. Just keep talking to your child in any language. My aunt speaks Lithuanian, German and English fluently, being raised as a polyglot is beneficial. Bonne chance avec ça.

Well, they should know, but that does surprise me.

Thank you for explaining.

Thank you for your testimony Expecto_Patronum, it does help :)

We thought so as well Debbie, but our speech therapists (private and NHS) actually recommended that we continue to speak to her in French. Apparently it helps creating different connexions in the brain, which would be a good thing according to them...

Although this isn't directly answering your question, the dual languages is something I'd expect to be very difficult for a child learning to speak.

Is it an option for you to speak English to her so that she doesn't have 2 languages going around in her head at the same time?

Maybe a bit late for that but my, unprofessional, view, is that this might be mixed into the issue.

I didn't speak at all until I was 3 and was difficult to understand when I did start speaking. I'm not sure how old I was when my speech became more easily understood but I'm aware that I have school work from around the age of 6 where the spelling is quite erratic. When I asked my mum why my spelling was so bizarre she said that it was the way that I spoke, there were so many letters I couldn't pronounce, it was difficult for me to sound out words.

Now I don't think people would know at all that I had such difficulties with speech. I'm completely verbal and my speech is clear. The only things I still struggle with can be processing time, literalness and the social norms of communication.

I hope that helps.