To want my 2.5yo to talk

[clpsmum]

my middle child is 2yrs 5months and just does not talk and I dint know what to do. He can say a few words but most of the time he chides not to. He never ever strings words together and makes sentences, he doesn't say yes, no, please, thank you, his own name or anything you would expect him to be saying. Am I worrying over nothing or is it time to d take action?

Sorry for all typos !!!

Why hasn't your HV referred him to speech therapist? That should have been done ages ago.

I take it you do mix with other parents and children of the same age and would know what is within normal paramaters for that age?

Surely the bells would be ringing in your head long before now?

Has he met all the other milestones?

I know how you feel! My DS is 2.10 and makes lots of sounds but cannot form consonants so his words don't make much sense. He's now undergoing speech therapy and I'm noticing small improvements but it's very worrying! I've been told by the speech therapist that speech issues are more common in boys. Maybe have a chat with your HV or GP and they can see if your DS needs any intervention?

My DS only had a couple of words at 18 months, didn't understand what people were saying and also wasn't walking. We took him to the paed and he was more interested in his walking than the talking. He diagnosed him with hyperlaxity which is double jointedness and said he would see us in 6 months time. He started walking a few weeks after that but his talking was no better. When he was 2 we went back to the paed who sent us for lots of tests (blood, dna, chromosome, hearing). He was diagnosed with glue ear in April last year and went for grommets in June. His talking did get better although his ears were irritated by the grommets which caused an infection so he had them taken out this February. His hearing is a lot better, he can copy, count to 12, sing songs and has lots of words and can now string 2,3 and sometimes 4 together. He is still a long way behind but this time last year I was so worried.

Whether your DS has a hearing problem too, I don't know but what I am saying is that there is loads of things they can do to help so please get him checked out. It can't hurt. Does he understand what you are saying to him?

Am I worrying over nothing or is it time to take action?

Probably both. My oldest was a late talker around 2ish before he really started making sense.
That said probably worth raising concerns with your HV.

That said probably worth raising concerns with your HV
I meant definitely worth raising with HV or GP.
At the very least a few hearing checks etc will reassure you.

My DS (now almost 15) was very slow to speak. I could understand any of the maybe 30 words he was saying at 2½/3 and DD1 translated pretty much. There were no sentences, nothing. I was extremely concerned as DD1 was pretty fluent by 2½ and DD2 well before two.

But, at 3 he was diagnosed with glue ear, rotten glue ear in fact. JUst before his 4th birthday he had grommets put in and things improved dramatically. Although they fell out quite quickly (apparently it happens), he had more put in and within 3 months his speech was up to speed.

I also echo above in that boys are generally slower to speak than girls and my HV all those years ago was lovely and told me really that I shouldn't be too concerned until he reached 3. Hearing tests and ENT appointments showed bad glue ear and they acted swiftly after that.

My DD3 is now 2.3 and her speech is crap. She says words and maybe, if I am lucky the odd 4 word sentence, but that is it. I am not concerned (probably because she's my 4th!) as I know full well that she can hear me, can understand and when I ask her to sound individual words out she does. She's just a lazy cow I think. If she is like this in a year THEN I will worry, but below 3 I am not at all worried.

DD was like this and I received mixed reactions about her just being delayed and it being worth pursuing.

I have a relative that is a child's speach therapist and she erred towards it simply being delay but advised to take further action so that if it were something more serious theN help will have been put in place at the earliest possible opportunity IYSWIM.

As it was, she simply didn't seem to want to talk but could. and she had a years therapy as a precaution.

Worth taking action just to set your mind at ease, and then if it is another issue you will be heading in the right direction..

I am a speech therapist.

It is worth pursuing. There's a wide range of ages when children reach their normal developmental milestones but without an assessment, there is absolutely no way of telling you if your son is a late bloomer or needs therapy.

I tell people to think of it like a smear or a mole check or a trip to the dentist. We don't ignore signs that these need to be checked out but it doesn't mean that we expect that if our gums are bleeding we have oral cancer. At the same time, it's foolhardy to just ignore it.

Does he communicate well non-verbally? Does he understand what is being said to him? And does he want to share things with you, play with other children etc? If it's a yes to all of these then that's v reassuring. I went to the HV when ds1 was 15ms due to lack of speech but the alarm bells were more about his language comprehension (zero) and lack of desire to interact. He was diagnosed with autism at 2, but like I said, it was about much more than delayed speech

I realise this is purely ancedotal, but my son was saying about four words at his second birthday. He didn't even say Mummy or anything like it :( We were very worried about him, and asked for a referral to SALT.

By the time we got an assessment from SALT (15 months later!!! But that is normal apparently) he was talking constantly, long sentences, asking questions. At the assessment his vocabularly and sentence structure was above age appropriate but some of his articulation was still behind (he would say bup instead of cup, etc) so he had a little therapy for that.

Is your son understanding language? Can he point to to body parts, objects, etc when you name them? Is he able to follow instructions, like 'get your shoes and coat for me'. Apparently, not doing that is more worrying than not talking at this age.

