ADHD and Speech Issues

[momlife7]

Has anyone had their child with ADHD experience speech delays? My son has a huge vocabulary and communicates needs and wants just fine but doesnt seem to have the attention span for real conversation. He is in speech at school but we are considering finding something outside if school as well.

[Hidden]

My son is currently 9 and in a mainstream school with no need for support (but I think the same- I am considering getting him extra private speech therapy now he’s older). He has had speech delay- he wasn’t babbling anything but vowels and grunts, no normal progression of speech, just lots of pointing and groaning as a toddler. He had private speech therapy since he was 2, then it continued in a specialist speech and language unit attached to the mainstream school (he had speech therapy daily and had to learn pretty much each sound, he couldn’t even say his name properly and he was using sign language and then mix of sign language and speech for the first years of life). It’s almost as if a child who had a stroke (that’s how I can explain it to myself but obviously he was born like that) and has to learn what is natural for all other children… No one told me that he also has had ADHD. I think teachers thought ‘oh well, he’s a bit special, maybe a bit autistic’. Luckily after years of struggling with his behavioural problems, eventually I took him for ADHD assessment and he got a diagnosis. He’s been on ADHD medication since 8 years old and we see such a positive difference. I think his speech would have been much better had he already been on meds when he was younger- he would be able to focus more on his therapy. He has stammer on and off- somethings it’s nearly gone, then it comes back very severe, then gets milder (speech therapist said that stammer can come and go), also tics (clearly neurologically something is not wired right in his brain).I’d recommend to any parent with such a child- the more speech therapy the better.

[momlife7 in reply to Hidden]

Mine was on track before Covid I think the lack of socializing really affected him! Good luck to you

[Hidden in reply to momlife7]

Good luck to you finding a private speech therapist. Definitely Covid hasn’t helped kids. I wanted private SALT to work with my son on conversational skills and also speech sound or disfluency where needed. Where we are (near London, so one would think there would be a good choice) there are hardly any speech therapists who would like to work on a regular weekly basis with older children. There are plenty of therapists who are keen to do assessments… I had a private SALT assessment for my son a year ago- to determine if his vocabulary and language comprehension is at the level expected at his age and it confirmed that this is fine. I suppose had we kept him at the speech and language unit he’d have such assessments regularly at school.I feel however that moving him out of the specialist provision was a blessing - he has to mix and make friends with a class of 30 kids in a mainstream school. His class mates in the mainstream school are more talkative than kids he had in a speech unit. So let’s say even if he doesn’t join actively in conversations at school, however when he comes home he tells me what kids were talking about during the lunch break etc. And I can expand the topics with him.

We also encourage him at home to talk about the books he’s been reading. For us ADHD medication has been a life changer as now he has enough attention to read books and watch films and then he’s even willing to talk about it. This wasn’t the case before meds…

Is your son on ADHD medication? It might help him with attention span needed for a conversation.

[momlife7 in reply to Hidden]

He just started it in August when he turned 6 and it has helped so I an hoping for an extra boost

[Hidden in reply to momlife7]

You are lucky he has stared meds so early. We have wasted so many years!Just watch him for side effects. For my son stimulants didn’t work well- he dipped into madness whilst on Methylphenidate (he couldn’t carry any conversation, he would just repeatedly randomly talk about football scores and footballers and matches), he got severe rebound, he couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep and was self harming. His class mate whilst on Methylphenidate got very withdrawn and stopped playing with other kids, also had other side effects and he also swapped to Atomoxetine. So I don’t think that my son’s experience with the stimulants is a rare one…

Now on Atomoxetine he’s cheerful and sociable, chatty boy but his focus on stuff he doesn’t like such as maths is very poor and he just shouts he won’t do it. I will give it some time and see, but I really envy those for whom meds work well😄

[momlife7 in reply to Hidden]

It was a really hard decision for us at this age because we don’t have any problems with him at home but he was struggling at school bad but so many people with older kids said they wish they started sooner and that’s what really pushed us. Hope you find something that works ❤️

[Gush02]

My 5yo son has a speech/language delay and ADHD. He has a short attention span in conversations, but mostly lacks the patience it takes for people to understand what he is saying.

[momlife7 in reply to Gush02]

That is a lot of it too, I think also he’s just very “busy” and doesn’t want to take the time to stop what he is doing

[julieboolie]

My son recently failed his hearing screening at school, he' almost 6. It's not a speech delay (although he does have pronunciation issues) but I just wanted to mention it as they are often related. We are seeing a hearing specialist next week and hope it'll help with speech too.

[momlife7]

oh yes that is good info and my brother had an issue growing up because of ear infections so it’s was something we did check on. Good luck to you!

[lucybow]

Hi there! I am a mom to a 13-year-old with ADHD and I'm a speech-language pathologist. I have a couple questions about your kiddo. How old is you kiddo? You mentioned that he has difficulty keeping attention for conversations, is that with adults, kids or both? A high percentage of kids with ADHD have speech-language issues as many of the ADHD symptoms affect communication such as conversations and social skills. If you tell me a little more, I can answer your questions more specifically. Cheers!

[momlife7 in reply to lucybow]

Yeah so he just turned 6, he was on track with everything until covid started but it is definitely communication based conversation skills. He is better with adults than kids. Not antisocial loves being around people and making them laugh but could care less about chitchat kind of ignored/short answers when playing/busy especially. Only child also I think mixed with covid was a bad combo for us. I am leaning towards private speech so we can come and learn too how to help him more. He is fine with us at home. No other health issues.

[lucybow in reply to momlife7]

If you can afford private speech therapy then that sounds like a good plan. Good luck!