Speech & 18 month old - any insight?

[chocolatepie]

At 15 months, DS had no words - some babbling but was much quieter than most children his age + often did this annoying humming/mmmmm closed mouth sound. I asked the ped at his 15 month about evaluation and she wasn't overly concerned, since his other milestones were met, but supported my request.

He was evaluated at 16 months by our early steps program, aced all other areas of development but did qualify - barely - for speech and it took another month before that started.

The mmmmm humming is nails on a chalkboard and it seems to be getting worse. He does it almost like language - the pitch goes up and down, depending on what he wants, and he uses it to tell us things. Does that make sense? He also does it some when he plays and eats. He doesn't do it much at daycare, interestingly, and it gets worse as the day goes on. If we are at the beach or park playing, we don't hear it unless he wants something out of the bag (he makes the noise while pointing at what he wants) but it starts back up in the car. 

My DH, especially, is struggling with patience and often has to walk out of the house to escape it. It's grating to me, too, but I end up doing primary parenting later in the evening because he is at his wit's end and I'm the only one left standing with an ounce of patience. This has caused some resentment on my end but I truly do understand that we can't always control things that trigger us (and when my fuse is short after a hard day at work, I feel the same!).

The speech therapist has only been with him 2 sessions but doesn't seem to have had another child do this. She said anytime she sees something like it, it goes hand in and with oral sensory issues, a child that hasn't had good modeling, a child with poor oral muscle tone, or a child with other developmental concerns. She seems a little stumped and I was hoping she'd have the magic answer - ha! 

Her working theory is that it's a self-regulation practice AND a form of communication that has worked for him. But then it doesn't explain why he was completely closed mouth and silent the entire speech session but started the "mmmm" sound the minute DH walked into the room and didn't stop the rest of the session. Next week, he's going to attend the session and I'm going to stay at work to see how he does.

I work in child dev but this is way above my pay grade and education. I can recognize that his closed mouth silence for long stretches of time is abnormal. I can recognize that the consistent mmmmm sound is abnormal at this age (is normal at that peak teething time as an infant). I've not had a child in any of my programs or classes that has done this so I'm looking for anyone that has any other ideas or things we could try.

(things we are working on: getting him to mimic the few sounds he does have, licking popsicles, blowing bubbles, mirror play to get him to open his mouth when we do, finding things that will immediately stop the sound - like playing music or a special activity. Any other things you can think of?)

Has anyone bought the Speech Sisters late talker program? Is it counterproductive to buy and implement some of their ideas while also in speech?

Thanks for any insight, experience, or suggestions you can pass on  

[lilac05]

I’m not familiar with Speech Sisters aside from a quick Google search. My gut says that if you’re already working with an SLP and are also capable of googling early language development tips, you can save your $100 on the courses. There are lots of free resources online that can probably give you the same information.

Does he make any purposeful oral sounds? “Ahhh” “ohhh”

It’s going to take some time. If you feel like this SLP is invested in solving this issue and helping him, give her some time to do some digging and some more listening about how this works for him. That said, if you feel like she’s just saying, “Gee, I don’t know! Huh. Weird.” then it’s OK to look for a different therapist. Not all SLPs are created equal. If the one you’ve got isn’t the right fit, it’s OK to move on.

[lessel]

I feel like DS2 does that sound, but it's not quite as constant as it seems to be for your DS. Our guy was in speech staring around 18mo. Identified at 15mo zero words and few sounds. (He wasn't doing the humming thing though then.) He was in ST for a few months pre-COVID, then we tried/failed at teletherapy. He's improved a ton over the past year though... moved from animal sounds to mama/dada to single words to short phrases. He's turning 3 in June and just got re-tested for transition from the EI program to school system services--we think he failed to qualify, still waiting to hear. So that's good news for us that he's improved quite a bit. (He has some other sensory issues that we've done OT for too.) He's still generally quieter at school--speaks when spoken to kind of thing. He's chatty at home now and says full sentences and uses modifiers ("I want the big monster truck, mama").

I would say in the past 3 or so months, he's started doing a humming thing. He kind of shuts his mouth and either talks into his mouth, so it's completely muffled and unintelligible or he's only giving us mhmm or mmmm+shake head no answers. I feel like it's happening in a few situations more often--someone new is around and he's being shy (this happened with the re-evaluation this week... took him a long while to even start whispering to me); when he's tired (so, lots of evenings and mornings we only get mhmmms); or when he's having a tantrum (he like goes nonverbal when upset). I will also say I feel like it happens more when he's with DH, who is more the authoritative parent.

That's all a lot of rambling I suppose. I don't really have an answer, but I guess the tl;dr is you're not alone.

Is he in daycare? How's receptive language?

[purplepenguin7]

My daughter is 2.5 and has been in speech therapy for since 20 months or so (she qualified around 15 momths but COVID screwed everything up for us). She doesn't do any humming sounds like that, but I did want to chime in because I follow the Speech Sisters on Instagram. I never bought their program because my daughter already has two SLPs (long story), but I do like their content on IG.

[chocolatepie]

Apr 21, 2021 11:51:59 GMT -5 lessel said:

I feel like DS2 does that sound, but it's not quite as constant as it seems to be for your DS. Our guy was in speech staring around 18mo. Identified at 15mo zero words and few sounds. (He wasn't doing the humming thing though then.) He was in ST for a few months pre-COVID, then we tried/failed at teletherapy. He's improved a ton over the past year though... moved from animal sounds to mama/dada to single words to short phrases. He's turning 3 in June and just got re-tested for transition from the EI program to school system services--we think he failed to qualify, still waiting to hear. So that's good news for us that he's improved quite a bit. (He has some other sensory issues that we've done OT for too.) He's still generally quieter at school--speaks when spoken to kind of thing. He's chatty at home now and says full sentences and uses modifiers ("I want the big monster truck, mama").

