2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...

[RickM]

be related to being brought up listening to 2 languages in our  household,English and Russian.
Our son Alex began exhibiting problems with his speech ability when he elected to constantly begin "pointing" to things rather than speaking words for them as they were related...He "does" speak a language totally of his own but has not repeated hardly 2 or 3 words understandably as of yet...

Mom for 27 months spoke "both" English and Russian to him hoping he'd benefit and end up with 2 languages but as it is turning out,it all seems to be all too confusing to him...

His motor skills are fantastick,he loves activities of all types,passion for riding in pick-up trucks with dad,going to beach,playing with other children,toynca toys,coloring,riding his bike-type toys,being outdoors and just about anything most children do etc...

He is very,very bright...He'll loves to help and he'll take his wagon and carry things in it for you like dinner to the table,put things in the trash for you if you ask him,get the remote control for you for the tv if you ask him...So he certainly understands just about everything being spoken to him and how to physically respond to it and he is very energetic,affectionate and creative.He has an excellent appetite food-wise...

I decided to intervene and get him a speech therapist and we've already had him somewhat evaluated.Seems the therapists think the best thing to do is limit the household spoken language to only 1 language and to get him into preschool to intergrate with other children his age and see what the future presents.

He simply does not want to speak,chooses to point at everything to express himself and refuses to recite letters,numbers and things of the sought.He dances to cartoon songs and mutters his own language...

Just wondering if any of you out there with mixed nationality marraiges and children can relate to what I've written or similarily have had any similar problems with their infants learning skills???

[jrm]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

Get him a dog! I saw a show last night where animals had a big influence with children with all sorts of problems, including speech. It can't hurt and can only help.

[Georgina]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

Hi,

Like you I have a 2 years son who is learning two languages: English and Spanish. I think your son will overcome this stage. I believe it is part of his learning stage. I was surprised by the fact that your doctor told you just to speak one language to him.

My son is going trough a stage now that he does the "language swithing". He understand both language pretty well though. He can say many things in both and he seem to be really aware that there are two different ways to refer to things. I still have concerns just like you do about having my child learning two languages, but this is the best age for them to learn them. My son also went to the stage of just pointing at things. He overcome that, too.

Any way, I was sent this article. I hope is helpful.  http://www.talaris.org/spotlight_bilingual.htm

[romachko]

... in response to Talaris article, posted by Georgina on Jun 23, 2004

Excellent reference! Most members of this board will encounter the same situation sooner or later. While I believe that English should be the sole national language for all of us, who live in USA, it is wonderful to be naturally bilingual.

[RickM]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

nt

[T P Cornholio]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

Our daughter has had little interest in speaking Russian.  She  spoke only Russian upon her arrival, and with entering kindergarten quickly picked up on English and completely dropped speaking Russian.  She understands most Russian when spoken to her, but will try to ignore it.  Sometimes when I push on her to speak Russian, she gets frustrated and whines that it "confuses" her (sound familiar).

I had a co-worker a few years back that told me her grand-children spoke Russian until coming to the USA, and once they learned English they had absolutely no interest in speaking Russian again -- part of this is due to peer pressure and not wanting to be different, nor giving other children the chance to make fun of them -- same with our daughter.

But now that she in 9 yo, and going back to visit babushka, she is becomming a little more open to speaking Russian and doesn't go quite so ballistic as she did formerly.

Your account about your son reminds me of this, and at 2 yo he really can't express himself well anyway.  Considering your son is displaying this difficulty, then I agree with trying the single language approach.  I suspect he will become much better when surrounded daily by other kids in school. I was disappointed at my daughter's reactions, because there are benefits (and sometimes fun) to being bilingual.  However, it may just take time rather than forcing it (taking Russian in high school or college).  It wll be interesting to see how she handles the next few weeks back in Ukraine, surrounded by Russian.

[RW]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

Hi Rick,

my daughter is only 14 months old and I am speaking Russian to her at home and English when there are other people around.

I think 2 years old is really too early to be that concerned about speech problems. After all, there are kids in English-speaking families who do not talk much at that age. We go to Kindermusik class and there are a lot of 2 yr olds in our group - some can say bunch of words and some say only a few.

Honestly, I disagree with your therapist about speaking only one language, but it is only my point of view. What we try to do is encourage Natasha to say what she wants - simple commands "up" or "down". She points the same way and or brings things when you ask her and so far she can say "hi". "duck", "cat"  and oh, if you ask her "gde poop?" - she can show you her belly button (belly button in Russian is "poop"

Basically, what I have been trying to do is to talk to her in Russian as much as possible, name things in Russian and teach her simple commands in Russian. Dad and grandma do the same in English. So far she has been really bright and happy little girl, so I am not concerned. I have read a lot about this and everybody seems to say that those kids might start talking later and its also very important to have each parent stick to speaking only one language to the kid (mom in Russian, Dad in English, for example) and later to introduce them to other people who speak the "minor" language (Russian in this case) as they will pick up English from TV and other kids very fast anyway.

In my opinion, if he seems to be developing appropriately in all other areas, I would not worry. Sounds like he is doing even more then most 2 yr olds I know. Just encourage him to speak, don't "cave" in and react to what you know he means to ask for - for example, give him something, pick him up, etc. But keep postponding until he says the word after you or names what he wants. It might be really easy for him to get around without talking much too

[romachko]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

A long time ago I read an article written by a linguist-psychologist about the subject. He says that a person can generally be tri-lingual if trained early. Here "tri-lingual" means three languages spoken equally well as mother tongues. He is talking about an average person and there is a great variability among the individuals. According to him the fourth language generally gives a kid a great confusion.

