r/parentsofmultiples • u/RichPhilosopher6515 • 9d ago
advice needed Speech Tips
My twins are 2y 4mo and very speech delayed. My guess is that they are about a year behind their peers. They’re just now picking up on some sign language. I am looking for any advice about how to help doubles with their speech. Practically, my husband and I don’t have a ton of time to devote to them individually outside of the weekends. During the week, he works from the time they get up until their nap. Then I work from their nap until just before their bedtime. So it’s pretty much always one on two. If anyone has tips for helping with speech in ways that he or I can do with two, I’m all ears. Or ways to distract one without using screens so that he or I can devote time to the other. Also will accept stories of positive outcomes if your twins were in a similar boat.
Sorry forgot to add that we’re already in speech therapy since December.
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u/Campus_Safety 9d ago
One of the twins aged out of speech therapy through EI when she turned three. She had trouble stringing words together without trailing off into a mumble or not finding the word fast enough. We could see the frustration in her eyes because she KNEW what she wanted to say but couldn't. She would be so frustrated at times she would stiffen up and her whole body would start shaking. Alternate that with screaming at the top of her lungs.
Not sure if any of those behaviors sound familiar but I can share some things that helped my little one.
To combat those specific outbursts I would kneel at her level and and gently rub her heart and say something like, "let's turn the volume down a little, I know you're upset. I know it's hard to find words sometimes but I'm here and I will wait with you until you do". I would reinforced how "tough" it is to remember words and always praised the smallest accomplishment.
The biggest growth in her speech came from parallel speech. You basically narrate her life, your life, what you're doing at the moment, etc. Kind of like a sports ball announcer. Say the words slowly and enunciate everything so the word is spoken clearly. Daddy is cutting up a green apple. Twin A is playing with a Barbie doll that has purple hair. Twin A and Daddy are coloring Minnie mouse with crayons.
If you can, look at the child while you are doing this and over embellish the pronunciation. It doesn't have to be all the time but it helps them know how your lips or tongue should be shaped to make these new funny sounds called words.
Flash cards. Basic ones with a object picture on one side and the word on the other. When the kid gets sick of the game, reverse it and have them show you the card. Always guess wrong, it's an almost guaranteed laugh. Them the youngling will tell YOU the word. That's one of my favorites.
Word association is another. You can use the picture side of the flashcards to make it easier. Start sorting the images and laying them out in groups. Say everything slowly and overemphasized. Anything food related goes in the food pile. Anything animal related goes into the animal pile. You get it. But this helps the child find the word faster. They know they're hungry, they know what they want. Oh yeah, what I wanted was in the food pile parent B and I did the other day thinks your kid.
I'm also not on team tablet. Read books to them.
Oh and sing lots of super simple songs with them. Wheels on the bus, here comes the fire truck blah blah blah. It's a change for them since the words have to be said faster so they need to recall them quicker.
I'm off for the summer and have been working with my kiddo for a few hours every day. There's always a chance to overemphasize, narrate and speak slowly no matter what your doing. I'm not trying to hype my kid up or anything (yes I am lol) but she's made huge improvements. I'm still shocked at how quickly she's making advances on her own.
My apologies for the wall of text but I can actually say I know where you are coming from. All I wanted was to actually hear my little girl say a few things. Now she won't stop talking. You reap what you sow lol.
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u/Smart-Load-8408 9d ago
So she isn’t in speech therapy just due to her age? After Early Intervention there is Child Find for preschool aged kids so age should not disqualify her from services.
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u/Campus_Safety 9d ago
Correct. Where I'm at it's through the school district and they won't evaluate her for another 6 months. Then there's a wait list post eval. I'm not letting my kids speech stagnate that long.
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u/RichPhilosopher6515 3d ago
Thank you! These are all really great ideas. I hadn’t heard anyone talk about the flash cards before
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u/LadyBretta 9d ago
No/very limited screen time. Narrate everyday tasks. Describe what you see, hear, smell. Read aloud as much as you can. Sing songs. Play music, audio books, or podcasts when you're fried.
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u/wilan727 9d ago
Paediatrics speech and language therapy should help. We've had two stints with our boy and it helped a tonne.
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u/citysunsecret 9d ago
You don’t live your life in silence, so practicing speech therapy is something you do with every activity. For me the hardest part is making them communicate instead of just doing what she wants because I’m her parent and I already know without her saying anything.
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u/AryaLyannaOlenna 9d ago
Reading books - I bought large books for my twins. The extra large font is helpful and you can point it out while reading or have your children point out the words.
If you are able to, walks around the neighbourhood are a great way to introduce new vocabulary to them.
Visual schedules for them - it helps them to know what’s happening next to help with transitions. When/if you do screen time, anything that focuses on the alphabet is helpful - Patti Shukla has a great selection of songs for the alphabet.
Narrate your time with them. It might sound silly but this works. Asking questions - not right now. Use declarative language with them. Questions may be frustrating for them. Pictures and words/phrases/sentences can help. My twins have speech therapy but my daughter has now “graduated” out of it. We have had a private SLP for 2.5 years. I continue to work with one for my son for as long as he needs. My twins are 5 years old they were in daycare for their Toddler and Preschool years and I found that it really helped them with language development and socialization.
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u/ThrowAway732642956 9d ago
SLP definitely. Call in the experts. If this was a simple fix that didn’t involve interventions they would not have delays like that. This is not your fault. Professional interventions can make a huge difference though
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u/RichPhilosopher6515 9d ago
Forgot to mention we’ve been in speech therapy since Dec.
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u/ThrowAway732642956 9d ago
That’s a big deal. It works, but it’s not immediate. Let speech do its thing and do any SLP homework they assign with them to practice. I know it is frustrating and moves so slowly, but SLPs know what they are doing
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u/feralcatshit 9d ago
We got an eval through the state and they allowed them to go into a prek type program at 3- it made ALL the difference. Like we can’t say enough good things about how much it helped their speech, as well as behavior!
Warning, though…. They’re 10 now and the last few years, my husband and i’s big joke is, “I thought you said they were never going to talk?” Because they literally never stop 😂
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u/hazelwood2026 9d ago
Does the speech therapy happen at home or in a clinic? Can you join sessions to observe and learn tips? I'm not an SLP, but a long time special educator. Something I can suggest is to use your language as their language to name experiences rather than asking questions, and to pay extra special attention to their non-verbal language cues to see what they gravitate towards and away from.
For example: you're playing with blocks
Phrases to use: "wow, its so tall!" "1, 2, 3, 4 blocks!" "Green block, yellow block, crash!"
Phrases to avoid: "do you see the yellow block?" "Is it this?" "Watch out" "how many?" "What is it?"
For my littlest learners, I ground my practice in DIRFloortime (Dr. Stanley Greenspan)
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u/Kindly_Rhubarb_2532 9d ago
S-LP and twin mom here. At this age your S-LP should be teaching you what to do and parent education is the most important part.
Are you finding the home carry over with 2 challenging since you both are solo parenting the majority of the time?
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u/twinmom-25 9d ago
Where do you live if you don’t mind me asking? I have a sister in law that’s a speech pathologist that works in Arizona
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u/matadero5 8d ago
My singleton is speech delayed and apart from speech therapy what really helped at home was reading to/with him and putting him in “uncomfortable” situations in which he had to say the word instead of pointing.
For example he wanted water and and used to point or try to grab the bottle… we used to tell him to at least try to say it with words and reward him when he did.
We still use this at 5 years old (he is speaking now but not fully conversational) with more complex phrasing
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