I'm not an expert or a therapist or a doctor. Just a mama. Do I…
The Assessment For A 2-Year Old Toddler With Possible Speech Delay
I guess I’m quite paranoid about my children’s development, considering the fact that I missed Ayub’s autism despite all the many symptoms from the time he was an infant.
Aisha is a quiet baby. She doesn’t babble. Her first word was ‘Mama’ and for a long time, many many many months, all she said was ‘Mama.’ I felt like Aisha may have a speech delay. So we made an appointment with Oasis Place to have her speech assessed. Here’s what a speech assessment for a 2-year old toddler is like 🙂
Spoilers: It’s super cute.
Initial concerns
I felt that Aisha’s speech was delayed. Her vocab didn’t seem to surpass the 50 word mark, which is the milestone for her age. And she’s unable to put 2-3 words together. Everything else seemed on track developmentally.
Filling out the pre-assessment form
If you’re planning on bringing your kiddo to Oasis Place for any kind of assessment, you’ll have to fill out a pre-assessment form first. You can get the one for speech here 🙂
You should also bring any other assessments from other doctors, hospitals, centres etc. Plus assessments from teachers at school. But this was Aisha’s first time doing an assessment and she attends the school of cute at home, so she came with nothing.
The assessment includes a lot of playing
Mr Ninja, Aisha, and I were brought to a little room where we sat on the floor and the therapist took out a big toy barn. Aisha was reluctant to play and wanted to leave almost immediately. So I put her on my lap and we started looking at the little plastic animals.
After a few minutes she warmed up and for the rest of the session she was wandering around the room, playing with toys, jumping on beanbags, and generally enjoying herself.
1. Testing vocabulary
I was shocked to hear Aisha say as many words as she did that morning.
At home, her vocab seems pretty limited to around 50 or less words. Her top picks: Mama, Ayah, Ayub, Man (Sulaiman), Ah Mah, buu (blue), chocwet (chocolate), nooooo, yas.
But during the session, she could name all the animals. I’ve never heard her say rabbit before. I didn’t think she knew the word. Then when she saw the rabbit, she said “reddit.” Lol. And cow. I’ve never heard her say cow. But she said cow. She called a sheep a “shit” which was fun. Then she made all the animals “shwim” because that’s obviously the best thing in the world to do.
2. Playing with Mrs Potato Head
To check she knows body parts I guess? Aisha didn’t want to put the bits into Mrs Potato Head. So she just watched and oohed and aahed and laughed and giggled and pointed to her eyes and nose and ears and mouth. Stuff like that.
3. Looking at the flip book
This is my favourite. Just watch the video with the sound on. I’m tired of writing.
4. Other miscellaneous things
- The therapist put a ball next to a box and asked Aisha to put the ball in the box. No prob.
- “Put in” the therapist said. “Puuuut… in.” Aisha repeated. Two words together for the first time.
- Where’s the bird? Aisha points to the balloon. The bird, Aisha? Where’s the bird? “Bwoooon,” Aisha says. Ooh, what’s this? “Birt.” What about this? “Cukki.”
- The therapist took out a bear, Aisha exclaimed “bear bear!” Next to the bear were a few objects. The therapist told Aisha that bear bear was hungry. So Aisha picked up a spoon and shoved it into the bear’s mouth. Then the therapist said bear bear was thirsty. Aisha picked up a cup and tipped it into the bear’s mouth. Finally the therapist said bear bear was sleepy. Aisha said “no.” Bear bear is sooooo tired, bear bear wants to sleep. “NO.” Bear bear needs a blanket to sleep. “NOOOOOOOO!” Aisha got up and ran off.
- Where are your socks? Aisha pointed to her feet. Where are your pants? Aisha tapped her legs. Where is your shirt? Aisha rubbed her tummy.
The conclusion
The therapist estimates Aisha’s vocab to be around 100 words or more. Her comprehension is high. Can follow instructions. If she doesn’t understand, she asks “uh?” She knows body parts, colours, and lots of nouns. We just have to help support her language by giving her more verbs so she can start constructing sentences. More words. All the words.
Aisha signs quite often. Her own signs. She has signs for swim, walk, hot, open.
The kiddo says “uh” a lot. Uh Mama. Uh cat. Uh yellow. The “uh” may just be her universal word in place of every word she doesn’t yet know how to pronounce.
We were recommended to bring her for a hearing test as she hasn’t had one before to rule out any hearing problems.
All in all, it’s just a relief to get her assessed. Whether or not she has a speech delay. Such a relief. When Ayub got his diagnosis of autism, it was a relief too. Because we finally knew what was going on. And again, now we know what’s going on with Aisha.
If you’re wondering if you kiddo has any kind of delays or development issues, go and get an assessment.
Aisha’s assessment cost around RM560 and was an hour long. Government hospitals also conduct assessments for free or at a minimal fee (Ayub went for multiple in Serdang Hospital, Putrajaya Hospital, and HKL). The only reason why we continue to go to Oasis Place is because we are able to get weekly therapy for Ayub (govt hospitals only have capacity to provide therapy once a month or once every three months).
Perfectly regular, average and wonderful.
My benchmark for speech development has been Sulaiman. Now I realise that Sulaiman is advanced. At this age, he was already saying words like hexagon, violet, Jupiter, and singing in multiple languages. He’s an odd one.
Wondering if your child’s speech is on track?
Check out this post for a rough guide on where your kiddo should be according to their age.
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