‘Counting On’: Jessa Duggar Shares Update on Son’s Speech Delays, Says He’s ‘Catching Up’

Jessa Duggar’s son is making progress! On Jan. 7, the Counting On star shared an update with fans on Instagram who asked about how things are going with Henry’s speech delays. She said said that her 2-year-old is “really catching up!” 

Jessa Duggar’s son was experiencing some speech delays 

As Jessa shared in the Nov. 5 episode of Counting On, she and her husband Ben Seewald were worried that Henry might be experiencing some developmental delays. The couple took their second child to a specialist to have his hearing evaluated since they were worried that he was behind when it came to talking. 

“We realized probably since he was about 18 months old that he wasn’t communicating like his older brother did at that age or like other kids his age,” Jessa said in the episode. “He’s not really able to talk and communicate what he wants. A lot of the times it’s just grunts and pointing and that kind of thing.”

Doctors recommended speech therapy 

After determining that Henry’s hearing was fine, doctors suggested that he might benefit from speech therapy. 

“His hearing is perfect. Developmentally, he’s not behind, he’s on track with where he should be. It just seems to be a speech issue, and so at this point, she’s recommended that we see a speech pathologist and go from there,” Jessa explained. The typical toddler knows about 50 words, according to Parents magazine, and their vocabulary should increase to around 200 to 300 words by 24 months. 

Apparently, the speech therapy is going well. As Jessa shared in her reply to a fan’s question, Henry had an appointment for a follow-up speech evaluation that same day, and she was confident he’d made some progress. 

In a Christmas Day video Jessa posted to her Instagram, Henry can heard saying that they’re going to “granny’s house” for the holiday. Later, he says “Merry Christmas.” Several followers noted that the toddler’s speech seemed to have improved quite a bit. 

Jessa was stressed about the situation

Jessa has said that Henry’s slowness to start talking was a big concern for her. 

“I feel like, especially as a mom, it’s easier for me to kind of stress out, like, ‘Oh, no. He’s delayed. What’s wrong with him?’” Jessa said during the Counting On episode. But her husband was calmer about the situation. “Ben is a little more level-headed, like, ‘It’ll be OK. We’ll figure it out,’” she added. 

Seeing a specialist appears to have allayed some of the mom-of-three’s fears, which was no surprise to her own mother. 

“I think just learning more about it helps to take away a lot of the fears and gives you really a goal, a plan to work towards to help. So I think they’ve done a really good job,” Michelle Duggar told Counting On producers.  

Read more: Jessa Duggar Just Admitted Her Husband, Ben Seewald, Is Way More Adventurous Than She Is

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