Feeling lost about non verbal 2 year old

My 3 year old wasn't saying very much at 2. I think we got his first word just before or just after being bye (thanks teletubbies).

He now has about 50 words and is having speech therapy. At his assessment she called it language delay and didn't think there were any special needs concerns.

From a year ago we have seen so much progress and that was a key milestone we were told by one therapist. We can expect him to catch up immediately but he just improve.

To help we were recommended to simplify our language and lots of play together.

I understand how you feel. Our son was virtually silent at 2 and now we are trying to teach him volume control while he shouts loudly.

My dd was the same, paid for private SALT assessment at 27 months at which stage she had maybe 20 words she would say at a push. Her speech just took off after this anyway.

Tips were:
Lots of signing
Lots of games with repetitive words (eg. Pop up pirate so you say all the colours over and over)
Keep a list of words so you can see the improvement

Luckily we didn't need audiology in the end- over a year past referral they finally called up to offer an appointment. Absolutely shocking.

I could have written this post almost 8 yrs ago. Coming up 2, my eldest son would only say about 6 words and if he managed to learn a new word he'd drop another one off the list. His main sound was a "ta " or grunt with a point whenever he wanted anything. We had his hearing tested at 2, which came back fine. I was also watching for signs of autism. Then suddenly at 2yr 1m he just started speaking in small sentences. He's now coming up 11 , academically very able and other than being a stroppy preteen has no problems at home or school. The only thing is even now he's a bit reluctant to try anything new if he hasn't completely got it correct in his head and knows he can do it. I just think he's always cautious about doing new things until he feels ready (whereas DS2 just throws himself into everything without a second thought!)

If your DS doesn't need it, then it just becomes something extra you did and no harm done. And if he does, you'll have given a good start.

DD1 did not speak till at least that age; then it all came out in a flood. She knew how to do it but couldn't be bothered.

Ditto reading - very late starter and just not interested, then I caught her reading The Wind in the Willows one day. I asked if she could understand it and she said "Oh yes." She was waiting for something a bit more inspiring than school readers I think!

I hope that your DS begins to communicate soon - they mostly do in their own time.

That year between 2 and 3 is a really frustrating time if you have a child with additional needs, it's the time you know something is going on, but you aren't able to access any of the advice and support you really need.

I knew my DS a was autistic at age 2, but it wasn't until he turned 3 and went to state school nursery that everything kicked in in terms of diagnosis and help. My one wish is that I had taken him to the GP earlier and not taken no for an answer.

Id get onto salt asap, private if you can afford it. Iv had 3 with delayed speech. 2 resolved with salt and 1 needed intensive salt from 2 until 7, he has auditory processing issues and sever dyslexia as turns out. In great beleiver in early intervention and salt is fun games at that age.

My youngest was 2 in June and only says 6 words. His understanding is apparently above the expected level for his age (according to his SLT assessment).

He currently goes to a play session run by SLT and is waiting his formal appointment. Also waiting a ent referral too.

His brother was saying full sentences at the same age.

At 2 and a half my daughter couldn't talk. At her hearing assessment I dropped something and she said "Whoopsy Daisy!" It turned out that she's a person who doesn't like to try things unless she's certain she can do it well, and she's very stubborn. When she started to talk it was in sentences and very clear and easy to understand.

Hey OP, my son was similar. When I watch videos back of him aged about 2 and a half it makes me want to cry because you literally cannot understand a word and yet he's babbling like he really had something to say. He had a few other issues too and early intervention was, I think, absolutely key in getting him supported and caught up. He was diagnosed with ASD as he went into reception and has been supported so much by the school and the special needs support team. He is about to go into year 4 now and he is absolutely thriving. He works at the expected level in English and above that for maths. He has his quirks but he's doing so, so well. I just wanted to reassure you that even if your son is behind with his speech now, and even if he does have some addition needs, getting the support and any necessary assessments early is brilliant. You're doing so well.

I could have written the exact same post as you, too. The health visitor told me that they'd actually moved the two-year check to the 27 ninth check because so many children weren't meeting the speech and language milestone by 24 months. They checked their understanding and saw that it was on target but their speech was behind. I asked for a referral to SALT and the HV obliged. It took about six weeks for SALT to get in touch and by that point it was completely irrelevant as she suddenly had a speech explosion and literally hasn't stopped talking since. The activities the SALT suggested were things like naming body parts and animals but she was already talking in four-word sentences by then. A friend of mine had a three year old that wasn't saying anything clearly and she said she'd been told that in NT children, speech development is stand-alone and isn't connected to any other developmental leaps in children.
As long as you have no other concerns then I'll bet that in a couple of months your lad will be chatting away and you'll be wishing for five minutes' peace!

My son (1st child) had amazing understanding at 18 months onwards, but said barely anything. We were worried, nursery mentioned speech therapy, etc. Just before he was 3, he started talking and hasn't stopped since. He's 4 now. On the other hand, my daughter, who is now 2, has been talking non stop since she was 1. Sometimes they just take their own time.

