learning disability in 2 year old??

[foximamma]

I'm hoping someone has some information that can help me out. Ive been searching on the internet and talking to people at merrymount.. but haven't gotten anywhere yet.

I care for a 2.5 year old boy. He is fantastic but I wonder if he has some learning disabilities. Some of his family members have the same concerns.
I want to be sure that it's not just a case of comparing him to other children as I know they are totally different. Another boy that I watch that is 5 months younger than he is, speaks very well and clearly, knows his colours, can sort things, knows what animals are etc. (I think he's a bit advanced for his age) but this other little boy can't pick anything out of a picture,.. ie, can you show me the duck? he'll point to anything on the page, or just say.. "yea" like he does to most questions. Today we were playing with/learning farm animals. After playing with them for half an hour, we said ok.. put all the animals into the bucket, he would pick up anything, when asked if it was an animal he would just say yea.
He'll ask for juice and I tell him to go and get his cup (which is in sight) and he doesn't seem to understand, again, he'll just say "yea", he's been with me for a few months now, and I'll always take his hand and show him and say "there's your cup, we found it" but still after this long there has been no progress.
He shows ZERO interest at story time. I have finally gotten him to stay sitting with us, but aside from that, he doesn't even look at the book. He'll play with the carpet.. lint on his socks, or just stare at things around the room. If you ask him to show you what he's looking at.."yea".
We've worked on the same thing for a couple weeks.. ie. animals recently.. and the 15 month old can point to different animals, but the little boy still shows no signs of recognition at all. If I can get him to point, like I said.. he'll just point to anything. I dont know if he's bored or doesn't understand.
It is very difficult to do one on one teaching with him, as he doesn't even want to look at what you're doing, or pay attention to what you're saying. I do the best I can to integrate it into normal play, but that doesn't seem to get anymore attention either.
he's just starting to talk more, which is fantastic, recently it was just single words but he's now saying 2 and 3 words together. (huge sudden improvement!) but there is still no recognition to questions. Even instructions he either just doesnt want to do it, or doesnt understand, I can't tell.

Im not sure what else to mention, I don't want to be comparing him to the other children in my care.. but i also want to be certain Im not missing a learning issue. I know quite a few other children his age, and they do seem to be much furthur ahead.

Any help is much appreciated!!!! We want to be sure he's on the right track!

[Dianne]

Okay so at 2 we all know there are differences in developement. His yah "sounds" like a habit. A factor to consider is his environment....not your house but whereever else hes been. Some kids are not interacted with enough to develope the knowledge or confidence to ask or answer. Some kids just don't want to and some may have special learning needs. He has learned other things to this point. The healthy babies healthy children have a guideline you may want to look at. They do home visits and are a wonderful bunch of people with the best interest of children. Even though you are his child care provider they will still visit. They also will provide you with ways to teach when needs are a bit different.

[foximamma]

Thanks so much Dianne, that is a great suggestion. At least gets us started in the right direction.

yes.. it worries me a bit about what goes on at home. His parents are very young and although they have all the love in the world for him.. don't necessarily know if they know what to look for etc. I don't want to judge, just many things ive informed them of, have been surprises. (things that I would expect a parent to have known)

I just want to be sure, that while he's here, and I can help, he's getting what he needs.

[eversoclever]

How extensive is his vocabulary at this point?

[foximamma]

umm its hard to say, because really in the last 2 wks (literally) he has done SO much better.

As mentioned, Im not sure what to compare it to.. I hate doing it, but the other children his age that I care for and know from play groups are far ahead of him.
He can usually ask for things he wants, if hes hungry he'll just say eat most of the time.
He's just started telling me the other kids that are sleeping. (i.e - Matt's sleeping). he knows the other kids names, but sometimes when he gets mad at them or something, he'll say someone elses name (which always tends to be the same child whos name he uses)

I also have 2 dogs which are COMPLETELY different, and he knows that they're dogs, and knows the name of one of them, but doesn't seem to understand they have different names. if you ask him to show you which one is bentley he'll point to whichever one is closer.

It's hard to say where his language is, as he is usually able to get his point across, but its very blunt and to the point. i.e - milk... eat....my truck (when he wants a toy thats been taken from him)

its less the actual language that I feel is the problem as opposed to his inability to answer questions and follow instructions.
I just find it very odd, he can't identify anything in a picture...go and get something specific...differentiate between different things.. ie- put the cow in the box..

