Sandra,

My granddaughter will be 3 yrs old in Oct. She is not speaking in sentences and the very short phrases she does speak are not understandable beyond her parents. She spent many hours watching videos since she was tiny. Her father was overseas (army)for more than a year of her life and my daughter was raising her alone. The TV/videos was her companion.

Could this have been a cause or large factor in her delayed speech? I think that it hurt her to always be receiving/listening without being required to respond. What do you think? My daughter is making an appointment to see a speech therapist on their post. I would like to have encouraging info for my daughter and son-in-law. They also now have an 8 mo. old son.
Thank you,
Sandra

Dear Sandra:

It is well researched that children who are read to on a consistent basis do develop with large vocabularies and do well than those who are not. However, placing blame at this point will cause more harm than good. Please be supportive and spend your time with your grandchildren reading to them. The research is very strong that children who are read to do better in school and have less trouble learning.

Be the great READING grandma!

Best Wishes!

M Kay Keller