Comments on: Ask an Expert: Does my Son Have a Speech Delay Because He’s Bilingual? http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/ Raising Bilingual & Bi-Cultural Children Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:18:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: LIR http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-5690 LIR Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:28:27 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-5690 Hi all, The last post is from last year (August 2009). I was wondering how the kids are doing. Are they talking now more? I am a mom of an almost 3yr. old (raised in an spanis/english environment) an he is also delayed in speech for his age. Thanks in davance for your replies. Hi all,
The last post is from last year (August 2009). I was wondering how the kids are doing. Are they talking now more? I am a mom of an almost 3yr. old (raised in an spanis/english environment) an he is also delayed in speech for his age.

Thanks in davance for your replies.

]]> By: LIR http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-5689 LIR Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:26:59 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-5689 Hi all, The las post is from last year (August 2009). I was wondering how the kids are doing. Are they talking now more? I am a mom of an almost 3yr. old (raised in an spanis/english environment) an he is also delayed in speech for his age. Thanks in davance for your replies. Hi all,
The las post is from last year (August 2009). I was wondering how the kids are doing. Are they talking now more? I am a mom of an almost 3yr. old (raised in an spanis/english environment) an he is also delayed in speech for his age.

Thanks in davance for your replies.

]]> By: Kat Gritt http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-2706 Kat Gritt Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:04:00 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-2706 Marina, I am Russian too and my husband is English, we've been told by "well wishers" that our son is delayed in speech. We were offered by English relatives to drop Russian language to let our son speak quicklier in English. I am seeing a speech therapist for our nearly-3-y.o. son Ryan on Tuesday, but I don't expect that doctor to say anything apart from "your son needs a therapy", and his speech development is not normal. I speak with Ryan in Russian, we speak with my husband in English, as he doesn’t know Russian, my husband speaks with Ryan in English. From 2 years of age Ryan became later in speech development than other kids. By that time he said only “mummy”, Daddy, car, ok, hello, and “daj” in Russian. He never waved “goodbye” to other kids, just looked at them silently when they were leaving. He started walking from 18 months, but he walked straight away and never fell, even now when he climbs up somewhere high, he carefully counts his own strengh and ability to either climb higher or jump off, and hardly ever gets any injuries. He is very well developed physically, he plays football, can hit a golf ball into a hole properly, can balance, eat with fork, spoon, and even cut food into smaller pieces with a plastic knife. He never had any problems in his nursery group, he defends smaller or weaker kids, shares toys, and is very caring with animals and plants. He can do most of the household things, like turn the light on and off, turn a top off a plastic bottle to get a drink, sort the shapes, colours, colour pistures with coloures suggested, open and close doors. Everybody thinks that Ryan is clever enough not to talk, because he can just come to a child and talk gybbrish to him or her, and make expressions on his face, and also use mimics and gestures, so eventually he gets exactly what he wanted, but we are very worried now about him not talking. Ryan can say few “ultimate” words which he uses all the time to get what he wants without further effort: “: "look", "look over there","look at that" and points at the object, “oh-oh”, “ouch'” when it hurts,”wow', "ok", "mummy", "daddy", "hello", waving "bye-bye" starting from half-year ago, says very clearly: "here you go", "here you are", "come", "daj" in Russian, "na" in Russian. He is very interested in mechanisms, and is very inventious, but we are very concerned now whether we will have to wait a bit until he starts speaking by himself, or force him to speak by some special medicines, training, pretending that we don’t understand his mumbling, or whatever else… Please could you tell us if your son was developing in a similar way? If yes, it would give us a hope that he will talk normally by the age of 4, which is a school age in Britain. Maybe Ryan is too clever, or lazy, or a complete retard, we don’t know anymore, and the more we read that late speech development can affect a child’s life, the more we are concerned about it. Everywhere we find only "facts" that bilingual invironment should not cause a speech delay... Marina, waiting for your reply, and thanks Katya Marina, I am Russian too and my husband is English, we’ve been told by “well wishers” that our son is delayed in speech. We were offered by English relatives to drop Russian language to let our son speak quicklier in English. I am seeing a speech therapist for our nearly-3-y.o. son Ryan on Tuesday, but I don’t expect that doctor to say anything apart from “your son needs a therapy”, and his speech development is not normal.
I speak with Ryan in Russian, we speak with my husband in English, as he doesn’t know Russian, my husband speaks with Ryan in English. From 2 years of age Ryan became later in speech development than other kids. By that time he said only “mummy”, Daddy, car, ok, hello, and “daj” in Russian. He never waved “goodbye” to other kids, just looked at them silently when they were leaving. He started walking from 18 months, but he walked straight away and never fell, even now when he climbs up somewhere high, he carefully counts his own strengh and ability to either climb higher or jump off, and hardly ever gets any injuries. He is very well developed physically, he plays football, can hit a golf ball into a hole properly, can balance, eat with fork, spoon, and even cut food into smaller pieces with a plastic knife. He never had any problems in his nursery group, he defends smaller or weaker kids, shares toys, and is very caring with animals and plants. He can do most of the household things, like turn the light on and off, turn a top off a plastic bottle to get a drink, sort the shapes, colours, colour pistures with coloures suggested, open and close doors. Everybody thinks that Ryan is clever enough not to talk, because he can just come to a child and talk gybbrish to him or her, and make expressions on his face, and also use mimics and gestures, so eventually he gets exactly what he wanted, but we are very worried now about him not talking. Ryan can say few “ultimate” words which he uses all the time to get what he wants without further effort: “: “look”, “look over there”,”look at that” and points at the object, “oh-oh”, “ouch’” when it hurts,”wow’, “ok”, “mummy”, “daddy”, “hello”, waving “bye-bye” starting from half-year ago, says very clearly: “here you go”, “here you are”, “come”, “daj” in Russian, “na” in Russian. He is very interested in mechanisms, and is very inventious, but we are very concerned now whether we will have to wait a bit until he starts speaking by himself, or force him to speak by some special medicines, training, pretending that we don’t understand his mumbling, or whatever else… Please could you tell us if your son was developing in a similar way? If yes, it would give us a hope that he will talk normally by the age of 4, which is a school age in Britain.
Maybe Ryan is too clever, or lazy, or a complete retard, we don’t know anymore, and the more we read that late speech development can affect a child’s life, the more we are concerned about it. Everywhere we find only “facts” that bilingual invironment should not cause a speech delay…
Marina, waiting for your reply, and thanks
Katya

