Letter From a Mom: My 8 year old girl has Down syndrome and is still not talking clearly. She was tube fed for the first 4 and a half years of her life, which greatly contributed to her delay. Her receptive skills are high and she signs, but needs prompts to sign. She is learning to talk slowly and more and more words are coming through.
She is doing much better than when she was in public school, but I am thinking about getting a speech consultant every month for ideas. I believe that she will talk clearly some day, or at least more clearly than she does now.

I would appreciate knowing any type of time your child took to talk and if anyone else had a speech delay due to tube feeing.

RESPONSE #1

My daughter with Down Syndrome is now 10 years old. Hannah had a few words (very few) at about 3 years old, but didn't really "talk" until she was 5. She used some sign language to communicate what she wanted - drink, eat, play, TV, etc., and then when she began speaking, those signs dropped off (through no effort on our part).

At the time, I thought her acquisition of speech was very slow, but when considering her developmental age, rather than her chronological age, it was okay. We had trouble remembering that everything is grasped at a slower rate, and just like our other children, sometimes they are working on one skill - maybe mobility, and other skills sort of stagnate for a while. Then they pick up.

Bev in TX Parclan@aol.com