When Adon was around 15 mos. old I happen to mention that we seemed to have a mono-syllabic kid to our pediatrician. At the time he was only saying "Ma", "Da", and "Ba". He wouldn't necessarily assign ma or da specifically to Ashley or I... it was is if both meant "parent" instead of mom or dad and he just picked one and assigned it to both.A few weeks later the doctor asked if anything had changed. Since it hadn't she recommended we assess his speech through Early Intervention. Fast forward almost 1.5 mos. and we have recently begun speech therapy to treat Developmental Apraxia of Speech or DAS. Some attempt at full words come and go. He has maintained "Momma" as the only full or multi-syllabic word. Recently all dogs became "Bo"... which Bo thinks is pretty cool! "Hot", "Down", and "Sit" are attempted with varying degrees of success. He seems to catch on well to basic sign-language so that has also been incorporated.
He tested on average or above for all other areas of development. This is simply something that affects his expressive language. No, children with DAS do not simply "grow out of it" and if left to do so will experience considerable set backs verbally which then transmit into communicative frustration and anxiousness. Generally this is not identified until the age of 18 mos. so we feel very blessed to have started even earlier. He comprehends very well and as a family we have no problem communicating with him. He's abnormally quiet due to the nature of the disorder... but if smiling was verbal he would be considered obnoxious!!! If you would like to know more (and we recommend that our families follow the link) please click here: DAS