I have many friends and acquaintances who are bi- and tri-lingual. I would like to cite several examples from my personal contact: (1) A college student whose father is a Costa Rican diplomat and mother from North Dakota. She speaks Spanish and English (with slight ascent) equally well. She also speaks Italian, Portuguese and French fluently. Once I asked her which language she was most comfortable at. She replied that she had to do all math in Spanish! (2) Arab kids who were borne in the U.S. They speak two languages perfectly. A few years ago they lived in Israel for a year. They lived in an Arabic community there. Upon returning to the U.S. they needed a few weeks of adjustment in writing numerals from left to right. (They write from right to left in Arabic, including numerals.)(3) Four kids of German couple, who lived in Japan as missionaries. They spoke German at home, attended an American school and spoke Japanese after school. They spoke three languages perfectly without accent. (4) Many Hispanic kids who live in Chicago. Many of them speak two languages without accent although some still speak English with a strong Spanish accent. (5) Lawrence Welk. (Do you know who he is? I knew him only through TV.) In his time he was THE biggest name in music show business in Hollywood. He always started his show with, "Ladies and Tchentlemen, one and two and,..." He was born in Strasburg, N.D., where one half of the population is (and still is) German and the other half Norwegian. He spoke nothing but German (well, Tcherman according to him) until he became 20 y.o. By the way there is a Lutheren church in Fargo, N.D., where they conduct sermon in German and Norwegian in two different times on Sunday in summer. Uff-da.

Some kids encounter difficulties but they appear to overcome them. Since Russian is quite different from English in grammatical structure, it may be difficult for a kid to master two languages. But the situation is not as bad as the case where two languages belong to totally different language groups. For example Altheic language group (Finish, Hungarian, Turkish, Mongolian, Japanese, and Korean) has a totally different grammatical structure from Indo-European language group, to which English belongs.
Yet, many of their kids born in the U.S. can speak two languages. In Finland they have to learn two unrelated languages: Finish (Altheic) and Swedish (Indo-European) because they are both their official languages. My personal, but non-professional, suggestion is to speak Russian at home. Your kid will learn perfect American English by playing with other kids anyway. But, of course, I am not an expert. You may have to rely on your speech pathologist. How about a second opinion? I am not sure whether all pathologists have the same opinion.

I sincerely hope that your kid will grow bilingual because it is an invaluable asset, which you cannot acquire at any cost!

[John K]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

I think I've read a few places that children brought up as bilingual tend to speak later, perhaps because they need the extra time to separate the languages from each other.  Still, I'd have him checked for any medical difficulties just to be sure...

[Frank O]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

so studies say. I grew up speaking English & Spanish & know man people who grew up speaking English & Thai or English, Spanish & Chinese/Cantonese etc. Maybe he needs help. My wife speaks 3 languages. My friend Carlos just got back from Ukraine & he said he was in a restaurant or car & said something in English to my wife & a little girl about 7 or 8 spoke in English to him. He then spoke Spanish & she did the same so that little girl could speak Russian-Ukrainian/English & Spanish with no problem. Have the kid checked. Then again he is only 2 years old. Does he maybe have a HEARING problem?! My nephew waslike 2 going on 3 & was having severe problems speaking. Turns out he could not hear well since then they know how to treat it.

[Frank O]

... in response to a child can learn up to  languages with ..., posted by Frank O on Jun 20, 2004

Sorry when I went back & read it didn't say 4 languages. Of course that was important to the post.

[Haroshij]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

I've no personal experiences about this matter, however I've read and heard a little about it. Some friends of mine moved to France some years ago. They had a two years old daugther. They sent her to a French kindergarten. After some time they began to worry since the nurses reported that she didn't speak. They heard almost no sound from her. Then after three quarter of a year, she began to speak French rather fluently in the kindergarten and still continued to speak Norwegian at home.

Another example. Some years ago a Russian couple moved here. They had a daugther also about two years old. They continued to speak Russian at home, and in Kindergarden everybody spoke Norwegian. She is now fluent in both languages.

The Russian couple I told you about, also had a girl at the age of 11. She learned the Norwegian language quickly, but refused to speak Norwegian to adult people, only to children and her teacher.

I think it's a good advice to let him begin in kindergarten. Maybe it's to confusing for him to meet both languages at home. Maybe his mother should speak Russian with him when they are alone, and then English when you all are together. However since he is such a bright boy, I think it will be possible for him to learn both languages. My advice is to be patient and don't press him. Continue to talk to him, but make the situations well arranged. With mum Russian, all of you together English, in kindergarten English.

Good luck.

Haroshij

[Dan]

... in response to 2 Yr.Old Son's Speech Problems Seems To...., posted by RickM on Jun 19, 2004

Rick,

Sorry to hear that your son is having some difficulties. Sounds like, in all other ways, he is perfectly normal and a joy to be around.

Before I continue, please know that my daughter is just 9 months old, so it is still too early for us to detect any speech-related problems.

However, I *do* know many children who come from families in which each parent speaks a different language to the child and those children are all bi-lingual - at least in terms of their understanding. I have never heard of it causing the kinds of problems you describe - though when I thought about your description, I can certainly see some logic to the diagnosis/theory.

I know this message is not much help - just wanted to offer some moral support and send along my family's best wishes that your son soon overcomes this little bump in the road.

One other thing. One of my children (with my previous wife) suffers a slight speaking disability known as 'Developmental Apraxia'. It sounds similar to what you describe. If you do a Google search on the terms, you will find loads of information about it.

Best of Luck!

- Dan