Late talking toddler

[DerbyMumOf1]

My Ds will be turning 2 next month and for a while i have been worried about his delayed speech. I am even more so now because my son was admitted to hospital Wednesday night and most of the Drs and Nurses who dealt with us made some comments about his lack of speech and communication. So much so they have made a referral to our HV. I knew my Ds was coming up for a 2 year review so i was going to bring it up then anyway.

My Ds appears to understand most of what's been said to him and he mumbles and makes the sounds of words or tunes to music but doesn't actually form the words properly with his mouth. Sometimes it almost sounds like he's making sounds through his nose when he tries to talk because it sounds nasally.
He knows what a lot of names are for things but it's just the way he communicates them that worries me.
I am just here to see if anyone has had anything similar with their child/ren and how it worked out in the end.

DS (now 2.5) really took his time with talking. He was almost 2 when it really took off. Other kids at the nursery were on whole sentences by the time he started communicating more verbally! But it was just about getting started. Once he did, Within a matter of 3-4 months he made tremendous progress and now does sentences too! And he is such a chatterbox, he won't stop now

Does your DS say any words at all, or saying some but mispronouncing? I wouldn't worry too much but I'd have him checked just for my peace of mind.

Both my sons said nothing at two. My first son had fluent speech by 3 . My second son still wasn’t speaking at 3. He is almost 4 now and has some speech but is still delayed but he is improving everyday. He has been discharged from speech therapy. My HV said they weren’t that concerned before the age of 4.
I also knew another little boy who didn’t speak before the age of 4.
He speaks fluently now and is super bright but is being tested for autism.

I was worried about Autism too but that's probably my fault as I probably use Google too much 😢.

My Ds knows quite a lot of words and names but it's his pronunciation that's a concern. For example "bye bye" is more of a "gah gah" and he waves so i know he understands.

He was a bit spoilt with the use of his dummy but he only has that at night now so i am hoping that helps. There's limited tv and more talking and reading to him so i am hoping that will help soon.

It is reassuring that he's not the only one 🙂

He's not even 2?! I'm surprised that HCPs have picked this up. Poor enunciation in a one year old is not really cause for concern! If he's understanding speech and making his needs clearly known, then I'm not sure that the problem is.

My son was the same. Had barely any speech at all before around 2.5. My HV was completely unconcerned. He's absolutely fine now and has a very good vocabulary.

It will be interesting to see whether my Hv finds it a concern or not. It's a pain when people think childrens milestones have to be so text book.

I kept my son back a year at school -starting at 5.5yrs instead of 4.5yrs as his speech was delayed. Didn’t take him long to catch up though, he certainly speaks fine now as a teenager and got high exam results including in oral presentations. Boys seem to often be slower, the biggest problem was we understood him most of time so he didn’t have that incentive to push himself, no matter how busy I was I made sure I kept saying the words properly after he spoke and let him watch my mouth as I did it. Your ds is still very young

SLT here. At 2, children should have about 50 words and start joining them. It does not matter how they are pronounced, it is linking it, so gah gah for bye bye is a word if used consistently and in context.

Children who aren't talking much are much more likely to catch up if their understanding is good.

I think it would be good to chat to the HV and in some areas there are SLT drop-in but I wouldn't panic at this point. They may recommend some SLT input (early intervention is good) or may be happy to wait and see. It sounds like his understanding is OK and he has a desire to communicate, therefore (from the what is in your post) not showing red flags for autism. In the meantime keep talking, reading etc with him and hopefully he will catch up soon.

Most DC who are speach delayed at 2 go on to catch up and if there was a larger issue you'd probably see other signs. That said it's still worth investigating and also worth helping his speach along so he doesn't miss out on social opportunities. A great book to start from is 'it takes two to talk'. I'm sure your hv will also talk to you about hearing tests and probably refer you to speach therapy too.

My son was like this. He had glue ear: by the time it was diagnosed, the glue ear had been and gone and cleared up by itself, but it meant his speech was delayed, and he wasn't quite as articulate as the rest of his Reception class when he started school.

Whenever he tried to copy words, it sounded as though he was speaking underwater, which made me realise that that was what he must be hearing and prompted me to have his ears checked out.

Have a GP take a look at his ears if you're worried, even if just to rule out hearing problems. All the best!

Don't worry OP! I know for a fact that my child won't start talking until later on (most likely) -because me and DH both were really late talkers (after 4yo and we're fine- we've both ended up with multiple post-grad degrees and neither of us is autistic)

My nephew is 3 and a half and he isn't talking yet - but he understands everyone very well. Some children just take a little longer to begin talking, but it doesn't mean anything.

My DS didn't say a single word until he was 2.5. Then he just went straight to talking in full sentences! He's now 8 and uses 10,000 words when 1 would do!!

Take him to the GP and get him checked for an ear infection, its a very common cause of delayed speech at this age. If there is no sign of ear infections, progress to getting a full hearing test, you need to see if he can hear and discriminate between high and low sounds etc. not just can he hear anything. If that is normal, then see if you can get a referral to a speech and language pathologist to get his speech assessed properly. They will be able to tell you categorically if he is behind or not, if he needs on going therapy or not and what you can do at home to help. It is really important to get help early with speech problems, so its also really important to find out early if he has one, or is just a bit slower than average.

If he is having trouble forming words with his mouth and sounds very nasal, it doesnt sound like a normal slow speaker, he may have issues with the muscle tone of his mouth area. Specific help is needed for that, he wont just grow out of it.

My daughter was 2 last month and only has a handful of words. I'm worried but my HV isn't. She says if still no progress by her 27 month check then she will make a referral for speech therapy.

I would second the glue ear suggestion. My DS was diagnosed with it at about 21 months. The consultant said his glue ear was that bad, it would be like being underwater and having your fingers in both ears.
I would ask your GP for a referral to an audiologist to check his hearing and signs of glue ear. They will then refer to him to ENT at the hospital. DS has grommets put in last year and is much improved now (just turned 3) - forming sentences and speaking clearer, however still unable to pronounce lots of things as he is still catching up from the time he could barely hear anything. The waiting list on the NHS was long. We went to then see a private ENT who also did NHS work - he was able to fast-track the operation

Thanks everyone for your advice. I will make a GP appointment on Monday.

My daughter had speech problems. When she turned 4 she had a form of lisp and other than myself, people could barely understand what she was saying. Her language and vocab range also wasnt great. She attended nursery aswell so wasnt like she wasnt around alot of interaction. I had her in speech therapy and a therapist worked with her in her first few months at school and in those few months she drastically improved. By 4.5 she was speaking alot clearer. Shes 8 now and speaks clear as day and doesnt stop talking. I personally think 2 is a bit early to be worrying, id provably more worry towards the 2.5/ 3 year mark and get speech therapist involved