Speech delay due to fluid collection in the middle ear.

Speech delay is often connected to /“blamed” on a child's gender or on the quantity of languages a child is exposed to. It is true that trilingual children definitely face more challenges than bilingual children do and bilingual children face more challenges than monolingual kids do. But be realistic. If you feel that you put a lot of efforts in your bilingual child’s language development and the results are not proportional to your input, it is time to search for doctor’s help.


This life story from Priscila Kohler will illustrate one of the possible causes of speech delay in children and I hope it will help many of you to act promptly to avoid possible complications.

I am Brazilian, and I am married to a Norwegian guy. We live in Norway and communicate in English between ourselves. When our son Martin was born, we decide to raise him trilingual. I only spoke Portuguese, my husband English, and Norwegian he would have to learn from the school.

I have two close friends whom had their children at the same time as me. So it was natural for me, a first time mom, to “compare” the development of the kids. By the time their children were 2 years old and talking, Martin was not.

And two main things kept us from seeking proper help, let’s say.

First, he was the only one being raised in a trilingual environment. So, people would say that many children would delay their speaking because of that, especially boys.

Second, his personality. He was always a child that could deep concentrate in some activity, not paying attention to anything else, and he is really stubborn.

While my friends kids were doing some “tricks” on command, like: clap your hands, put the toy in the basket, etc, Martin never did. And we, me and my husband, never suspected that he could not hear what we told him, but rather, he just chose not to do it.

Then the pedagogue from the nursery school showed some concern, due to communication with him. A psychologist is called in to observe him at the the nursery school, and finds nothing wrong with him. Finally, we had a “2nd year control” at the health station, and then, only then, the nurse suspects that he might not be hearing well. We get an appointment with an Ear-nose-and-throat doctor, and within 2 minutes of consultation, the doctor says that Martin has hearing problem. In fact he´s got some liquid stuck in his inner ear (that is really common among children that have a lot of ear infections, for example, but as far as we knew, Martin only had it one time at 5 months of age…).


Martin was scheduled an operation to drain the liquid out. It’s a simple surgery , but requires complete anesthesia. The same day we came home from the hospital, and turn on the TV, Martin made a face, and started pointing at the TV, like wow, THAT is how it sounds … It broke my heart.


After that, he made a HUGE improvement. Really quick as well. I do feel guilty sometimes for not having thought of that earlier. But no one never suspected that his delay in speech was due to bad ears. Only if I knew that those things are related, I would have done something before.



BE AWARE! Your child can have fluid in the middle ear (otitis media) without you noticing it!  
As it can cause absolutely NO PAIN and your child will not complain.


Parents, check if your child has any of the following symptoms:

- Change in the sleeping/eating habits

- Talks less than usual

- Unresponsive or uses gestures instead of talking

- Needs to have information repeated

- Asks to turn up the sound

- Rubbs/ pulls the ears

- High irritability

- Difficulty keeping balance / running / jumping


Resource: Ear infection (middle ear)

Be aware! Your bilingual child’s speech delay can be due to fluid collection in the middle ear. - Click to tweet


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Should I correct my child speaking?


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Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help?  


Fun way to learn letters and start writing: What should I order? Mortadella alphabet! 


Naming languages with their proper name.  
 



Language learning resources:


Children's radio from around the world. Let me know, if I am missing a radio station in your language.

Kids Books in Russian


Best Russian Children's Cartoons and Movies. - Лучшие Руссие Детские Мультфильмы и Фильмы.
 

 List of children's books in Polish language - Lista książek po Polsku dla dzieci

Tips on Rolling Your R's. Сreative Kids Culture Blog Hop - March 2016

Did I tell you that one of my trilingual children is trying to master perhaps one of the most difficult sounds in all the languages that have it - “R”. The first word he said was not "mama", it was "rul’" (руль) which is “steering wheel” in Russian. So it is one of the first sounds he was able to pronounce, but unfortunately the tongue had remained in not the correct position accord to his SLP. Happily everything is getting better now and his guttural R is finally changing to the rolling R.