But do make a referral to SALT - it will take you so long to get an appointment, it's probably best to do it now just in case.

We were referred to a communication clinic v quickly in our borough (within 2 months), so were lucky I guess. But ONLY when I finally managed to get someone to listen to me and my gut feeling that something was wrong. Even the GP and the HV trotted out the usual 'boys are lazy', 'he's probably just quiet like his dad', 'you'll see, he'll suddenly start talking in full sentences', and without fail they all seemed certain that Einstein hadn't talked til he was 4!

I'd say it's all about your gut feeling. Mine told me something was wrong and a friend of mine had the gut feeling that her dd was just a late talker. We were both right!

I think it is very common for boys to be using only a few words at this age. DS1 was well over two-can't remember exactly what age-before he started saying anything. My friend,who had DS1 was exactly the same,even later actually. Nearer 2.5 yo,before saying anything really. They both talk perfectly now. In fact DS1 is at the top of his class!
Go to HV,but try not to worry.

My youngest just turned 2 and he is not speaking properly but I am not concerned yet. He can say quite a few words(mum,dad,hi,bye,thank you etc) and clearly understands what we are saying to him.
He has no sentences yet but does babble alot so I can usually work out what he wants. He is slower than my other 2 dcs were at talking but I am not worried as am sure he will catch up. Tbh I think people can be too quick to refer to speech therapists. I know 2 kids whose parents were told they had delayed speech but really they were just very shy!.

They are supposed to have between 100 and 200 words by the age of 2 so yes I would get him referred.
I got my son referred when he was 2 as he only had 8 words and we very quickly saw the speech therapist who were great and gave us lots of help and support.

I agree with the poster who said that it's not just his vocabulary (of lack of) that is the issue; it's whether he understands you, can make his needs understood, interacts etc. It can't do any harm to get him assessed, and will hopefully put your mind at rest.

My DD (now 8) was a very late talker. She only had a few words at 2yrs 3months - her name, 'fower' for flower, and 'stuck poo' when her nappy needed changing.. I did worry about her; she still wasn't talking in proper sentences by 3. But she did understand, make her needs understood, and talked gibberish all the time (which she clearly understood, as she would repeat the same nonsense phrase at you with increasing intensity and emphasis ). Once she started nursery (3y 9m) and had to make herself understood to strangers, her language skills blossomed.

I look back at how much I wanted her to talk and laugh; she basically hasn't shut up since, and most of the time I wish she'd talk a bit less! She has a vocabulary that amazes me, so take heart; a language delay doesn't necessarily indicate any problem.

do you talk to him 1:1, spend an hour or so reading every evening,

ive heard people moaning that their kids dont speak yet in the next breath brag about having their music on fulll blast in the house and the car at every opportunity, never ever reading to their kids and plonking them in front of the telly

and then they wonder why the kid doesnt speak

An hour reading to a 2.5 year old a night - AN HOUR!

My DD2 is 2 1/2 and I self-referred her to a speech therapist, got an appointment within 4 weeks and she has been about 4 times now. They did a hearing test and found she had glue ear but it had almost cleared itself up, and mainly I think she just can't be bothered. She understands perfectly everything we say, and will pronounce sounds perfectly on their own, just not in the context of a word!! She does talk a lot though, its just that not everyone can understand her!

Keep reading to him and if you are still worried, self refer to a speech therapist, you don't need a GP or HV to do it for you :)

My DS sounds v similar(and same age). We've started paying for speech therapy-tried NHS which was a waste of time, as all they could offer us was a "parental lecture"(WTF?) and no actual therapy for him. He's about to go for a hearing test, just to check, but I don't think this is an issue, as he follows complex instructions, and receptive speech/understanding has been assessed at 3.9yrs. He just doesn't talk much. He has started to improve with therapy though, but still not up to speed. Get the book "It Takes Two To Talk" by Jan Pepper and Elaine Weitzman. Has proved really useful. Go with your gut feeling though and get him checked out. Good luck.

an hour . With my 2 I'd have to start the bedtime routine at 4pm to cram everything in.

Same with my son, OP.
Get all the speech and language therapist refereal, paediatric consultant referal, educational psychologist referal, and eveyhing done asap.
My DS is 4 now, is so far behine and we needed a diagnosis before he starts school to get funding for a one on one support worker. It will take so long that DS is now staying in nursery an extra year as appropriate support wont be in place in time for school

There is NO WAY my 2.5yo DSs would sit still for a whole hour of reading each evening. Might be able to get them to sit still for 2 or 3x8 minute sessions of reading over the whole day, but one hour at a go? PMSL. I presume one hour is the guidance for people who have only children or one spare adult for each other child in the house.

supposed to have between 100 and 200 words by the age of 2

that's not a universal expectation, I'm sure DC HV all worked on a 50-words-by-2yo rule. As it happens DS3 had only about 12 words at 2y2m... he's now coming on beautifully (3y3m old). I.still.speak.to.him.like.this, & his sounds are behind where they should be, but he's improved no end (barely had 2 word phrases 6 months ago).