Community Forum Archive

The Epilepsy Community Forums are closed, and the information is archived. The content in this section may not be current or apply to all situations. In addition, forum questions and responses include information and content that has been generated by epilepsy community members. This content is not moderated. The information on these pages should not be substituted for medical advice from a healthcare provider. Experiences with epilepsy can vary greatly on an individual basis. Please contact your doctor or medical team if you have any questions about your situation. For more information, learn about epilepsy or visit our resources section.

toddlers with speech delays?

Wed, 06/25/2008 - 02:03

I'm just curious how many epileptic toddlers out there have a speech delay. 

 Owen will be 2 in a couple of weeks.  He's been on Keppra for about a month. He says MAYBE
10-12 words.  Most of them sound like Ba.  He's in speech therapy and has been since January, with some progress.

I wonder if there may be some connection... 

Comments

Re: toddlers with speech delays?

Submitted by my3peanuts on Wed, 2008-08-06 - 23:55
My son will be 2 in a few weeks. He has a couple things that sound like they might be words but hard to tell.

Re: toddlers with speech delays?

Submitted by kdredske on Thu, 2008-08-07 - 06:39

Hi LittleO'sMom,

I have a son who is almost 2.5 now and he doesn't have e. At 2 I was worried just like you because he had hardly any words and they too were mostly "ba" sounding. Don't worry about it. He's not even delayed in learning probably. I asked a lot of moms and the pediatrician and everyone told me the same thing. First, if you watch, there's probably a lot of other things he's concentrating on learning to do. Therefore, speech is coming slower because he's put it on the back burner. Next, the pediatrician asked us if our son understood things when we told him to do stuff. He understands everything and we can tell that. He said not to worry as long as he understands what you tell him because he's seen lots of kids that say very little at 2 and by 3 have a huge vocabulary.

I can tell you that at 2 Joey said very little. Then all the sudden in the last 2 months he's really blossomed at trying to say lots of new words. Many of them still have ba and da in them. He hasn't mastered the other consonant sounds yet. Even though he says mama he won't use the m sound with anything but mama yet.

So don't worry. It's actually normal for boys to learn speech slower than girls and he's not behind. He's probably just working on learning something else that doesn't require speech yet.

:o) Karen

Hi LittleO'sMom,

I have a son who is almost 2.5 now and he doesn't have e. At 2 I was worried just like you because he had hardly any words and they too were mostly "ba" sounding. Don't worry about it. He's not even delayed in learning probably. I asked a lot of moms and the pediatrician and everyone told me the same thing. First, if you watch, there's probably a lot of other things he's concentrating on learning to do. Therefore, speech is coming slower because he's put it on the back burner. Next, the pediatrician asked us if our son understood things when we told him to do stuff. He understands everything and we can tell that. He said not to worry as long as he understands what you tell him because he's seen lots of kids that say very little at 2 and by 3 have a huge vocabulary.

I can tell you that at 2 Joey said very little. Then all the sudden in the last 2 months he's really blossomed at trying to say lots of new words. Many of them still have ba and da in them. He hasn't mastered the other consonant sounds yet. Even though he says mama he won't use the m sound with anything but mama yet.

So don't worry. It's actually normal for boys to learn speech slower than girls and he's not behind. He's probably just working on learning something else that doesn't require speech yet.

:o) Karen

Re: toddlers with speech delays?

Submitted by siege on Thu, 2008-08-07 - 10:40
Same here.  At 2 he didn't say much.  6 months later, his speech exploded.  Just wait!

Sign Up for Emails

Stay up to date with the latest epilepsy news, stories from the community, and more.