Speech development in 2 year old

[FlippertyJibbit]

Just looking for a bit of advice really.. Not medical but opinions and experience maybe? My apologies if this turns out long.. DS will be 3 in October, at his 22 month check the HV wasn't overly concerned with his speech but wanted us get back in contact if his speech hadn't developed much further at 2.5 years as he was behind in that area.

DH & I feel DS is doing absolutely fine in other areas, he responds to our requests, knows his name, likes drawing and reading, is starting to attempt to dress himself, not potty trained yet but we haven't tried and I don't want to push that.

DS has a limited vocabulary, and is not attempting to put two words together, words so far are;

Mama
Dada
Nana
Grr (Grandad)
Buh (Bus)
Cah (Car)
Bah-Bah (Batteries - always asked for when his toys run out of battery!)
Shuh (Shoes & Shirt)
Puh (Poo)
Wee-wee (self explanatory!)
Muh (the first initial of a close friend "M")
Joo (juice)
Kuh (the first initial of his own name "K")
Yeah!!
Seeeaaaa (seaside)
Biiish (beach)

He counts from 1 to around 10, the words are not fully comprehensible apart from three (fweeee) and six (seeks) the other number are more sounding out then an actual word (orrn, derr) I think only DH and I understand this though.

He can also make a number of animal sounds, cats, dogs, sheep, cows and monkeys.

I've made contact with a HV regarding this and our town has a sort of self referring speech development drop in morning on scheduled Monday's for 2 hours, only the first 6 families get seen and are given 10-15 minutes for the HV to decided if they need further help or not.. DH and I are obviously going to book time off work and take DS to one of these sessions but I was hoping for maybe any help with how to encourage his speech? His CM is encouraging the use of sign language to prevent him becoming frustrated with not being able to express himself. We always repeat our words, look directly at him when speaking, explain everything we are doing etc..

DH has dyspraxia and had learning difficulties, he also was mute for a number of years when younger after speaking so he's concerned he has "passed it on" to DS.

I am open to any suggestions, sharing your own experiences, anything! Just to help me not feel like such a let down for not teaching DS properly ð??? I have a few friends whose children are around the same age and they're close to spouting out the whole works of Shakespeare and stringing sentence after sentence along then giving me a pitying look when DS doesn't answer a question asked by them with a full sentence.

I am so very very VERY proud of my son, I would not change him for the world, I feel like I should be trying harder with him or pushing him but he's only 2! I want him to be happy (which he always is) but I don't want him to feel let down by his parents if he does have problems when he eventually starts school..

I have definitely rambled here! Sorry!

[MargoReadbetter]

He's still so young. How is his hearing?

[FlippertyJibbit]

Spot on, I think. The only hearing test he has had is the newborn test though. I'm currently attempting to get him a GP appointment to check for any medical problems (glue ear etc) but our surgery is a nightmare to get into. DS doesn't fiddle with his ears, doesn't complain of any pain, no balance issues and not overly waxy so I don't think it is glue ear. He responds very well to anybody calling him, to anybody asking him for something (I.e he knows where the bin is when he has rubbish, picks up toys when asked, goes to get his shoes when we say we're going out)

I agree with you he is young, still very young but it gets pushed on you by so many people that they should be saying 50+ words and attempting to put two words together at this age and it makes me worry he's behind in his development. Maybe I'm worrying too much?

[MargoReadbetter]

There's a wealth of info at

//Www.speech-language-therapy.com

One of the pages looks specifically at speech development. Your son sounds fine to me. If his hearing is good and he's willing to communicate, he'll pick up any time now.

[Ktmummy1]

Ok, I am a Speech and Language Therapist and Mum to a child the same age as your son. I would recommend you look at //www.afasic.org.uk. A great website-afasic is a charity and stands for Action for all speech impaired children.

Many children with this difficulty at 2, go on to develop more vocab and clarity as they mature/interact with more children.

The advice at this stage would be:
Comment in simple language to your child.
Add language, eg if child says car, you say yes, blue car etc
Try not to ask your child lots of questions, rather comment on what they're doing.

Perhaps phone your local paediatric Speech and language therapy dept (likely to be based at your local hospital/child development centre-your health visitor will know). Phone for advice and ask if you can make a parental referral.

I'm sure your son will be fine in time.

[Szeli]

Is he at nursery yet? I found lots of DS' friends came on loads speech wise once they started.

Do get his hearing checked in case, the half words may be because he simply can't say the full words yet - or it could be he's only hearing half a word.

My hv said 30 words by 2 and starting to put words together so he really isn't far off. I'm.sure he'll be fine

[FlippertyJibbit]

Thank you very much for the suggestions, will definitely speak to Hospital as suggested and will have a good look through those websites too!!

I'm thinking the same about his hearing and only sounding partial words, definitely. He isn't at nursery, no. He goes to a childminder once a week all day, she has 2/3 children and is encouraging sign language for expression too, once we get his entitlement in January we will be sending him 4 days a week plus his CM will have other children as well to hopefully help him progress..

Just to hear him say love you mama will make my day

[Strawberrybubblegum]

You haven't let your DS down, OP: most children need a bit of help somewhere along the line, and you're being a caring, responsible parent by getting him that help now.

I think Margo and Szeli are really unhelpful to say it's all fine. Less than 50 words at 24 months is considered a late talker, so I think that 26 words at 32 months definitely warrants pushing for some help. It can take time to access that help, so the sooner you start the better.

It's great that his receptive language is so good: from what I understand that's the most important thing.