I have a severely autistic son who is now an adult. Apart from no speech at that age he had absolutely no understanding, he was very “good”. Just used to sit and play on his own, never really cried, never did anything “naughty”. Looking back he was too “good”.

My daughter was born when he was 7 years old. She was silent, very slow to reach milestones. She never babbled. At 2 she was referred for speech therapy. However she understood what we said and could follow 2 step commands. Just before she turned 3 she finally said a word. I was worried sick about her being autistic too. Once she said the first word more words came quickly. By the time she started school she was speaking in sentences but was missing key sounds so was hard to hard to understand. I can report she is now a typical teenager. She was diagnosed with severe dyslexia though and late milestones and speech are an indicator of this.

I wrote a very similar post to this when my DS was around the same age. Very bright, happy kid, almost no words at 2 years and then almost no progression for what felt like ages. I always knew he had great comprehension and babbled constantly.

I did take him to a speech therapist who agreed that while his speech would likely come in it’s own time (it has!), one of the strategies we tried was slowing our speech patterns right down when talking to him - because we knew he understood us perfectly, we kind of just would chat away a mile a minute in long complex adult sentences sometimes.

She advised that we should try sometimes (not all the time, just when you remember) to bring sentences down to just a few words. Like instead of saying ‘oh Tom can you just run over there and pop your shoes on for mummy please’, just try ‘shoes on please’.

I found this helped a huge amount and he started parroting us very quickly and before we knew it, he was chattering away without being prompted.

He’s now 2 years and 8 months, full sentences are coming out, new words every day. He just caught up all of a sudden.

Obviously this is just my experience and hopefully things will go the same with your little one. I know how worrying it can be though, it sounds like you’re doing all the right things and in the meantime all we can do is let them run their own race.

Please ignore the comment about boys talk later it’s untrue. Children develop at different rates regardless of being male or female. Comments like this only hinder kids getting the early intervention they may need.

If you are really concerned please speak to your health visitor.

My DS could only babble dada and mama at 2. The rest of the time he would just squeal and screech. When he reached 2.5 it was as if a switch went off in his head and he started repeating words and after a few weeks he was speaking in short sentences.

I was so worried about a speech delay and this all happened during the first lockdown so there was no referral or 2.5 year check. He now doesn't stop talking!

Every child is different so try to not compare. He is still really young and it sounds like you are on the ball with getting him the help if he needs it.

@Warsawa31

Her understanding is fine can follow instructions do puzzles and was walking by 12 months

She's crammed a lot in 27 months! Her words will 'catch up'

@QuietBatperson15

I know a lot of 2 year olds that didn't speak either much or at all, and others who from much younger didn't shut up! They used to say they'll walk or they'll talk, and largely it's actually true. Most of the 'late talkers' catch up quickly as the vocabulary is already in the heads. From 1 to 100 SO fast. Try not to worry or make it an issue and you'll be reassuring others in no time

My son only had a few words at 2.5years. We had a referral for speech therapy at 2.5 but only actually got some at 3.5. Partly because there’s not that much they can do when they are really young. His understanding is good and he now has an excellent vocabulary but can only pronounce some sounds. It has improved massively and we will get more speech therapy. I’m suspect he’s autistic

Hmm that’s even later than my son, who had only 4 regular words at 27 months (but is now, at age 31 months talking in little sentences).

Start with signs. Loads of simple Nursery rhymes with actions. A few simple books. Counting 1 to 10. Animal sounds

What does he like?
My son likes vehicles and Peppa Pig so we focused on that - beep, beep when we saw a car, brmmm when we saw a bus, ting-ting when. We saw a bike, piggy snorts when we played with his Peppa toys.

We also learned miaow and woof woof and cheep cheep so we could name things on our walks.

Then we did words to do with movement - up, down, out.

Smile when he makes an attempt to talk, and pretend for now you understand, try to converse. Leave long gaps after questions while he finds the words in his head.

When we played I asked my ds sometimes to look at my mouth and I pointed at my lips when I made a sound, so he could see what shape my mouth made. If he was in a good mood I’d say, “you say it” and occasionally he would try. I acted really happy when he tried.

Also I’d guess from context what DS was babbling about and repeat back, really slow and simple “yes its a car. daddy’s car” or whatever. Quite often I’d guess right and he was delighted when I apparently understood.

As he got better I’d say “did you say car or cat?” And he’d repeat, trying to get clearer.

It’s a slow journey and sometimes it seems like he forgets words he knew well a week ago. But overall he’s improving all the time.

I have same worry with my dd is 27 months says maybe 7 or 8 words and not consistently.

I've wanted to ask for a referral but everyone just says don't worry :(

She had he check up end of month so I'll speak to health visitor then.

Her understanding is fine can follow instructions do puzzles and was walking by 12 months.

I am praying in time she will get there it's just so hard being worried all the time so your not alone

My son didn’t say much until 3 and now he won’t shut up. He is autistic with a speech disorder though so it’s good they are keeping an eye