In the meantime you may want to check out my DVD Teach Me To Talk with Apraxia and Phonological Disorders since this outlines speech therapy strategies you can use to work with him at home to target speech intelligibility. While it’s not a substitute for speech therapy with a professional, it will teach you strategies to use so you can do some of this at home yourself which is ultimately what’s going to help him improve in the first place! Thanks for your question - Laura

I’d also suggest that you start to help him learn to request more items by playfully withholding them until he asks for them. You can see examples of how to do this and cue him in my DVD Teach Me To Talk. Check out the clips in the order DVD section of the webiste.

Secondly, I’d suggest that you have his speech-language skills evaluated by a speech-language pathologist since he likely would qualify for therapy. She can identify any problem he’s having and will teach you ways to help him learn to communicate so that you and he aren’t as frustrated.

Hope these ideas help! Laura

Since you describe yourself as “desperate” I’d also recommend that you have him evaluated by a speech-language pathologist so that you can find out exactly why he’s not talking. You’ve already said that he follows directions and is social which are great foundational skills, but there could be other identifiable reasons he’s not talking, and a professional can help you not only figure that out, but more importantly, help you learn to teach him to talk and communicate at home. Thanks for your question! Laura
Laura

With these kinds of kids, I always initially try to rule out any medical issue which predisposes a child to mouth breathe. If a child is chronically congested, he is going to have an open mouth posture since he is likely not breathing efficiently through his nose.

You’re also going to have to do a fair amount of sensory work on his face and mouth since he’s unaware of the wetness and drooling. You’ll have to start by helping him understand and contrast wet vs. dry, and since you say he’s cognitively aware, this increased awareness and focus may go a long way toward helping him “get it.”

Does he respond to verbal cues to “swallow” or wipe his wet mouth? I’d implement those things immediately. Some parents don’t like teaching a kid to wipe his mouth on his sleeve, but I really think it’s the most practical, especially for a 3 year old. Once he’s wiping consistently, then try a more subtle cue like, “Is your mouth wet?”

I do think there are more complex programs and ideas out there for treating drooling. I believe Pamella Marshella has a short book about this, and I’d track this down for other ideas. She does do lots of oral motor/sensory work too, but I believe what you’re talking about is essentially different than working with a child with only speech production/intelligibility goals since your guy has other oral motor problems as well. Good luck and thanks again for your question Laura

Since he’s not 3 yet, for a free developmental evaluation you can call your state’s early intervention program. You can find information for this by Googling your state’s name plus the phrase early intervention. If you wait until after he’s turned 3, you can call your local public school system for a free evaluation. Again I would strongly encourage you to do this since it’s very, very likely he will qualify for services. You really don’t want to keep waiting to see if he’ll catch up on his own. Parents of children with delays often regretted they waited to seek help, and especially if they are close to 3.

I’d also recommend that you STOP focusing on counting, colors, letters and numbers and teach him REAL WORDS he can use to ask for things he needs like favorite foods/drinks and his favorite toys and activities. There are lots of articles here on the website with ideas to help you work with him at home. I’d also recommend that you check out my DVDs to teach you how to work with him at home. Sometimes SEEING how to do is much more helpful than reading about it. Good luck with him! Laura

I came upon your website in a kind of a desperate situation.My 23 month old boy still does not speak.He babbles a lot,but is not pointing to anything and does not even call “mama” and “dada”.We are very worried.I know that he can point and can say words because he used to point to objects for a few days before and he used to say 2-3 words before,bubt not anymore.I spend hours teaching him to say a word,but he thinks it is fun and continue either laughing or babling in a happy manner.He just seems to me to be a too much of a happy-go-lucky kind of child.He seems very smart in all other activites and follows and understands almost all directions.PLease help.

I’m an SLP and I totally agree with you, Laura, about your original post re: oral motor exercises. I have a 3.5 yr old client who drools a lot, constantly has a wet mouth, and is unaware of his drooling. He’s done his share of blowers, bubbles, whistles, etc. I am not such a fan of working on non-speech activities for all the reasons you cited (well, Dr. Lof, cited), but at the same time, I’m not sure how exactly to treat this child’s excessive drooling and open mouth posture without invoking oral motor exercises (which haven’t exactly worked for him, so it’s kind of a catch-22). He is receptively and cognitively aware, and his expressive language is sometimes unclear, and I feel a lot of that is because he always has a wet mouth or is in need of swallowing saliva. Any ideas on what might help this child?