Derrick has a delay - and what we are doing about it

I try not to compare my kids to other kids.  But a few months ago I started to notice that Derrick didn't say as many words as other children his age.

He had about five sounds that he used like words but he didn't really say any real words.  Here is pretty much a complete list of Derrick's vocabulary.

Ahhhhh-Duhhhhh = Vacuum
Ou = Out
OOOOOOOO = Dog, Stuffed Animal, Baby, Veronica (I think it's funny that Veronica is classified as a stuffed animal)
Dadadada = something really interesting possibly means "that that that"
Dah? Dah? Dah? = what is that.  He loves to point at things and say this word.
Hmmmmmm Hmmmmm = his response when you tell him what something is.
Unna-Unna-Unna = I want something

I didn't worry too much about his lack of other words.  He's always been they type of kid that waits to do something until he is absolutely ready to do it.  For example, when he was learning to walk he stood for weeks before he took his first steps.  And then he hardly ever fell.  I figured he was just waiting to talk until he felt comfortable.

He was just fine in every other area.  He could run, jump, drink out of a regular cup, eat with a fork, climb things, play with his sisters, and do everything else that a little toddler boy should do.  I made jokes that he was "just a jock."

My eyes, or rather ears, were opened when we spent time with Brandon's brother Bryan and his family over Christmas.  Bryan's daughter is only 3 weeks younger than Derrick but she could say many words and was putting 2 and even 3 words together into sentences.

At first I told myself that she was just advanced, but then I started thinking about the fact that Derrick still only had a vocabulary of less than 10 words. Derrick should at least have more words by this point, was there something wrong?

I decided that I'd talk to Derrick's doctor about his lack of words at his 2 year old checkup.  But then I noticed that Derrick seemed to get really frustrated.  Like fall on the floor, high pitched screaming, frustrated. April seemed like a long time to wait.

So I did my usual due diligence research and asked my facebook friends what they thought.  This is what I asked.

I need some advise from any parents who had children who talked late. Derrick will be 2 years old in April and he doesn't say any words. He has about 5 phrases that he uses like words, but he doesn't say any real words. He doesn't even say Mama or Dada, or yes or no. He can hear just fine and understands pretty much everything I say.
Right now I'm not concerned, but I wonder if I should get him checked out just in case I'm missing something. At what point do I worry?

I am so grateful for the many people who responded.  Several people shared that they or someone they knew talked late and was just fine.  Other people suggested that I get his hearing checked. Some people gave me advise on how to get him to talk.  Several people suggested calling up the local Early Intervention people to have Derrick evaluated.  One of those suggestions came from my friend Tanja who has a back ground in speech language pathology.  She sent me a link to the Texas Early Intervention program.   

As I read through all the comments I realized two things.  

1.  I had no idea how to get Derick to talk.  Usually I have tons of ideas.  I'm an idea person.  But I didn't have any ideas for things that would help Derrick.  Some people had suggested that I wait to give him things until he said the word.  I thought, "there is no way on this planet that will work.  He will just scream his high pitched scream and fall on the floor."     

And 2. I had nothing to lose by calling up Early Intervention.  If they said he was fine then at least I could stop wondering.  And if he wasn't fine then we could put together a plan to help him.  

So I called the number that I found on the website Tanja gave me.  That number directed me to another number where I gave my name and a little bit of info about Derrick.  A few days later a lady from the ECI office in Cove called me up and scheduled an evaluation.  

At the evaluation I answered questions about Derrick while a lady played with Derrick to evaluate his abilities with language, cognitive thinking, and fine and gross motor skills. At the end of the evaluation it was clear that he did have a speech delay.  Once the ladies told me that I was like, "Well duh.  I've known that forever.  But I just didn't realize it."  It was also nice to know that there wasn't anything else wrong.  (I'll admit, I was worried about autism.)

We had another appointment to set up some goals for Derrick's development.  The ECI staff observed that he doesn't make a lot of consonant sounds so getting him to say those is one of our main goals.  We also want him to be able to point to objects when asked.  (Right now he doesn't even point to his own nose or other body parts).  I asked them if we could work on teaching him to say "Yes" and "No."  I don't care if he yells "No" at the top of his lungs.  Even that would be so much better than his current way of flipping out.

We are also in the process of getting Derrick's hearing checked.  He can hear, but we don't know what the quality of his hearing is.  He's had some ear infections so it's possible he has fluid in his ears that's making everything sound like it's under water.  

In the weeks since his evaluation, Derrick has started saying Array for Hurray and MMMMM when we read the M page of Doctor Seuss's ABC book.  He says something like "eaeh" when he wants to read the ABC book or when he sees letters.  He's also been known to say, "ar" for "car," but he wont do it for me.

Today was his first in-home therapy session.  A very nice lady named Christina came to our house and basically played with Derrick for an hour.  She also gave me some suggestions for things I can do with him to help him learn his sounds.  I'm glad its an in-home service.  I don't know if it would be worth it to me to find a babysitter and drive Derrick somewhere every week.  

I put together this little video to document some of Derrick's sounds.  That way I can look back on it and see the progress he's making.  It's a really long video so I only expect the Grandparents to make it all the way through.  (Charlotte "reading" to Derrick was just to cute to cut.)

So anyway, this has been kind of a long winded post.  I guess the point of this whole thing is that I'm glad I am able to get help for Derrick.