]]> By: AnaGloria Rodriguez http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-1186 AnaGloria Rodriguez Wed, 06 May 2009 00:11:06 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-1186 You're right, Marina, we do need to stick together! And isn't it wonderful we have Spanglishbaby to thank for connecting us!? I think we'll try Mandarin next, too. You’re right, Marina, we do need to stick together! And isn’t it wonderful we have Spanglishbaby to thank for connecting us!?
I think we’ll try Mandarin next, too.

]]> By: marina k. villatoro http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-1179 marina k. villatoro Tue, 05 May 2009 15:35:06 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-1179 We multi-lingual families need to stick together and ignore the comments of people who have never met anyone who speaks more than one language. Actually, if I haven't met kids who were raised with multiple languages and see them go from one language to the next as though it's nothing, I too probably would've been doubtful. So that's why I'm sooooooooooo keen on making sure my son gets this gift from me. Honestly, I wouldn't mind adding Mandarin:) We multi-lingual families need to stick together and ignore the comments of people who have never met anyone who speaks more than one language. Actually, if I haven’t met kids who were raised with multiple languages and see them go from one language to the next as though it’s nothing, I too probably would’ve been doubtful. So that’s why I’m sooooooooooo keen on making sure my son gets this gift from me. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind adding Mandarin:)

]]> By: Ana Lilian http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-1176 Ana Lilian Tue, 05 May 2009 04:07:45 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-1176 Marina, congratulations on raising a trilingual baby in Central America and thanks for sharing your story. You were a strong mami to listen to your own intuition and know there was nothing wrong with your child. Thanks for the link. It´s a great video. Marina, congratulations on raising a trilingual baby in Central America and thanks for sharing your story.
You were a strong mami to listen to your own intuition and know there was nothing wrong with your child.
Thanks for the link. It´s a great video.

]]> By: Boca Beth http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-1175 Boca Beth Mon, 04 May 2009 20:44:39 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-1175 ¡Hola Marina! Let me add to your peace of mind with a colleague here in Tampa, FL whose daughter was able to speak in five languages at the age of ten after having been 'labeled' many things in the public school system. My friend would not accept their labels nor their reasonings, and even though her daughter verbalized much later than her peers in the pre-K years and used a limited vocabulary in English in the early elementary years, I can tell you that girl blows the socks off anyone who witnesses her speaking in five languages (her native Vietnamese, English, Mandarin, French and Spanish!). Continue on with your wonderful language journey with your children with confidence and passion! <abbr><em>Boca Beth’s last blog post..<a href="http://bocabeth.net/2009/05/04/music-monday-enjoy/" rel="nofollow">Music Monday! Enjoy Boca Beth’s Bilingual Version of Chocolate!</a></em></abbr> ¡Hola Marina! Let me add to your peace of mind with a colleague here in Tampa, FL whose daughter was able to speak in five languages at the age of ten after having been ‘labeled’ many things in the public school system.

My friend would not accept their labels nor their reasonings, and even though her daughter verbalized much later than her peers in the pre-K years and used a limited vocabulary in English in the early elementary years, I can tell you that girl blows the socks off anyone who witnesses her speaking in five languages (her native Vietnamese, English, Mandarin, French and Spanish!).

Continue on with your wonderful language journey with your children with confidence and passion!

Boca Beth’s last blog post..Music Monday! Enjoy Boca Beth’s Bilingual Version of Chocolate!

]]> By: marina k. villatoro http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/05/ask-an-expert-does-my-son-have-a-speech-delay-because-hes-bilingual/#comment-1173 marina k. villatoro Mon, 04 May 2009 16:53:10 +0000 http://www.spanglishbaby.com/?p=3224#comment-1173 Hi, I just wanted to add. My son is trilingual (english, spanish and russian) since birth. He didn't start speaking until he was over 3 years old. The teachers at his school were constantly telling me there was something wrong with my son. I knew there was nothing wrong with him, he just has too many languages in his head. As a matter of fact, he didn't start speaking any one language in particular, however, he had his own language with over 50 vocabulary words that we understood completely. At around 3.5 years old he started speaking and is fluent in Spanish and English. He understand Russian 100% but since I'm the only one speaking it to him, he doesn't use it often. Here's also a great video for bilingual children:) http://www.travelexperta.com/2009/04/bilingual-babies-are-brainier.html Hi, I just wanted to add. My son is trilingual (english, spanish and russian) since birth. He didn’t start speaking until he was over 3 years old. The teachers at his school were constantly telling me there was something wrong with my son.

I knew there was nothing wrong with him, he just has too many languages in his head. As a matter of fact, he didn’t start speaking any one language in particular, however, he had his own language with over 50 vocabulary words that we understood completely.

At around 3.5 years old he started speaking and is fluent in Spanish and English. He understand Russian 100% but since I’m the only one speaking it to him, he doesn’t use it often.

Here’s also a great video for bilingual children:)

http://www.travelexperta.com/2009/04/bilingual-babies-are-brainier.html

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