I am sure my child is not alone with this kind of problem, and in some cases parents can help to correct their child's pronunciation. I talk about it in my earlier article:  Ha ha ha or correcting your child's pronunciation problem.

I really liked Frances’ post where she shares tips from parents on how to roll R. Check it out, it might be just the right little push your child needs.

Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help?

Are bilinguals or multilinguals any different from monolinguals when it comes to speaking? Well, yes and no. Bilinguals might start speaking somewhat later; however, the latest research totally rejects a clinical language delays in bilingual or multilingual children as a result of exposure to two or more languages simultaneously.

In "Language development in bilingual babies: no delays, just a few adjustments" François Rochon talks about research of Professor Christopher Fennell of the University of Ottawa's School of Psychology:

Research has shown [...], that monolingual toddlers learn to distinguish similar-sounding words at around 17 months old. Professor Fennell has found that bilingual infants start to do this at 20 months. 

Prof. Fennell doesn't at all believe the "delay" in sound distinction is a hindrance. Bilingual babies are simply learning an adaptive strategy because they're facing a more challenging language environment. That strategy sees them unconsciously ignore some of the sound cues they receive so that they can concentrate on matching the word with the object it represents.

What does it mean for you as a parent?

It means that you should not worry that two or more languages are too much for a child, and that you should focus on how to help your child and ease that task of connecting words with objects. Do not think about it as something not natural and extra work for you. Look at this the same way you look at helping your child keep his balance while he is making his first steps. Come down to your child's level of understanding when you read or talk to him; proving extra explanations. According to the researchers, a 4 month old baby is already learning to connect words with objects. So start early!

Point on the objects while talking about them, and do the same on the pictures in the books, following a story as you read it to your child. You need to catch new words and follow on them explaining their meanings. I often use Google to find pictures of words  that are not pictured in books we read, or when I'd like to provide some extra explanation and show something in details. Pointing is a powerful tool for creating word-object connection. So make a point to point :)  Read also  How to read to a baby?
 
Researchers also found that children have difficulties to distinguish one languages from another, if the languages you expose your child to belong to the same rhythm category  (such as English and German (stress-timed), French and Spanish (syllable timed), Japanese and Tamil (mora-timed)) . Deborah D.K. Ruuskanen, Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Vaasa, Finland, and mother of three bilingual children says:

if there is more than one language in the baby's home environment, then the baby will be learning first to process and separate the different languages, before talking begins.  

As you probably already experienced yourself, there are natural obstacles in the language learning process. So be ready to face this challenge and simplify the language learning task for your child by being consistent. Speak only the language you choose to speak with your child.

If you decided to speak only one language to your child - then do it all the time, without mixing with other languages in direct interactions.

If you, as one person, decided to speak to your child two or more languages, think of the best strategy to separate the languages one from another. You could alternate days or even weeks when languages are spoken to your child, for instance, one day / week Italian only and another day / week -  Hungarian. You could also assign a language to a certain activity: bathing, family meals, playgroups ...  Think of some possible, appropriate to the child's age sign that you can give to your baby, to help him to understand what languages you speak and when. It could be a different color bow in your hair,  a scarf, different picture on the wall. Just use your imagination!

You also need to be consistent with the language you speak to others at front of your child. If you decided to speak to your spouse other language then to your child, please make an effort and speak only that language. This brings structure to the language recognition and, hopefully, helps the child to sort out the languages fast.

Nothing dramatic will happen if you mix the languages. There is a number of parents that does it and they have a bilingual or multilingual child afterwards. However, my position on it: if you dedicate your time to your child, why not just take care of the language consistency part as well to speed up and simplify language learning. I found that naming the languages with their proper name helps in the language separation process.

As you see, there are many variables that can affect when your child starts speaking. My children started speaking within the same time frame as monolinguals do. Since my concentration was on speaking Russian language, their first words and sentences were mostly in Russian.  Interestingly, both children started speaking full sentences in Italian without usual long practice of words. They simply transferred the knowledge about building the sentences from one language into another by modeling the Italian speakers.

If you are pregnant, you might like to know that it is also beneficial to speak the languages you are going to use with your child during the last trimester. Research shows that infants are able to show preferences to and thus, recognition of the languages they were spoken to during the pregnancy after they were born.

