To ask about your late talkers?

[SinkGirl]

My twins are 26 months now and neither can talk.

One has a lot of health issues and is under many specialists. He has a SALT assessment in a few weeks. He babbles constantly but not deliberately.

His twin has no health issues and is doing well developmentally in most areas except social skills and communication. He only says ga or long noises but no other consonants. Still waiting for his SALT appointment.

I’m starting to really worry about the second has he has no input from any medical professionals and I’m worried we are missing something.

Those whose little ones still weren’t speaking at this age, how did things work out?

My son is 2.5 and only uses single words. He's beginning to put 2 words together but is noticeably behind his peers. The HV referred him for an assessment with a speech therapist as did his nursery and we had it last week. They confirmed what I suspected - that he is behind but nothing is 'wrong' per se and he will catch up. They gave us really helpful tips and are referring us to a course called 'super speakers'.

Have you spoken to your HV and asked for a referral? Xx

My middle son was 3 before he spoke, apart from the inability to say the he's fine now .

Hi Sink.

I have identical twin boys, they were both late talkers and had SALT input from about age three. For infant school they were in a specialist class in a mainstream school (ten in the class) and transferred to a different mainstream school in year 3.

They’re year 5 now and while the speech is fine, they’re behind in reading and writing, partly due to being in a class where there wasn’t so much emphasis placed on these things (not a bad thing by the way, just the way it worked).

Happy to talk it through if you want to.

My youngest was pretty crappy at talking. By the time he started school he didn't talk much, and what he did say was almost incomprehensible.

It turned around when they started doing phonics at school, I practised them with him every night and by February the SALT had discharged him, it was a very dramatic turnaround.

Nowadays I spend most of my time wishing he would keep quiet from time to time

Has your second twin had his 2 year development review? They should refer him for SALT if needed. I'd try not to worry too much, their speech can come on so quickly in such a short amount of time I'm sure he'll catch up. My DS was slow starting to talk but its almost that he wasn't keen on talking until he knew he could get it right and he now speaks very clearly at 2.5 and is generally easily understood. Whereas some of his peers started talking earlier but are still difficult to understand.

Do they go to nursery? I found that nursery really helped my DS's speech progression.

My boys (6&7) were late speakers. My eldest used to miss the beginning and end consonant sounds off words, if that makes sense? (so he would call a car a "ahh". Only I and a few close family members could truly understand him and he was referred to audiologists etc. Nothing was found to be wrong, he was just a late developer (they both were). No idea why, I spoke to them both constantly from them being tiny.

Fast forward to now, speaking to them is like speaking to a pair of adults! My 6yo has just had been awarded this week's classroom award for incredible vocabulary and both are doing really well at school.

No experience personally, but my dh was a late talker (also a late walker). He didn't say his first word until he was 2.5 and then started talking in sentences. He does have mild dyslexia and he say a speech therapist a bit as a child, but it's not affected his life in any real way. He did well in school and is generally quite successful, though definitely more of a maths and science person.

Thanks everyone - he’s already been referred to SALT. They did his two year check and he scored 0 for communication as he doesn’t even point (his twin has only just started pointing very recently). We are just waiting for the appointment but I find all the waiting and worrying so stressful. The biggest issue is that neither of them mimic anything and so I suspect that’s one reason they’re not using any words.

My ds didn't start talking until he was 5, before this he was completely non verbal. He has a severe speech disorder, which means that although he can now talk, he is very difficult to understand due to the amount of speech sound errors, word retrieval difficulties and an intermittent stammer. He has other difficulties alongside his speech problems and so has had input from paediatrician, physio etc since he was 1. This year (at 8) he was diagnosed with a rare genetic syndrome.

