Cross Breeds

Does my stepdaughter have a language disability?

My stepdaughter who is 5 1/2 recently came to live with us and she seems to be having some language problems. She pronounces words just fine and doesn't stutter or clutter, but she has a lot of problems speaking fluid continuous sentences. A typical sentence for her would be: "My sister...my sister she...Daddy, My sister, she likes cats... and I like cats too." She says short phrases with pauses between them and then repeats them several times before getting to the end of the sentence. The effect is that it takes her a really long time to make her point. I would expect that more if she were nervous for example, but most of her speech is like that. She's normal in all other ways, maybe a little bit behind in kindergarten curriculum because of the home situation she was in before moving in with us, but is bright and is catching up quickly. Are her speech problems just the result of not having good parental help before or could she have some language or neurological disorder? I've had both her teacher and a good friend who's a nanny say that her speech isn't typical for her age. Her 3 year old sister seems to speak more fluidly than she does. We're going to look into taking her to a speech pathologist. I was just wondering if anyone had information on the speech and language areas in the brain ( Broca's area I think?) .

Public Comments

1. Ask her school to test her. Being 5, I wouldn't expect much better conversational skills than what you describe but if you think something's wrong it never hurts to be sure.
2. I doubt it is a language disorder, but more likely some sort of nervous/mood disorder. Not knowing more about the situation she came from it is hard to tell. It could also be a short attention span at the moment, she may actually be very bright, and has so much to say that she has trouble slowing down to get it all out. I would suggest a visit to the pediatrician, and see if they recommend an evaluation with a psychologist before getting too worried.
3. I would just wait and give her more time to adjust to the new living situation. While you may not think she is nervous she probably is. It takes a child a while to really feel secure somewhere especially if her home life was not the greatest before. My kids have gone through phases where they have done the same thing and I always thought it was strange but my oldest is now 9 and has at least twice gone through a stage like this, it is almost like the brain is misfiring or something but after a while (a month I am guessing) she just stopped. Sometimes I think her brain gets ahead of her mouth LOL. Mention it if you happen to be going to the doctor but if not I would just give her more time. A new home and a new school is a huge adjustment for anyone let alone a 5 yr old. Just be patient and don't draw attention to it.
4. Give her some time to get things settled, sounds to me like she picked up the habit somewhere along the way. If not it's possible that her little mind is moving too fast for her mouth to catch up. I'm sure it's something she'll out grow. In the meantime if your still worried, I would talk to the school and see what they say. Good Luck and God Bless.
5. No, no, that sounds completely familiar. There's some stage they go through where they have to restart their sentences a bunch of times and it's completely normal.
6. You can ask the school to test her if you are that concerned. It is better to start early than let it develop into a worse situation.
7. I don't believe you should give the child time to work it out on her own, if she has a problem it will just get worse, early intervention is great. My 3 yr old had early intervention and because of it he is walking when we were told he would never walk, we had him started in therapy at 3 months of age, early intervention is great. If you think she has a problem have her tested ASAP, it never hurts to have her tested, go to her school or to her pediatrician and ask about it, but don't delay...good luck
8. That is a form of stuttering. "If your child has difficulty speaking and tends to hesitate on or repeat certain syllables, words, or phrases, he may have a stuttering problem. But he may simply be going through periods of normal disfluency that most children experience as they learn to speak. This pamphlet will help you understand the difference between stuttering and normal language development. " Check www.stutteringhelp.org for tips of ways you can help her at home, if/when she should see a speech therapist, and look under "referrals" for a specialist near you.
9. There is nothing wrong with this child's language ability. She is a five year old and her mind is racing and she gets ahead of herself when she speaks so she has to slow down and repeat herself so she can remember her "train of thought". There is no "disorder" here. edited: Of course the school teacher is going to say there is a problem because schools systems are very quick to put a label on a child in an attempt to pidgenhole them. They want all the children to be alike, no individualism, that would mean the teachers have to work to earn their pay. I have three daughters 4, 7 and 10 and not one of them developed in the same way as the other two. My 10 year old was walking at 9 months and thankfully was potty trained before she was two. She also began reading at three. My seven year old didn't start walking until she was a year old, and didn't potty train until she was three, yet she could talk coherently and in full sentences before her second birthday. If you offered her a cookie and she had asked for a cupcake she would correct you. "No I asked for a cupcake please." My 4 year old walked just before her first birthday and we're still working on getting potty training down, she has control when we are out in public and when she is at preschool but once home the flood gates open. However, she knows every shape there is, including what a rumbus is. She can do simple math problems, addition, subtraction, multiplcation as well as simple division. She also got hold of her cousin's Rubicks Cube and completed the "puzzel" in 10 minutes. She doesn't talk much, she prefers to use sign language. My 7 year old has the same teacher my 10 year old had in second grade and at the parent teacher confrence the teacher related that my 7 year old wasn't quite the reader her sister always had been, I had to remind the teacher that my 7 year old was NOT my 10 year old.