2yo ds is under the 1st percentile!

amother

Mon, Mar 21 2011, 6:19 pm

Ds was evaluated for speech. I knew he was behind, but we got the write-up today and he is BELOW the first percentile (which doesn't even make mathematical sense, but whatever)! That means over 99% of the other 2yos communicate better than him.

I'm a little devastated by this. My older ds has all of the services, so I'm not new to this, but this just seems SO delayed.
Sad

amother

Mon, Mar 21 2011, 6:32 pm

I'm sorry. My daughter had significant speech delays (spoke around 3 words by age 3) and spent over a year in the EI system before aging out. Her evaluator thought she had a significant cognitive delay. At almost 4.5 she attends a special needs public school and talks all the time b"h, tells jokes, and generally seems to behave like a normal kid her age. I've heard of children making similar progress over a shorter period of time.

I've not heard of a delay being described that way--my daughter's delay was quantified by describing her developmental age, that her speech at 3 years was typical of a child less than 24 months.

It is definitely mathematically possible to be below the first percentile (I've heard of this used to describe kids' height/ weight and that's what I thought this post was about based on the title).

MaBelleVie

Mon, Mar 21 2011, 7:21 pm

I imagine this must be difficult for you. Please remember that kids sometimes score lower than their true abilities when they're tested, especially when it comes to young kids who are not comfortable talking and playing with strangers. Either way, now that you're starting therapy you will most likely see progress. Hugs again!

the world's best mom

Mon, Mar 21 2011, 8:58 pm

It's always tough to hear that your child is more delayed than you realized. Some things to keep in mind:

1- evaluators who see that a child needs therapy badly try to make the kid soound as bad as possible so they can get the services they need. They often try a few tests and use the one that shows the lowest score.

2- With therapy, kids usually improve a ton, especially if they begin before they turn 3 years old. This is the time when the brain is growing a tremendous amount and the therapy can help much more than it can later on.

3- Just some advice- Try to be as involved as possible in your child's therapy so that you can carry over all of the excercises even when ds is not having therapy. That's the best way to see progress.

amother

Mon, Mar 21 2011, 9:19 pm

I'm the amother who commented earlier about the "under the 1st percentile" part. I meant to add that think this is a flawed way to discuss a child's development and that it is tough to differentiate between, say, the 1st or tenth percentile in many cases. It's possible that your child did not test according to his abilities. My daughter's speech delay was so profound that the evaluator thought she had cognitive delays too, though I disagreed. Now b"h she talks in full sentences, knows the alphabet, and taught herself a little aleph beis in an effort to keep up with her big brother.

I hope that you see similar progress with your child, only even faster than I did.

I agree that being involved in your child's therapy will help a lot, as I'm sure you've seen with your older child.

tzipp

Mon, Mar 21 2011, 9:39 pm

Keep in mind what a percentile is- a comparison to other kids. Please ask the evaluater or therapist to go through actual criteria for speech language development with you, and discuss where your daughter is holding in each category and how the therapist and you can work on each area.

I hope if this can help you see things more by what is your child ok in and what is your child behind in, and how it will be approached it will take away that "edge".