‘Counting On’ Star Jessa Duggar Reveals Son Henry Has Speech Delays

Jessa (Duggar) Seewald and husband Ben Seewald stepped in at an early stage to have 2-year-old son Henry looked at by a doctor after noticing their toddler was having a bit of a delay in his talking. The Counting On couple brought viewers along with them as they took their son to the doctor, to have him evaluated in Tuesday’s episode of the TLC reality show.

“We are taking Henry to the doctor today to have him evaluated, have his hearing checked and see what they think we should do next,” Jessa explained during Tuesday’s episode. “We realized probably since he was about 18 months old that he wasn’t communicating like his older brother did at that age or other kids did at that age.”

She continued, “We realize that each kid grows at their own pace but he’s not really catching on. He’s not really able to talk and communicate what he wants. A lot of times it’s just grunts and pointing and that kind of thing.”

With 4-year-old brother Spurgeon at home, Jessa was feeling the pressure as a mother, she admitted, saying, “I feel like as a mom it’s easier for me to stress out and be like ‘Oh no, he’s delayed. What’s wrong with him?’ and Ben’s a little more level headed.”

At the appointment, the specialist performed a number of tests on Henry before revealing while the 2-year-old’s hearing was just fine, his speech was indeed delayed for his age group.

“We were very happy to hear that Henry’s hearing isn’t an issue. His hearing is perfect,” Jessa told the camera following the assessment. “Developmentally he’s not behind. It just seems to be a speech issue and she’s recommended that we see a speech pathologist and go from there.”

Since Henry’s evaluation, things have gotten even busier at the Seewald house, with Jessa and Ben welcoming third child, daughter Ivy Jane, to the family in May.

“Ivy Jane. We just liked those two names, Jessa and I talked about it beforehand this time around,” Ben explained afterwards of the name choice. “We actually had a name picked out before she was born. We liked the way those names flowed together and with her middle name, Jane, she’s actually named after Lady Jane Grey, who was a young lady who was queen of England for a short time during the 1500s. She’s a very inspirational character to us.”

Photo credit: TLC