SMILES

My friend's daughter is three and a half, bearly says Mommy,
No, Daddy. Her speech is very delayed. How can he help?

It sounds like your friend 's child needs to see a speech
pathologist fairly quickly. One way to find a speech pathologist
is to obtain a referral from his family doctor.

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If she is already attending a speech therapist, at a special
school in Maryland, is that enough? She will be attending that
school until third grade.

My friend's son is 3 1/2 years old and is borned pre-matured.
He seemed to be quick and able to mimick the actions that we do,
but he has a problem pronoucing words and not able to speak like
other kids of his own age. Can you tell me what kind of sickness
this is and where we can do more research on this ? My friend is
from Malaysia, and they do not have much relevant guidance on
this topic.

My daughter will be four January 25, My concern is her
speech. I understand what she is saying, but its not clear. She
has a problem pronouncing certain letters. My insurance wont
cover it, because she has to be at least eight. What can I do as
a parent to help her? Can you give me some information on this?

I had two children with speech delays, one from cleft
lip/palate and the other from frequent ear infections.



My advice would be to get them into speech as soon as
possible. The school districts have a program for ages 3 years+
that is available at no cost to you. All you need to do is look
in the phone book under the district that you live in and call
the special education office. Tell them you're interested in an
evaluation on your child.



They have many different programs available, based on what
they determine are the problem areas. My son with the cleft
palate would go once a week to the school for a meeting with the
speech therapist there. When he was a baby they did in home
therapy. My other son had a more serious delay and qualified for
the preschool program. He would go to the local school and they
had a classroom set aside for the preschool children. The best
part is that since it's part of the school program there is no
out of pocket cost to you.



I'd be happy to answer any further questions you might have.

had similar problems. Encountered greater problems when my child reached school age. Discovered a whole range of things that may be why my child does not speak properly, but eventually worked out a source. Mad though, having to deal with this

While your posting was dated a few years ago I am quite interested in how your friend dealt with her child not talking at 3.5 years. I have the exact same problem with my daughter and would love any advice.

How is your daughter now? I have the same situation as you did. Did you find out her reasons for not talking?