RTÉ star Lottie Ryan has admitted that she blames herself for her son’s speech and language issues.
Speaking to co-host Jennifer Zamparelli on their Jen & Lottie Do Parenting podcast, she explained that she wondered if having Wolf two months prematurely had anything to do with his communication struggles.
Telling Jennifer about how she was called into her son’s creche when a staff member noticed that his speech skills were developing slower than other children in the group.
“The women in his creche… I cannot sing their praises more highly. I adore them,” Lottie explained.
“Thankfully, because they have been looking after Wolf since he was only four months old, they know him really, really well.
“When they have observations or opinions, I take it really, really seriously because they know Wolf better than anyone does.
“I was called in one day for a chat and told that they think it’s time for some early intervention with speech, that he was having a speech delay, they think.”
Lottie explained that the staff member had noticed Wolf wasn’t mixing with the other children in his class as he struggled to speak to them.
“While I thought, ‘Okay, but they all develop at different stages and different times,’ it was when they said to me that he was starting to isolate himself a little bit from his mates because he was getting so upset and frustrated that he couldn’t take part in the communication,” she confessed.
“They would be starting for the very first time in their lives to communicate with each other with language and Wolf was getting frustrated because he couldn’t partake in this.”
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The 37-year-old admitted that the whole situation upset her and she ended up crying to her husband Fabio in her car while struggling to not blame herself.
“I went so bad in my head in the first 24 hours that I started saying that it was my fault because I had him two months early and he’s two months premature. Maybe it’s because of that, that this is happening so it’s my fault that he’s struggling at the moment,” she confessed to Jennifer.
Though a public health nurse assured her that many kids need help with their speech and language skills, Lottie only became more frustrated when she learned of the waitlist to see a specialist.
“I wanted help instantly. I know that it’s unrealistic, but that’s just a mother’s instinct. That night I wanted help,” the mum of one said.
But Lottie hasn’t let that defeat her, instead deciding she would take a course in speech therapy.
“I decided I’m going to help him then because I’m not waiting for another problem and I want him to get help now.”
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