By Leeanne Good
As a mother I knew that Rory’s language was not developing as that of a ‘typical’ 2-year-old. I had expressed concerns at nursery, however, was told that his sounds and words would develop at their own pace and all children are different. This didn’t stop me worrying that he was falling further behind his peers.
At age 3 and a half it was clear to me that Rory needed a little more support with his language than we could give him at home. We were getting increasingly concerned that he wasn’t being understood by his peers and worried about him socially being excluded or mocked.
The best thing we did was ask to be referred to Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) where we were put in contact with a therapist. Rory and Lesley struck up a bond almost immediately and after assessment it was said that Rory had Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Initially this was very worrying as we felt that we had failed him as parents and hadn’t given him enough opportunities or support. However, with amazing input from SLT, lots of reinforcement and ‘work’ at home and enthusiasm from Rory he made significant improvements and met all his goals that were set. I would stress though that Rory needed lots of input at home by way of modelling and positive reinforcement through games, play and in natural conversation. This required commitment from the whole family and sharing strategies with nursery.
Rory has now started primary school and strategies have been passed to his teacher to highlight and help with his DLD. As a mother this made the transition to primary school much easier and less stressful and worrying. Rory has settled into primary school well and is making friends and is happy. What else could a mother want?