Late talker / speech delay

[Missp30]

Hi, long thread🤦🏻‍♀️
Does anyone have/had any late speakers and have any ideas what I can do to encourage speech? My Ds is 2.6 and only has a handful of words he’s able to say. Very basic words. Ie, mam, up, down, no, spoon, shoes, banana, apple, digger, toes, nose, bed, bath, go, move, more, juice, dog, bye, ball, boo.
Other than that he doesn’t say a lot more. He can understand everything said, follow instructions, knows all body parts, use fingers to follow along when someone’s counting, copy actions to songs.
I give him choices every day regarding breakfast, dinner, tea, what he wants to play/watch, choice of clothes, which he will point to rather than try to say.
He does have interaction with other children, a younger sister (5 months) so no speech as of yet, a cousin who is 2.4 also no speech apart from various words (there is a strong history of speech delay on my mothers side of the family, I was 2.10 months before speaking to words to forming sentencing, my mother was 3, cousins/siblings/nieces/nephews all very much range between 2.5-4.)
I often repeat words when talking about things wanted/needed. Ie, “would you like some juice, shall we have juice in your blue cup or orange cup, do you like that juice”.
We had a referral to SALT who have no concerns due to family history being strong of ranging later than normal. Also Ds had a hearing testing back in January and no issues. He has been very forward in physical development, walking unaided by 10 months.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can encourage speech at all? All advice, opinions will be great fully accepted.
Thanks

One day it will click and then it will be rapid progression. Keep doing what you are doing

Dd took a long time to get going. Just as we got referred to a SALT, she started picking up the pace

DS was the same, got a referal for SALT and by the time it came through nursery said he didn't need it.

He is 4 in November and it is only these past few weeks his speech has massively improved, i was worried about him for a long time and now every day im amazed at how clearly he is speaking

I'm in the same boat. DD is 2.6 and limited vocabulary. It's so frustrating as she'll say a word then not say it again for months no matter how much prompting. So many people say it will come but I worry that if it doesn't and I should have done something sooner.

Sometimes it comes out in frustration. A few weeks ago I was trying to get her into the shower, she didn't want to and shouted " no shower" which is a big word for someone with limited words. Then yesterday she randomly counted to 10 as she walked into the room. Can't get her to do it again. It's so hard as basic communication is not there via words just lots of pointing.

I will definitely try some of the suggestions here. Thank you & good luck to everyone who is in a similar situation

Ds is now 4 and we are amazed at what he comes out with but at 2 and a half he had full comprehension but hardly any output. We did a full two years with salt and it was amazing.

One of the earliest things I was taught and I mean I was to give choices not just talk. So you say eg shall we have a juice. Thats not a choice. A choice is here is a juice, here is a fruit which would you like? Initially you might get a point, then a garbled something then one day it will come. You just have to make everything about choice so eventually he has no choice but to choose. We even gave up our normal plates for animal plates so every day he had to choose what he got.

You are doing a fantastic job but you just have to hang in there. It is frustrating especially when you look at others, but I’d say just focus on your child.