Saturday, February 21, 2009

Delay in Speech?

Initially my main intention of having this blog was to share my experience of triplets’ pregnancy; it then continued to share our experience of ups and downs in raising our miracle babies. Their journey and battle to live. Months and months of hospital stay, enough to make us suspend every now and then. Al-hamdulillah they are doing well now. They are almost there catching up with their chronological age.

Now that we are blessed with a full term baby; uZAir, we can see the difference of a full term and premie baby. It was a good thing that the premie came first then uZAir or else we would be so worried of hArith n athirAh’s progress coz we have a benchmark to compare (uZAir)
I’ve been wanting to write up on the difference of premie and full term from what that I have observe so far. When times permit me to do so, I will.

So far, I’m glad that we have taken the action of sending hArith n athirAh to the playgym class. Based on the last check up, their progress in term of physical development is at par. Of cause I can’t say for sure that the playgym helps them but I’m sure in a way or another, it does help. And of coz the toys we bought were being helpful too. Especially the mini climbing frame.
hArith and athirAh started crawling when they were around 9 – 10 months old (corrected age would be 6 – 7 months). And they stared walking when they were 16 – 17 months ( corrected age; 13 – 14 months). That’s consider good progress coz articles I read, there are premie who only started sitting at 14 months. Al-hamdulillah their playgym has helped them with their agility.


Them when they were 9 months





see, others could already sit but hArith n athirAh couldn't at the time they started the class



However, my concern now is their speech capability. The few words they can say is pApa, pah, baby and a-ti-yaaahhhh. Lately athirAh been calling out for Dija, she will look out the window towards the neighbours’ hse and say di-jaaaa. im not so sure if that were coincidence or she really means it. Other than that hArith would just point to what he wants. They are now 1 year 8 months…do u consider this as delay in their speech? However they have no problem in understanding instructions.


Dija; The Neighbour


I know some premie still cant talk a word at age 3 and some ended up needing to send their children for speech therapy. Yes, no doubt it’s even usual for some full-term baby to talk later but the thing with my kids…they have 2 reason for talking late (based on articles tat I read)

1. Being premature
2. Multiple babies; yes it is said that multiple babies tend to talk later because they can understand between them (baby talk) so they don’t see reason for them to learn to communicate with adults. Coz they already have their companion.

So the question now is, are my kids not talking just because they are among other full term kids who lambat cakap or because of the above two short coming? How do I know?

If it is because of the above two I do think it is important to counter the issue now to enable them to catch up with their chronological age vocabulary. Just like what we did for their physical development. Well, at the moment I have daily ‘playschool’ in my mind. That would allow them to socialize with others, hoping it could help their speech. When I was working in Cosmotot I could really see improvement in those yg ckp pelat nk mampus smpai kena teka2 ape lar budak ni tgh ckp jadi clear, terang n jelas in a month or two. But syauQi thinks there’s nothing to be worried about. I mean they fall under same cam other full term yg happen to cakap lmbat

Oh tapi kenapa fees playschool mostly sume cekik darah! And most of it nk kena bayar by semester, 3 bulan skaligus, not to mentioned starting kena bayar annual fees ah, deposit lah…jenuh lar kami nak bayar lump sum tuk 2 kepala. Ya Allah ya tuhan kami, murah kn lah rezeki kami. Ameen


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14 comments:

Mai Okinokiyo said...

munirah, i think nasya pun a bit slow in communication. but i cuma encourage her by talking dgn dia jek.and now getting better..only that toddler same age as her can say 2-3 words sekali arung tpi nasya still ckp sepatah2 and kene guide utk talk multiple words ni.but dr said ok..so what did now cuma ajar dia ckp multiple words and hopefully dia akan improve near the future.

i think u takyah risau sgt unless dorg mumbling and cant event sebut apa2.

adaho said...

dear mommy,
i think there's nothing to worry about,coz my son pon lmbt ckp,but luckily my hubby's cousin was a psychologist,so its a free consultation for us,heheh...anyway,she said that as long as the child can understand us n make a sound when they're talking ,there's nothing to be alarmed...in fact,my son still pelat..

so,dont worry k...

n i do agree with u,playschool fees nowadays is unbelieveable,they charged us like nobody business...

mOmmy of Triplets plus One said...

okinokiyo:
hmm i pun tak sure diorang ni under category cant say anything tak..sbb the only few word is, papa and pah. harith can call a-ti-yaaahh,tu je lah yg bleh diorang sebut.
so ni category they cant say anything tak?
but of coz they baby talk nonstop...

adaho:
hmm, tat's the thing. how do i know anak i lmbat ckp sbb they falss under the same group as other full term yg lmbat ckp or bcoz of the 2 reason i mentioned. sbb if bcoz of the 2 reason i hafta counter the prob cepat so they can catch up with their chronological age. the later i attend to this prob, the later they will catch up...

n the thing is i took up psychology mase undergrad...if ikutkn basi guideline of child development they chould be able to talk few words dh by now...tu yg im lil concern...

genny da bomb said...