[Dianne]

Originally Posted by foximamma

Thanks so much Dianne, that is a great suggestion. At least gets us started in the right direction.

yes.. it worries me a bit about what goes on at home. His parents are very young and although they have all the love in the world for him.. don't necessarily know if they know what to look for etc. I don't want to judge, just many things ive informed them of, have been surprises. (things that I would expect a parent to have known)

I just want to be sure, that while he's here, and I can help, he's getting what he needs.

You are welcome. I loved my visits with our lady. My kids would jum up and down and scream like it was a visit from their grandma. She brought crafts, and did little "tests" with the kids and then gave me great ideas with how to work out the issues. The supervisor comes to visit with you and all the kids first then they pick the home visitor that "suits" you. Ours was a perfect fit. She also had great meal planning ideas and knew where the sales were at for kids crafts and learning toys and materials. Sadly our home visitor was promoted but when shes near she comes by. On another note we had a serious family crisis (horrible)that did not involve the little ones and the home visitor and her supervisor put us in touch with many of our needs and supports and gave us friendly follow up calls. I am glad I contacted them.

[eversoclever]

Hmm. I have a late talker, but he's very engaged (i.e., has a sense of humour, highly independent and developed in his motor skills, understands differences and likenesses). Have the parents had him assessed yet? A family doctor should have caught this by now. I've had my ds in Kids Ability (the Cambridge equivalent of London's Tyke Talk) and they have really, really helped us as young parents. If you'd like I can pm you some creative techniques we use to see if you and the parents can't entice him to better communicate.

[Dianne]

foximamma....go with your gut about this boy. The not knowing and understanding that the 2 dogs have separate names is "normal". The calling the other children other kids names....so normal...but I am a little surprised at 2.5 he understand that saying someones name will set then off (assuming that he knows) and if he knows that is quite smart of him to be crafty enough to do that. As far as the one word request....if lets say he is at home and he says eat and is adequately fed why would he say anymore. It sounds a little habitual or lazy. He has learned to effectively have his needs met. If you have him at regular times for a few months and he has not learned any of your routine or expectations then maybe there is something up. If his one word answers are being accepted at home and then not at your house he will be confused and "fight" it a bit. It's only natural for him. I would say that the middle of the week after he has been to your house for the third day in a row monitor his learning on that day and my bet is you will see he has picked up from you. He may also require one on one learning or you may have to take a step back and teach him at a less advanced pace. Ask questions of him that you know he can answer and with your praise and attention he will gain confidence enough to try a new word. He is so lucky to have you. Let me know how the Healthy Babies thing works out.

[totallyawake]

Sounds like there are some 'red flags' that might need addressing - this is often easily fixed whether it be more exposures to materials, different ways of offering learning opportunities or checking that there isnt a 'physical' reason he is not making those connections that allow children to follow simple directions ... sometimes some children have 'pathway connection' challenges in the brain where certain messages do not get from one part of the brain to the other to allow them to follow the directions the way the 'average' child would - what did they suggest at Merrymount?

My suggestion is to talk to someone about having an informal assessment done - there is the Nippising which Dr's are supposed to be doing at all 18 month check ups that highlight any red flags in development that might indicate a problem ...but not all children are seen by a Dr for that 18 month check up. The Nippising is a very basic checklist that will give ideas of 'stepping stone' milestones that children need to learn one before the other can be learned basically ...often these can be easily addressed by offering exposure to opportunties to learn certain developmental skills needed to progress onto the 'next' stepping stone...would you feel comfortable doing a Nippising checklist on him? I am sure you can get copies at Childreach or any other OEYC satalite location?

I agree that not all children develop at the same level - but there is a difference between having more or less language and something totally different not being able to follow simple verbal directions by 2 .... generally an infant can follow the directions 'get the ball' or 'where is the cat' so to me not being able to do that over 2 would be a really concern that there is something amiss in that area of language development ... as it sounds like although he can 'talk and say some words' that when he 'hears' a message by the time it reaches the brain he is not sure exactly what he 'heard' or how to process it ... if that makes sense?

Hope you find an answer that puts your mind at ease - and imo if there is any 'question' about something it can not hurt to look into it ... after all better to be told 'nope all is great' then to not look into it and find out three years later that there was something that if addressed now they could have fixed it and moved forward with ease.

