Feeling lost about non verbal 2 year old

My son was the same, maybe one or two words by the age of 2. He did lots of signs (he invented them, we didn’t do baby sign classes or anything). By about 2 and a half he had invented some words and did a few sounds (like brrr for car etc) but not much else.

We did SALT (all online so pretty limited). The most useful thing I found that they suggested was leaving a ‘space’ at the end of a sentence, so for instance, ‘I like milk, yummy, a nice cup of....’ and let them fill in the gap (if they want), or do the same when reading a story as they are likely to know the word from having read it before.

He’s now 3 and he is very chatty, talking in full sentences, he told me he was ‘underwhelmed with this dinner’ the other day 🤨. Not sure if it was the SALT or he was just ready.

Perhaps Covid and the lack of socialising has had an impact.

My older brother said nothing apart from car until he was 2.5 years and his hearing was fine and seemed to u sets tabs command and then one day my mum was busy with me crying and he was getting annoyed with her and said mum drink please and my mother was shocked that he could speak

Each child is different, no point in worrying without tests

My 2.5yo was exactly the same. We spent over a thousand pounds on private speech therapy and I did all the techniques with her daily. I took her to signing classes, I never stopped talking, reading, singing with her. Nothing worked and I was beside myself with worry. Then almost overnight she just started talking. Went from around 6 words to 30 in a week, then 2 weeks after that she was talking in 3/4 word sentences. She's 30 months now and other than some issues with pronunciation she's completely average for her age. Unless there are other developmental delays then I would honestly try not to worry - some kids just take longer.

Boys start talking later....I wouldn't worry too much. Just keep talking to him.

Is he babbling? Sometimes they start a bit late but once they discover they have a voice, they quickly progress.

I have a 27 month old. At 24 month he was saying 3 words. At his 27 month review the health visitor said he should be saying around 50 words and putting 2 words together. He was saying about 15 words. However in the last 2 weeks he has progressed massively, saying several new words each day. The health visitor did say they would review in 3 months and refer to speech therapy if required.

My friend's son was like this until he was almost three. Everyone was concerned, referred to SLT etc. Then suddenly there was a word explosion and he went from single words to two-word phrases to simple sentences within about three weeks.

My first child really didn’t talk much, I didn’t know any difference. When he had his health check at 2 he passed everything well, he walked at 11 months but he wasn’t speaking. HV said she could make contact in 6 months as she was concerned about his lack of speech. I then realised she was right, he would point to anything he wanted and made a sipping sound when he wanted a drink. We stopped doing everything for him and tried to make him say the word what he wanted. HV rang at the 6 month time and she asked how he was getting on and I let him talk to her, he caught up quick. Obviously not saying that this is the case with every child, but he just needed extra time.

I've literally just had my DS 2.5 year check
He is being referred to audiology and if no further speech by October half term he will be referred to SALT.

He understands well, communicates in every other way, can follow instructions. Speech wise he babbles in a conversational way and can say approx 20 words.

My oldest was a chatterbox by this age.

Youngest has started a few mornings at nursery and staff say he is 'trying' so it's been decided to see how he is getting on by half term.

Two is very young are there any other concerns about his development? I have a non verbal 11year old so i do understand, but it was very obvious there were other things going on, many late speakers do go on too have an normal language, at this stage all you can do is keep pushing for refferals and assessments

Does he babble and make noises or is he completely silent?
My 22 month old can only say “muhmuh” and “dada” but he babbles in his own language all day long.

My DD is nearly 2 and doesn't have any words either. We've been referred and are also waiting for SLT to start. Does he babble without words? My DD does this in a conversational way and I was told during the screenings that this was a really good sign.

It's a worry. I don't have words of wisdom to tell you it will all be OK because this is uncharted territory for me, too, but I wanted to just say you're not alone.