Celticepona,
Did they ever give you a reason for the speech delays and sensory issues (such as a specific diagnosis?) I ask this because several people (including the speech/OT therapists, etc.) are hinting that he may be "on the Spectrum". He sees a child psychiatrist on the 20th of this month, and then a psychologist in June (there was a long wait list). They state that both of them are able to give a diagnosis if that's actually what he has.
I've looked up info on oxygen deprivation at birth, and although I know his apgars were low (3 and 7), his blood pH was always normal, both in the cord blood and the arterial and venous draws they did in the NICU. So technically, the info I've read said he really didn't have oxygen deprivation if his blood pH was in the normal range.
So, I guess we'll wait and see what his other appointments show. I'm anxious to get everything rolling (he's still waiting for therapy to be set up).
Thanks to everyone for their help!

We had/have sensory issues and speech delays with Emily, and she was my firstborn. I have no idea if this was caused by the PE or not but we knew something was off when she was about a year. We had to try several times with early intervention but finally got her services for OT. She only needed it for about a year and she made huge strides. Emily's sensory issues still present sometimes, (pressure seeking, noise sensitivity, texture sensitivity in her mouth and food aversions)and her social skills are sometimes 'different' when I compare her to other children her age. She loves to play with other kids but does not always pick up on social clues like personal space, etc...but she has come so far. I have to talk to Emily differently as well. I need to get her full attention before I speak to her otherwise she does not 'hear' me. Her speech really started to come around when she started preschool, and she made huge jumps and soon caught up...

its hard to tell where this comes from. My second child does not have these issues, but we caught PE early with her and got induced right away...Emily was in me for about a week and a half with PE before I was finally induced..I cant help but wonder if that had something to do with it...I have no clue...but hang in there, you are not alone. :)

My daughter was slightly speech delayed, probably due to ear congestion/ear infections. She never had quite enough ear infections for the pediatrician to talk ear tubes, but with hindsight I think she was having more infections than we realized. Sometimes my only clue she had an ear infection was if she was fussy or coughed a bit. She never ran a fever.

As a toddler signing helped. We checked out the signing time videos and "My baby can talk".

Right before she turned three I had her evaluated again for speech, they referred me to an ENT (apparently she was speaking "hypo-nasally".). We found out via a CT scan that she had huge adenoids. And her ears were congested again. At her pre-op appointment she had a bad ear infection again, and we didn't even know it! They said it wasn't uncommon for kids like her to be used to the discomfort and not complain. :( Ever since her adenoidectomy and having ear tubes put in her speech has greatly improved.

Alisa, my second daughter had oxygen deprivation before/at birth. She had respiratory issues throughout childhood, ear infections and asthma. She was a little shy and slow to warm as a young child, but I think her speech was age appropriate. She grew out of all of it, and is now finishing her junior year in college- pre med!

Sounds like my pe child. Didn't talk until 30 months. And then, suddenly, around 35 months, these 20 word sentences popped out, shocked the speech therapist. But she's 4, in preschool, and the teacher says she plays by herself, not with other kids. I've taken her to birthday parties. Other kids her age run around and play with each other. She does not play chase. She cries if somebody takes "her" toy, when the other kid just wants to pretend play with her. She doesn't read with other kids like they do with each other. But that's why I sent her to preschool, she needed to see the other kids play with each other, to observe it, and eventually, she'll learn how to do it too. But somehow I think she's going to learn how to read first.

My mom spoke with a friend of hers (who happens to be a child psychologist) about our son. This friend asked her a lot of questions regarding his behavior, his speech, etc. and she stated that he did not seem to have autism at all, and that he has classic symptoms of oxygen deprivation at birth (which he had). Has anyone else been told this?

Thanks!

I suggest looking into Early Intervention (or a Birth to 3) program, they are free and you can still be enrolled since your son is not 3 yet. Michael is only 15 mos but is enrolled to follow his hearing loss and overal speech development.

Thank you all for your replys!

We've been trying to change the way we speak with our son. Before, I would just speak to him about everything that was going on, pointing out different things we saw, etc. But to get a response out of him, I would have to ask him several times. Now I've found that if I point at my nose first and say "Look at mommy's nose!" and get his attention and eye contact first, then ask the question, he responds a lot more rapidly.

His eye contact has improved a lot in the last few months. He's started saying yes and no ("yeah" and "o") and shaking his head. This is the extent of his responding to conversation, but it's a BIG step! -- Except the "no" part has kind-of backfired, of course, with his being 2 1/2 and that being his new favorite word :-) He's able to name a lot of objects now, but still doesn't put two words together. But he is usually always able to communicate his needs.

My family keeps telling me that "he's perfect" and he'll grow out of it, mostly because my brother didn't speak until he was almost 3. I feel that our little guy will probably "grow out of it" too, but with him being so delayed now, I would just hate to wait and see and have him have major problems later, you know?

Thanks so much!

Hugs mama,

It is possible that his early birth contributed to his delays. It's also possible that it didn't and had he been full-term you'd still see him develop the same way. I think 1e alwayss want answers to the why questiosn - esp Pre-e moms and preemie moms, btu the answers are nto always there.

What we do have is what you are doing - interventions that can hopefully help our little ones thrive. Sorry to hear about the waiting for services, that must be very frustrating when you want help for your child. I hope they will be able to provide him the services he needs.

For now some ideas I have (please note I am not a therapy professional - just a mom who has interacted with many other children as well) - play with him, verbalizing everything you can as you interact - esp. focusing on enunciation of the words/sounds. Do a lot of repeating of what he says - again emphasizing how you enunciate the words. As much as possible, when you speak to him get down to his level and try to make eye contact (without forcing the issue.)

My son went through a similar pattern that you've described (he was born much earlier, though). Due to his very early arrival, we were in EI from the time he came home from the hospital so we didn't have to wait very long for evals, but I did have to convince the main office that I thought my son needed ST in addition to the OT/PT he was already doing so I know it's frustrating to wait.

My son started ST when he was about 26 months old. He had very few words, but he was signing. He also started a 2 day a week preschool around that time and I noticed the same behaviors as you. He played by kids, not with them. Never really even noticed them. We worked really hard on maintaining eye contact with him whenever we were speaking with him (including going across the room to actually look into his eyes and repeat what ever I had just said). I think he just needed to know that was the expected response. It took time (and a lot of ST - Jacob was diagnosed with apraxia of speech), but he's 5 1/2 now, no longer in ST, and socially and verbally just like the rest of the kids in his kindergarten class.

Jacob has known his alphabet since he was about 2 and has loved to count. Reading came very easy to him and it's his favorite thing to do. He's just recently discovered addition which he thinks is so much fun. His nature just seems to be a watch and observe rather than jump in feet first, but it seems to serve him well. I know that it's still hard to not worry.

You are doing the right thing by paying attention and asking for additional help. I second getting a formal request from your ped b/c that might make things a bit easier if your local EI is initially less than ideal in working with you.