And you are right to be proud of him, he sounds lovely

[Szeli]

Strawberry he's 22 months and our hvs suggest 30 words is around average at 2 so OPs son is very near that already. 2 months is loads of time in child development and these are the words OP can recall from the top of her head. He very likely will be just fine

fwiw my ds is used as a child psychology test subject and the local uni and part of the paperwork for that is pages and pages of words to see what they can say and/or understand. I first went when ds was 21mo and I thought he had around 30 words, doing this paperwork made me realise he had around 80, if you like OP pm me and I'll try get a copy of the list for you - you might suprise yourself

[Strawberrybubblegum]

Szeli, ah I see you've misread the OP. That number of words would be absolutely fine at 22 months, but OP says her DS will be 3 in October. (She mentions his 22 month check too - but is posting since his speech hasn't developed much since then)

[alwaysabattle]

Hi op just wanted to let you know you're not alone. My ds who will be 3 on Thursday doesn't say a lot either. But it is coming on more and more. The difference with my ds is that he has had a lot of problems with glue ear even had grommets fitted. I think you would know if he had hearing problems though because it's not just my sons speech that was affected he also didn't follow commands or answer to his name. He now answers to his name but still doesn't follow instructions very much. They all come on at there own pace my son had no words at 2 but has quite a few now and puts words together try's to sing songs etc. I have seen lots of professionals including speech therapy paediatrics etc and they all agree he is coming on how he wants to. I am a sahm so because I know what he wants I think that has helped delay things abit. He's starting pre school in September and they've been great saying once he's with his peers it will probably come on loads. Hope this helps knowing that were in that sitation and there's really nothing to worry about it will come when there ready. He will still be processing it all. Try not to worry too much I did and made myself poorly as my first ds hit all his mile stones and now wish I hadn't because I see him coming on more and more everyday

[Florin]

My son will be three next week and at 2 had very few words but now has far too many to count and is suddenly putting quite big sentences together. He went straight from saying biscuit to I would like a biscuit and from poo poo to I've done a poo, I need a nappy change for example there was no in between. At 2.5 he was diagnosed with a speech delay but it has improved so much. The biggest change has been in the last 2 weeks. Although I am a stay at home Mum we decided to enroll him in the local private nursery 2 long mornings a week (8-1) they are brilliant with him and do so much with him and he adores it there. He has always spoken so much more to me and his Dad but doesn't say much in front of others and this is really helping with that too.
Although we have had him diagnosed by the NHS the road to get help via the NHS is a long one and we have decided to go private once he is settled at nursery. It isn't cheap though I think about £60 a session.

[momtothree]

Glue ear can be in just one ear ... and it can be foggy so can hear the thread of what youre saying and guess what youre asking. DS had his cleared by using olbas oil every night it loosened the glue and it exploded on his sheets ... quite a sight. Please try it... its natural.

[FlippertyJibbit]

Yes, sorry if I caused any confusion there, DS is currently 32 months.

He has other sounds he uses for things, for instance, if he sees a bin or somebody throwing some rubbish away he'll say "urghh" - probably not exactly what we're looking for but hey- it's something!!

He'll say "brrrr" if the windows open or if it's windy, or if he has the cold tap on, but these are not necessarily things that others would understand apart from his immediate family iyswim..

That's really interesting your son was involved as a test subject szeli, how did that come about? Not saying I want to do it but it sounds interesting!!

Thanks Strawberry, a lot of people say he's fine and it eases me for a while and I start to see it that way too but then when we meet others his age and they're much more talkative, the worry creeps back again so I just wanted to see the general consensus here really.. Will definitely be following up on this drop in centre once we've been!

[FlippertyJibbit]

Thank you for the messages of reassurance, it's great (not literally) to know others are facing the same problems, I think as I'm a full time working mum I feel a bit more responsible for him not developing as quickly as others, because I'm not always there. He spends 4 days a week with my mum who works from home, she's a fantastic carer and we're very lucky to have her help but he's there by himself so doesn't have his peers around him, he has lots of fun with his CM one day a week and we can't wait for him to start going to her more in January and I'm sure that will help too.

Today is day 3 of trying to make an appointment at our GP to try and rule out or find out the possibility of glue ear, although the olbas oil sounds a great idea, will give that one a go too!! Thank you!

[kelda]

Definitely get his hearing checked.

Is he putting two words together or attempting short sentances? It's good that he can make a range of sounds, including the 's' and animal sounds - encourage him to do this loads.

Also encourage him to blow bubbles, use a straw, sing, anything that gets his mouth moving. Simple signs are also good to encourage communication. Never force him to repeat what he is saying, just repeat it back to him correctly.

There are always people desperate to reassure you and tell you that he's fine, he just needs time to mature, (we heard this all the time with ds despite him being years behind with speech) but there are children who need just that little bit of extra help and the sooner you get the ball rolling, the better.

[momtothree]

FwIW .. DS speech didnt improve overnight ... he was quite in class... this was to his advantage as he listened and didnt chat to the others and worked his way up the class. He is still studious because if this and now 10- the chatterboxes are still finding it difficult as they havent learnt to listen. (Have seen this with a few children) thought it might help.

[Szeli]

Sorry! Every time I've reread the op I've missed the "3 in October part" thought you were waiting for him to reach 2.5

wrt test subjects the local uni has a baby lab and they often put out calls for volunteers for phd research - I signed ds up at birth as I find it fascinating. It's all child friendly and is based around various 'games' we get travel paid and he gets a story book and we can leave at any time without losing those 'perks' (last time ds didn't want to do it so we left) we both really enjoy it

[chocnomorechoc]

get hearing checked. GP won't be able to diagnose glue ear though. you need some other tests for that but this should be tested our during a hearing test with audiology.

also push for SALT. in most areas you can self refer. just find the number and give them a ring.

don't listen to people who tell you he us fine. people always try to be reasuring. rather push for SALT, the sooner he gets help, the better. for almost 3 he doesn't have a lot of words but you know that.

(I have a severely speech delayed child so have been through all this )