Mumsnet Talk

I'd appreciate some sage advice. My son is 2 years and seven months, and he's an active, friendly, bright, talkative little boy.

The problem is, however, that there are definite gaps in his abilities and speech, and I'm starting to worry there's something wrong.

Firstly, when I ask him what his name is, he gives me his nursery teacher's name, not his. He says it with a smile as if he's winding me up. He does call himself by his name when he's referring to things, e.g "xxx's teddy bear", "xxx's dinner", etc, but he'll never answer the direct question.

Secondly, I cannot for the life of me get him to learn colours. We play games in the car identifying colours of other cars, I have an ipad app with colour flash card which he loves, and lots of books - but he will never say what colour something is.

Lastly, he can count sequentially up to 20, but can't tell me how many of something there are.

I suppose what I'm asking is... is this unusual? Should we be worried, or is this a case of being delayed in some things, but advanced in others?

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

Blimey, he sounds quite advanced if he can count to 20!
DS is 2.1 and only has about 3 words, not even mummy (Waiting for SALT appointment) so i think your DS sounds fine!

Counting sequentially is something even younger children do but understanding what number means is a whole different concept and comes later.
Learning colours too comes later in cognitive development than other concepts that as adults seem more advanced. Some know them at 2.5 but others much closer to 3.5.
Possibly he knows you know his name, so he's trying to give you a much more complex answer.

He isn't delayed - he sounds bright and interested.

DD is 2.4. If asked her name by family she sometimes says her name but anyone else and she either says nothing or her brother's name. I've put this down to being asked about her little brother so often and being a bit suspicious/shy of new people (to which I think 'fair enough'; always find it weird when adults expect toddlers to gabble away to just anyone).

She can't do colours - if you ask what colour something is she invariably says "boo" (blue) - but I've read plenty of threads on here with people saying dcs didnt get colours until 3+ so that doesn't bother me.

As for counting - v impressed with your ds as dd 'counts' by saying 1-3-1-3 ad infinitum.
I think if your ds is a bright talkative happy little boy then you've probably nothing to worry about - they all unfurl in their own way and it sounds to me (admittedly not any kind of expert but around plenty of toddlers) as though he is quite normal.

Have you chatted to hv/nursery staff if applicable for reassurance?

my ds at 2yrs 3mo couldn't name colours, speak clearly or say his name - he had grommets at 2.5yrs for glue ear and his speech is improving.
I knew he wasn't colour blind because he could match colours just not name them, he would also 'communicate' fine but his speech was unrealiable - he's now 3.5 yrs and his speech is still a little unclear - under SALT for review at Easter (that'll be about 9 months after we saw them so he'll have had chance to listen and learn)
Having had 3 children with glue ear and seeing the affect it has on their development its worth bearing in mind if you have concerns about speech and understanding (fwiw other 2 ds's didn't have any speech or lang delay but cronic glue ear and different issues)