My ds was about 22 months when we got SALT help (going to a playgroup run by SALT from hospital) and at that point he was totally silent. Just grunted for emphasising things. He had a few single words but very little interest or motivation in talking at all. In the course of the year since he has made auch amazing progress. I am stunned at how much he has come along. For info dh didn’t speak until he was 4 so we were very worried / in denial. We’ve literally come back from every SALT playgroup and practised everything they’ve told us to do. In addtion we’ve had prescribed sessions/therapy. So a hell of a lot can change in a year. I’d say push for their SALT assessments and do the homework all the time.

SinkGirl one of the easiest things we were told to do was give choices for everything. So dinner which plate? Showing two plates. Snack time, which snack: eg banana or apple? Then give 1 slice/ segment so they have to ask/point for more. It feels really horrible but it makes them work.

Thanks all - that’s exactly what I’m going at the moment and how I’ve gotten his twin to point, whereas he will gesture with his hand. He does communicate his needs in some ways but not verbally or with pointing.

His twin either has a genetic disorder or ASD (waiting on blood results) - he’s had a lot more input as he’s delayed across the board so now I worry we’ve not been concerned enough about the other. Just hoping his SALT comes through soon - his twins was brought forward by his consultant because of his other investigations.

Both my boys were late talkers. DS1 is now 4.5 and flourishing in reception. He barely said a word until he turned 3 then within a month we couldn't shut him up. We were so worried we paid for a private assessment and the therapist said if the understanding is there then the speech will come.

DS2 is 3 soon. His speech is coming on but still very hard to understand him. But I know from experience now that it's improving and as his hearing and understanding is fine that he will catch up.

The speech therapist said to me that there seems to be lots about how kids should be talking at 2. But realistically first words between 2 and 3 are totally acceptable.

Unsure whether it was you who posted about this the other day but I will say what I said on that thread regardless.

My eldest DC was three before he spoke. He babbled and said the odd word but no sentences at all. I was concerned he may have autism or speech problems. Shortly after his third birthday he suddenly exploded with lots of words including mummy for the first time which was lovely . It was as if he was storing them all in his mind and waiting to unleash them. He’s now almost nine and never shuts up .

My now 16 year old didn’t talk at all until he was about 3, after that he spoke sort off but nobody could really understand him. I wouldn’t say he spoke properly until he was about 8. After years and years of speech therapy he is now an excellent talker and regularly corrects others on how words should be pronounced😂

My boy didn't really start to talk u TIL he was almost 3.
He is getting better with every week that goes by, but we still have concerns
Been referred to the ASD assessment clinic

I have twin girls. DTD2 walked & talked at age 2. DTD1 didn't do that 'till she was almost 4. She babbled, but no words, then one day she just said a complete sentence and that was that, fluent conversation after that. She also didn't do the whole bum shuffle/crawling thing - she just got up and walked one day. Almost like she was waiting 'till she was ready and then just did it - no need to waste time with all the rest of the stuff. She has ASD (high functioning).

*Cruising, not crawling! She did crawl.

Diana Princess sounds like my ds6. He is infant mainstream school and I'd in a specialist class for core skills and social skills. He is 2 years behind with an EHCP. Since going in this class in September he is really improving. We are looking at specialist schools for middle school. As he is doing do well in the small class

Ds has neurodevelopmental.difficumties DX and speech and language delay.

He is very chatty and loves to talk I wish he wod be quiet sometimes.

Have they had their eyes tested yet? My Ds had speech delay but had his eyes checked aged 2. His eye sight is really poor. Once he had his glasses his speech quickly followed. He probably couldn't see the shape people's lips and faces made as they talked which really helps.

My 3rd ds will be 2 in January. Hes still not walking and only says eyes, trys to say cat but it comes out as hair, keys and has tried saying shape names.
Hes moderately deaf though and his teacher of the deaf has said a couple of times about being referred for speech therapy

My eldest son is also moderately deaf but he was a chatter box at this age.

I believe that twins and close age siblings do start to speak ‘later’ - I’ll need to dig out my old child dev notes on that.

My parents thought that I couldn’t speak for ages - because my older sister spoke for me all the time (I still can’t get a word in edgewise). I could speak but they never heard me.