Speech Delays

The other day a friend of mine asked me when I expected Russell to start speaking...She asked why exactly it was that kids with Down syndrome have delays in speech.

I have to say I was really, REALLY, happy to be asked these questions! Nothing makes me feel better than having someone I know ask me a question about Ds straight out...Because it shows they care, it shows they want to learn and to understand about something very important to me...It means they care about my son enough that they want to understand what exactly makes him, him.

And nothing touches my heart more than that.

I know some people may be afraid to ask questions, or unsure about how I would feel being asked, and I want to assure everyone that it doesn't matter what the question is I would love to be asked it!! Even if it is some crazy thing you have heard about Ds that you are not sure is true or not, I would much rather be asked than have people believing untruths. And I think I can say this is true of many Moms who have children with Down syndrome...We love when people ask questions...Because nothing is more important to us than raising awareness for our children, getting rid of misconceptions and prejudices.

So to my friends and family I want you to know I welcome ANY and EVERY question :)

Now back to my post...

Speech...

I guess there are many reasons for delays is speech. I am not a expert on this subject so I don't of course have all the answers, but I have a few.

Children with Down syndrome have the same patter of speech development as other children, but it is at a  much slower pace. Typical children may have an explosion in speech around the age of 17 months or so, where they just really start picking up words like crazy...Where as children with Ds may have this same type of vocabulary spurt around the age of 30 months.
And also remember that there is a wide range of differences in gross motor, fine motor and speech, among all children, and those with Ds vary from each other also to a wide degree. No child with Ds is exactly the same as another child with Ds.

Now most of us don't think a lot about how complicated speech actually is. First off you have to hear the words being said correctly...This is where some children with Ds have struggled due to their hearing. Many kids with Ds have hearing problems, ear infections, things that would cause them to not hear as well as they should. With Russell's hearing we know he can hear, but to what degree, what pitch, what sounds, we are unsure. We have been told he probably hears, but it is muffled, as though he is underwater. We were suppose to have tubes put in this Friday but we got rescheduled for the end of this month. I am hoping that tubes will help Russell hear correctly and that will help with his speech down the road.

The other thing that may affect their ability to speak well is the low muscle tone in the jaw and tongue and mouth area. They need to strengthen these muscles in order to be able to enunciate things correctly, clearly.

Then you have the cognitive delay. How well a child can understand and comprehend what is being said...A child needs to learn reason for words and be able to remember them.

It has been said children with Ds have better long term memories...That their short term memory is not as good...That is why they learn best through repetition. Hearing or seeing the same thing over and over.

Now all this is just for SINGLE words...After you learn single words you then have to be able to put two words together, then learn to form sentences...Its a much larger, more complicated process than any of us  even think about!

 Now enough with the "medical" talk...I will just explain what I myself have seen with Russell...

When Russell was born I was scared...I didn't understand what exactly it was that was going to make him different from others. I didn't understand what exactly it was that made his mind different...I wanted to know if he was going to understand basic things, would he be aware of the world around him.

I feel over this past year many, many of these questions have been answered for me, just by watching him learn and grow.

To be honest I do not notice much of a difference at all in the way Russell's thinks or reasons compared to the other kids at his age. But YES, I DO see a difference. A small difference.

At 16 months, the other kids could say quite a few words...Russell can also. Not as clearly, not as often, but the words he does say he knows and he understands.

When it comes to Russell's mind and how it works, I see it works in the exact same way as the other kids, but yes, I do see the slower pace, I do see the delay.

It takes Russell a moment to process something he sees or hears.

An example would be this...

The kids play a repetition game with Russell. They will sit on the floor in front of him and start by clapping their hands...Russell will copy. They will then switch to patting their legs or their mouth...You will see Russell pause for a minute, watch what they are doing very intently, and then slowly do it also.

I have a video of this, but cant seem to find it right now!! Anyway...

When we have gone to sports games and the crowd starts clapping, Russell will look around at everyone and then by the time they all stop clapping he will start...So its a delay, a small delay in how he processes what is going on around him. But a delay does NOT mean he doesn't understand, because he does.

The other thing I have noticed with Russell is that sometimes it is very hard for him to get his body to do what his mind wants it to. Like when he is playing the repetition game it took him a long time to figure out how to switch from clapping to knee patting, you could see his little mind working away and he would try to move his arms but they wouldn't do what he wanted them too...he would get frustrated and let out a growl...Sometimes he would give up and just do the clapping, the action he did know how to do. Eventually, after repeating the game and helping him switch to the new action he did learn to do it. But yes, in the beginning when first learning you could see that delay in how his mind processed the information telling his body what to do.

Russell is a very observant little guy, he always has been. I try as much as I can to let Russell show that he understands something. Like when asking him to blow a kiss...I try to ask first and then show him the action...So his mind has time to process what he is being asked...Or like saying goodbye BEFORE waving, to make sure he does the action first...His favorite thing right now is to pull the lamp down in the living room...He is told NO every time...Now when he goes over to the lamp, he will see one of us coming to stop him and he will shake his head NO before we say it to him. lol...Its cute.

Even when he gets in trouble we smile :)

So those are some of the things I have noticed with Russell. Like I have said before every child is different and every child with Ds is different from each other. Children learn at different speeds and in different ways.

I feel confident in Russell's understanding of things, of his ability to learn. The more time that goes by the less scared I am about his future and what he will be capable of.

It is a nice feeling. A dramatic change in how I felt when he was born, the fear I felt and the tears I cried those first few days...To now feeling very confident in that everything is going to be ok.

Russell is more alike than different.

A little video of us reading Russell's favorite book.

Listen carefully to him whispering the word "duck"...And then on the page with the cow he "moos"

And what you can see in this video is Russell desire to learn...When he says the word he turns to look at me, to show me he is saying it and to watch me say it back to him.

I think it is my most favorite video of him yet!