Tips on how to motivate speech??

My son Casey is 25 months. Very delayed in speech and is currently seeing an occupational therapist through early intervention. I have been narrating everything for his entire life, we read a minimum of 3 books a night, recently more than 3 now that we have a ton of Bluey books, and we have even starting incorporating signing and touch cues. The words he does say are completely spontaneous, and never through imitation. He will imitate some physical movements and sounds, but you can forget about him saying “moo.” The other night in the bath, he starting identifying some of his letters. He has the bath letters, he would pick them up, and correctly identified “P” and “T” verbally. This is how all of his speech is and then he will refuse to repeat it. The OT is having us get him tested for ASD because of the delayed speech, a very long attention span, having little interest in what others do, and only responds to his name about half the time. I guess I’m wondering if anyone has any insight or tips that have worked for their kids?

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Is he seeing an Speech pathologist as well?

Not currently. The OT hasn’t recommended anything like that

Hmm, I am an SLP and I would speak with your coordinator through early intervention to advocate for a speech and language evaluation. Especially if the OT observed delayed speech as well. Even if he wasn’t initially recommended for speech. Interesting she mentioned autism testing and not speech and language.

If he is very delayed, it is important to begin speech therapy. The earlier the better.

Yeah, I thought so too. We did a sensory evaluation for him, and everything is pretty average for him. I also think he might be underestimating my son a bit too. He doesn’t seem to be interested in saying “in” or singing songs. And I feel like he forces it on him. He loves listening to books and looking at pictures. I can take him to the museum of fine arts and he can do the alphabet puzzle on his own. He’s very interested in problem solving. But my OT comes in every week pretending he’s Ms Rachel, who my kid doesn’t like at all. I’ll start asking about a speech pathologist though. Thank you so much for the suggestion!

I would absolutely request a speech evaluation through your social worker/coordinator. Seeing a developmental pediatrician would also be a good idea for guidance and additional testing.

Not sure if you’re getting OT through a private clinic or early intervention, but if your son doesn’t jive well with the therapist, it’s okay to ask for a different one. Not all therapists and kids are a good match! I’d also look into getting an SLP, that would probably be more helpful for him than an OT at this point.