firehorse

My 5 year old nephew didn't talk until 2, and his speech is quite effected today. He began receiving speech therapy at around 1 yr old - yes before he began to speak. His therapist taught him sign language, had him point to objects she named to develop his speech comprehension and worked on feeding. My nephew still has the tongue thrust reflex - his tongue pushes the food out when he chews, and he has a hard time sipping from a straw. The sign language was great because he was able to signal us when he wanted 'more', and other things long before he was able to make the sounds. His language skills were developing well before he could speak.

Making the sounds of speech is not the same as understanding and expressing yourself with language. In addition to the early sign language use, my nephew is already reading, and even though he speaks slowly and can be hard to understand, he makes very complex sentences and he understands EVERYTHING he hears (which means we have to watch our mouths - he lets us know when we've said a 'bad' word). From talking to him it seems like the voice in his head speaks clearly, but he has a hard time making the sounds. In his case, its the lack of motor control of his mouth and tongue that are the problem, not a delay in acquiring language.

You're lucky your child is walking and running. Nicky may never do those things unassisted (he has low tone with spastic quadrants). Still, I think the trouble he has speaking will be the biggest challenge for him - it will affect him with his peers more than being in a wheelchair will IMO.

Keep talking and reading to your daughter, she will find ways to 'speak' even if she has a hard time vocalizing.