no worries la mummy..anak saya pun lmbt cakap jugak..but once dia dh start cakap takde pelat!amazing huh!mula mmg risau dia lmbt cakap but takde la risau sgt coz dia bole paham instruction..dia start bcakap 2years plus..no bahasa2 baby2..kanak2..terus bahasa org besar2 hehehe..so..not to worry la mummy ye..

mektwain said...

hi mommy of triplets+1! it's me, the one who inquired about the "jumping-jumping" not long ago. :) my twins pun lambat cakap, they are almost 3 now. i also rasa sebab diorg berdua boleh je communicate with each other guna "bahasa" diorg, so diorg tak rasa the need to communicate with others. tapi lately diorg dah start cakap banyak. yg kelakarnya sorang twin lebih kepada cakap melayu, sorang cakap english. which is more proof yg diorg belajar bercakap ni bukan utk bercakap dgn each other pun, tapi utk bercakap dgn adults dan org2 lain, hehehe. sorang bila jatuh cakap, "uh-oh! jatuh!", sorang lagi bila jatuh cakap "i'm fine!". :D sorang cakap "taknak", sorang cakap "no thanks!". LOL. :D so don't worry, your kids will get there :).

Unknown said...

salam..

rasanya takde apa yg perlu dirisaukan. my son pun masih belum bercakap walaupun umur dah 1 tahun 9 bulan. words yang dia tau pun tak banyak.

babies ada development masing2. as long dia sihat, Insyaallah semuanya ok.

SyahNur said...

actually i pun wonder kenapa budak2 zaman skrg lmbt sgt berckp including my twins.. my mom n my MIL selalu citer yg kitorg adik beradik plus hubby punye adik beradik pun semua cepat ckp, at least by 1 yr 2 mths da petah berckp...
kalo i, i will concider my twins dok dlm lingkungan that 2 categories.. so, x la risau sgt... but i still keep talking n chatting with them mcm kite ckp dgn org besar.. hehe... alhamdulillah, bnyk vocab yg diorg da pndai sebut.. ikan, burung, itik, ibu, ayah, mamak (tok mak), cucut (susu), takut, sejuk, ayam, belon, beg, semut.. n bile i ajar diorg sebut satu2 benda tu, diorg akan ikut dgn tepat.. tp semua sepatah2 la.. x reti buat ayat lg...
p/s: i ajar anak2 semua ckp fully in malay.. hehe...

Anonymous said...

i have no comment but my Hafiy who is full term pun a but lambat in everything. merangkak = 8 bulan.

Muni jom join forum http://mysuperkids.net/forum

bole kita discuss bout many issues regarding parenting ;)

mirah said...

munirah, my khadijah (now 10months) baru nak merangkak. Suara punblh dgr masa jerit je lah. Berat pun 5.6kg je. Tp so far, i belum risau sgt lagi, klu ikutkan masa kakaknya yg full term? (37wks) pun berjalan lambat masa umur 14 bulan. Mula bercakap/ ada perkatan yg difahami masa umur setahun gak lah, tp rasanya khadijah ni might take longer time.
Within 2 yrs old, rasanya masih dlm tempoh observation, kalau after that mmg kena consult somebody yg expert lah kn..

kaezrin said...

munirah dearie..my son full term baby only starts talking when he was 2 yrs and 8 months old...he is a late starter..but when he get it mmg dah full sentences and takde pelat2 pun...

but i rasa at 1 yr 8 months tuh i think still ok...but the best thing u consult your paed or maybe u wanna try venturing with ENT specialist...but i think not to worry sgt!

bAiTi said...

salam,

no need to worry munirah. I think every kids have their own unique development.

what u can do is, selalu communicate dgn diaorang. Lagipun, the kids can say papa, dija etc kan? so, insya Allah ok tu. cuma lambat sikit jer. Hheheh.. nanti once dia dh boleh cakap, penat tau nak melayan :P like my 2 kids.

anyway, doa juga penting ;).

anese said...

t think no need to worry at all la..since umo dia 1yrs plus..lagipun dia prematured baby..it's ok..apa pun just keep talking to him..

I have autistic son. He had speech delay and less eye contact. Sy detect lambat since he is being normal smpi 2 yrs plus...dia boleh bercakap, bermain dgn org, menyanyi but then when he turns to 3 yrs dia less speech, eye contact semua tu...

Fot your son as long as dia punya communication skill like suka play dgn org, can share his toys with ppl, hv eye contact..i think it should be ok!! Don't worry dear...

sorry for my totsss...

salzahari said...

hi there!
lama x comment..emm,my Aliah pun agak lambat utk merangkak dan berjalan.tapi on speech, agak cepat! i guess as mommies,mmg kita akan worry and tend to compare! but once we over it,dah tak kisah..sooner or later,insyallah they will meet the milestone.

so don't worry too much ya dear??!

girl-charms said...

hye munirah
i think i've shared few thing with you pasal prematured baby dulu (since My arisha also prematured..born at 26th week at 915grams)
dia pun lmbt cakap n infact semua lmbt..dia duduk masa 1 tahun
while dia start boleh cakap ok when she was 4; when her adik ariana(full term baby) starts to talked

so insyaAllah they can talk pretty soon..our case more or less the same dear