Hi. I'm new and am hoping for help figuring out how concerned I should be about my son's speech delay and how aggressive I should be getting him into treatment quickly. I have only come out of denial this week after spending quite a bit of time listening to people telling me not to worry (including our pediatrician). Everything is new to me and I'm not quite sure what to tell or what to ask, so my apologies if this is too much.

My son will be 21 months on August 12th. He is saying about 5 words fairly regularly(daddy, Theo (ee oo > for our cat), meow (ee ow), bubbles, ball (baaw). He was saying bubbles and Theo all the time and it's been less frequent over the past couple weeks (he has also been transitioning to a new daycare during this time). He says beebo for belly button, which is what we've called it. He occasionally says neeno for pacifier. I've heard him say yogurt, door, and doggie (can't remember exactly how he said these)in one fun night with his grandparents and then not again for the past week. I think he's starting to say either "more" or "milk" with a "mu" sound. He has pointed to his belly button when asked but will not point to any other body parts on himself. He will sometimes point to mine and my husband's nose, mouth, and eyes. He doesn't normally point around the room but will make the ASL milk sign in the direction of objects he wants. He also grunts or whimpers to indicate he wants something. He does not point to objects in books when asked and very rarely follows instructions, though I have noticed in the last 24 hours that if I ask him to come for his diaper change repeatedly and he ignores me, then I tell him I'm counting to 3 and coming to get him, at 2 he turns around and laughs. He will also run into a corner laughing when asked to come for a diaper change. He surprised me a couple days ago by taking something out of his mouth and giving it to me when asked, but he won't, for example, bring me the big green ball. He appears to understand a lot, but will not point to objects in books. He likes to flip through books on his own and always takes them from me if I start reading to him so that he can look at them himself, and I admit I have probably initiated reading less for some time because of this. He will sit with me with a book and place his palm on various objects to get me to say the name. He babbles dee, mum mum mum, and bee and says bup as a sound effect when he hits things or throws himself on the bed. He says "brrrmm" when playing with cars. I don't see him engaging in any other imaginary play and I'm not sure how much he should be at this age. I got my old fisher price house and little people out yesterday and he loved opening and closing the doors, putting the car in and out of the garage, and ringing the door bell, but ignored the people. He can stack his stacking cups all the way up if given them in the right order, likes to snap his buckles together (e.g., on his high chair), and can screw and unscrew lids. He is very interactive so I'm not worried about that aspect, and is usually good humored unless tired.

Health-wise, he has had ongoing chest congestion/infections for about the last 5 months, just cleared up a month ago. He is now on a steroid puffer (Flovent) and until recently was on a second puffer (Ventolin) as well, but has not been diagnosed with asthma. He seems to have some version of a cold almost all of the time since starting daycare last December. He has had one ear infection which I think we caught early.

We are in Toronto and have been referred to a pre-school speech and language program, but the wait list is 6 to 8 months. I'm worried about waiting this long. Should I be trying to get him into something faster?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
Sorry again for the length.

Melanie

Hello Melanie - your son seems ok for his age. Keep encouraging play time, imaginative play, modelling language and the pre-school with language programme will be a bonus on few months time!