For example - had a child once who had 'language loss' where he had been talking and suddenly stopped and was misprouncing words and started 'withdrawing' from others. Parent and I were both concerned and she went to family Dr who said "nothing wrong - normal for children to 'get shy' at that age" ... now she could have 'accepted' that and done nothing but to me this was not 'normal' and I encouraged her to get a second opinion ... which she had to FIGHT for ... finally got in to get his hearing checked and he had 75% hearing loss in one ear and 60% in the other from a virus he had ... pair of hearing aids and he was back to developing langauge and social skills at an alarming rate ... now had we 'let it go' like the first 'professional' suggested that poor child would have struggled in daycare and in school for along time before he got the help he needed ... and the damage that would have cost is unmeasureable compared to one specialist appointment, a hearing test and a couple hearing aids

The fact that there are 'concerns' means that there is no harm in investigating how to allow the child to better be able thrive in his early years ... SO MUCH learning is going on in these years that waiting too long is just sad IMO!

[lhastie]

Just a quick note to go with what totallyawake mentioned about hearing. Friends had twin boys, I looked after them a lot, they 'twin-talked' for quite awhile but started talking better, but more so the one of them. One of them was really frustrating, you'd ask him to do things and he wouldn't or just look at you. Some other kind of off things too.

They got his hearing checked at one point and he could hear very little, I believe in his case things were blocked and they wound up draining them and something else. But afterwards he was crying at a meal, the sound of himself swallowing scared him as he hadn't heard it before. They hadn't even though of it being hearing since he had some hearing, but it explained a lot of the behaviour, he couldn't hear you ask something unless you were very close and looking at him and unfortunately it tends to be interpreted as disobeying. Don't know if this would be the case for this child, but worth looking into! They have a great program on campus at the National Centre for Audiology with lots of experts on child hearing.

[Dianne]

Yes the hearing could be an issue. It is interesting on how they do a hearing test on a LO. I wonder how accurate the test is. DOes anyone know?

[lhastie]

If the child is cooperative, I think they can get pretty good results. I think you have to have the right people doing the test though as it can take them a lot of time, effort and patience with some little ones! A friend recently finished his audiology degree and my husband did engineering stuff related to hearing aids, so it is interesting to hear them talk. I could ask about the accuracy of the test results.

I don't think I'd ever take a child to one of the commercial places like Listen! Up Canada or that though. If you can't find the info for the clinic at the National Centre for Audiology, let me know THey're at Elborn College on campus.

[amyunicorn]

My son wasn't talking very well at 2yrs old, but could follow two or three step instructions. My doctor STILL immediately sent him for a hearing test to rule out something physical.

I sat with him in a soundproof room and the technician set off noises from different speakers in the room and watched to see his reaction (turn his head? look for the noise?). They could also test the pressure/fluid levels in his ears with a machine that had earbuds.

This would be an easy, and logical first step for this little boy.

[foximamma]

thanks for all of your advice. It's a very difficult situation, as I feel anything that is going to need to be done, will be by me. I don't feel that his parents are on board, or will go the extra step. Not that they don't want to, they just do not believe it is necessary. (his mom was telling me how her father felt that the little boy had ADD because he doesn't pay attention and she mentioned her feelings that there was nothing wrong, he just doesn't have interest)

I'm definetly going to follow up with the healthy babies healthy kids.. sounds fantastic. I know I called them a few times with concerns when my son was tiny and they were incredibly helpful, so hopefully they can shed some insight. And give me different ways to work 1 on 1 with him, almost everything I have tried so far he has no interest, he won't even really look at what we're doing.

Merrymount unfortunately just hasn't gotten back to me. They said they would have a specialist contact me but haven't heard anything yet. I know they're pretty busy.

I don't know if hearing would be an issue, but definetly something worth being 100% sure of.
He will ignore me completely, but magically after time out he can hear a whisper lol. I think it's a 2 year old syndrome lol.

[amyunicorn]

Originally Posted by foximamma

I don't know if hearing would be an issue, but definetly something worth being 100% sure of.
He will ignore me completely, but magically after time out he can hear a whisper lol. I think it's a 2 year old syndrome lol.

Partial hearing loss is still a possibility. I have a cousin that couldn't hear if you yelled at him, if you were standing behind him, but he could hear you whisper if you stood beside or in front of him.