I would say in the past 3 or so months, he's started doing a humming thing. He kind of shuts his mouth and either talks into his mouth, so it's completely muffled and unintelligible or he's only giving us mhmm or mmmm+shake head no answers. I feel like it's happening in a few situations more often--someone new is around and he's being shy (this happened with the re-evaluation this week... took him a long while to even start whispering to me); when he's tired (so, lots of evenings and mornings we only get mhmmms); or when he's having a tantrum (he like goes nonverbal when upset). I will also say I feel like it happens more when he's with DH, who is more the authoritative parent.

That's all a lot of rambling I suppose. I don't really have an answer, but I guess the tl;dr is you're not alone.

Is he in daycare? How's receptive language?

So interesting you've seen something similar and only in specific situations! Thank you for sharing some of your experiences.

He is in daycare but it's in-home and not very structured, in general. His receptive language seems to be normal for his age. He responds to directions, points/pickups the correct object, etc. We just aren't getting any specific word or sound paired with anything yet...

[chocolatepie]

Apr 21, 2021 12:46:15 GMT -5 @hiphopanonymous said:

I am not qualified to address any of that. Your thoughts on activities like blowing bubbles made me think of other blowing activities we do though that might help you change it up a bit. My kid loves blowing dandelions, blowing out birthday candles (we put them on everything and he demands I sing to him), candlelit baths so he can blow out candles, and we use tons of bath bubbles, scoop them into our hands and blow them as hard as we can to get them to stick to the wall.

Great ideas! thank you! I love the birthday candle idea and will pick some up this weekend! 

[sent]

I'm not an expert at anything speech related but since it is mouth related, have you taken him to a pediatric dentist? I'm just wondering if all the structures inside his mouth are developed properly and the sound isn't an accommodation to something inside the mouth and has now become a habit.

[luv2rn4fun]

I haven’t dealt with this specific issue but DS1 regressed in speech at his 15 month appointment so we started speech for a couple months at 18 months old. We stopped when we moved (19/20 months old) and I wish we never did. He had a language explosion and DS2 was about to be born (and then was born and life was crazy). Anyways, we had him evaluated for behavior issues and he ended up qualifying for school district speech when he was 4yo and is still receiving services now at almost 6.5yo (he has ASD).

Another thought is that he might be doing it because it has worked for him in some form. DS1 does a ton of attention seeking behaviors, even if it’s negative attention that he’s getting. He’s also so much more likely to do these things even more with DH who gives more of a reaction to the behaviors. Only saying this because you said your DH doesn’t have the patience for it...we have the same issue here and it definitely can cause some behaviors to never go away. If it is attention seeking then the behavior will likely increase for awhile, until he realizes he isn’t going to get the reaction...then it will still take a lot of time and consistency for change to occur.

I would continue with speech though, especially if the SLP is actively trying to solve the problem. Early intervention is SO much easier and faster than later when bad habits are more solidified and harder to break (we are currently working with DS1 on nasal emission and I fear he will forever talk through his nose on certain sounds).

[aprilsails]

I know you said his receptive language is good, but do you have any concerns about his hearing or have you had it checked? My MIL has terrible tinnitus and she tends to hum to herself all the time and doesn’t even notice it since it makes the tinnitus sound better.

[sahara78]

I was going to ask if he’s had a hearing test, too.

My DD sucked her fingers (well, she still does at 8). When she was younger, she’d talk with her fingers in her mouth, so everything just sounded like “Hmm-hmm!” She stopped that by around age 5. She will still hum in response to questions when she’s upset, though.

[outnumbered]

Apr 21, 2021 19:32:48 GMT -5 chocolatepie said:

Apr 21, 2021 12:46:15 GMT -5 @hiphopanonymous said:

I am not qualified to address any of that. Your thoughts on activities like blowing bubbles made me think of other blowing activities we do though that might help you change it up a bit. My kid loves blowing dandelions, blowing out birthday candles (we put them on everything and he demands I sing to him), candlelit baths so he can blow out candles, and we use tons of bath bubbles, scoop them into our hands and blow them as hard as we can to get them to stick to the wall.

Great ideas! thank you! I love the birthday candle idea and will pick some up this weekend! 

You can also pick up some straws and ping pong ball(or any lightweight ball).   Use the straws to blow the ping pong balls around.  Our SLP also suggested a harmonica or whistle and one of those party things that unroll when you blow.

[Patsy Baloney]

Oh, my guy is almost 2 and hums like that. I’m not sure if it’s comparable - he was born with a cleft in his soft palate, so he hummed a lot as an infant to protect his airway during feeding. Now, he hums a lot while he plays, and sometimes just does an, “Uhhhh uhhhhh uhhhh,” rhythmic thing absentmindedly.

My H and daughter are big talkers, so I imagine my son will be, too, and this is him just filling space with sound before the words come 😂

My son just had a visit with his cleft team and the speech therapist pegged him on the low end of normal with speech development (words, consonant sounds, etc.) and he’s only had a whole palate for less than a year now, so I don’t think I’d consider the humming a problem - but yes, annoying!