When did your bilingual, trilingual or multilingual child start speaking? What do you think helped or delayed the child's speaking in your particular case? Share your thoughts to help other parents who read this page.

Useful Resources:
Language development milestones by ASHA - American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

BE AWARE! Your child can have fluid in the middle ear (otitis media) without you noticing it!  
As it can cause absolutely NO PAIN and your child will not complain. 
READ MORE HERE:  Speech delay due to fluid collection in the middle ear. 

Books about helping children to talk:

Time to Talk: What You Need to Know About Your Child's Speech and Language Development

My Toddler Talks: Strategies and Activities to Promote Your Child's Language Development  by Kimberly Scanlon

The Cow Says Moo: Ten Tips to Teach Toddlers to Talk: An Early Intervention Guide  by Vicky McErlean

Talking with Your Toddler: 75 Fun Activities and Interactive Games that Teach Your Child to Talk   by Teresa Laikko M.S. CCC-SLP and Laura Laikko M.S. CF-SLP

Late-Talking Children: A Symptom or a Stage?  by Stephen M. Camarata 

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Should I correct my child speaking?

When my son started saying his first words, I remember I asked myself: Should I correct my child speaking? It is probably a typical question of all the parents who either they raise a monolingual, bilingual or multilingual child.

My answer now is Yes! Definitely and especially if you are the ONLY language model for your child. If you correct your child speaking from the time he pronounces his first words he will accept it as a norm. If you wait too long and start correcting him too late, the child might feel self - conscious about talking.

When my son started speaking I was repeating the first the words after him, articulating the way they should be pronounced. Later I was modeling the correct sentences.

Most of the time I just use the correct words in my question or in reply by saying "Oh! it is true. ... " , using the correct sentence instead of dots. When no hidden ways of corrections are possible -- however, it is important to correct -- I just say "You should say: ....".  I use the direct correction sparely and prefer to use the indirect ways instead.

When I feel my children are receptive, I ask them to look at my mouth to see the tongue positioning when I pronounce sounds and words. The kids like to repeat after me. I do not insist though.

It is clear that children can not pronounce all the words and build the sentences correctly right away. It is important to remember not to over correct them. By the age of 5, independently on the language they speak, the pronunciation should in most cases be fully established. I still have one year ahead of me to help my child to master his.

There are two very important rules when you correct somebody (a baby or an adult):

whatever you do, never repeat the incorrect word, phrase or sentence. Just say the correct way right away.  Modeling the correct sentences works best.

And do not interrupt a speaking person in the middle of the sentence. The interruption can have adverse affect on child's talking. It is important to maintain his words flow.



You might also like to read:

Ha ha ha or correcting your child's pronunciation problem.


Bilingual child: when to start reading?


Bilingualism and speech delay. How can you help?


What language should I speak to my child in public? - Multilingual parent dilemma.


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Ha ha ha or correcting your child's pronunciation problem.

Oh, No! My child pronounces some letters wrong. Should I bring him to a speech therapist? He is just 4 years old.

Don't run to a therapist yet! Many of the pronunciation problems could be corrected  by parents themselves, as I learnt by trying to do so.

My son did not pronounced the Russian letter "X" at all. It was produced closer to the Russian "C" at the front of the mouth instead of throat. I tried to find a combination of the consonant (Russian"X" sounds like "H" in "Harley") and vowel that makes the use of the same place in the mouth for sound production and I came out with Russian "XA" (means laughter "Ha ha ha" in English). We were practicing this Russian laughter sound "XA xa xa xa". It was so much fun for him, so after a week he told me:  Mama, listen " XA", "Xarek" (means "weasel" in English)! His pronunciation was perfect! I had to remind him for a month or so about the correct pronunciation, as he could not control it in the speech all the time. The fact is that the problem is gone.

I am sure in your language you can do the same, as I also was able to find a letter combination in words, to practice the correct pronunciation for Italian sounds for my American friend.

Do not push it too much, try once if the child does not want to repeat after you, take a week break, and in the mid time just find something to read that has some of those problematic letters in it.