2 year old can’t talk properly, am I being unreasonable to be worried?

[User123654123654]

As the title says, bit worried about my 2yr old dd. She started nursery this year and although her 2 year development check went relatively well (over the phone), the nursery have expressed concern about her lack of communication (which obviously has me feeling all kinds of worry and guilt!!)

She can say the odd word when communicating with me, is a chatterbox in regards to constant babbling, understands most of what I tell her, however cannot say sentences yet. She tries to repeat words to me sometimes and often will be able to. But in terms of sentences, there hasn’t been any.

Am I being unreasonable to be worried? Has anyone experienced this? What can I do to help her improve her communication skills?

Thank you in advance.

@Jenster03 she sounds lovely! I would give you the same advice I’ve given to the op on this thread, if she doesn’t have 50 words and isn’t putting two words together into sentences. I’m not an hcp but had a child who didn’t talk much at this age and my child needed grommets and slt.

@Spinxsta I couldn’t agree more about anecdotes on speech delays self resolving. I almost posted this myself. Some speech delays will resolve on their own but a lot will not.

As my dd couldn’t hear hers would not have got better any time fast. I dread to think where her speech and language would be now if I had listened to those voices on my own mn thread that I started at the time.

We're in the same positions. Had a face to face 2 year check a few weeks ago and it was picked up he has a speech delay- says no words at all. He is constantly babbling though so HV things the "2 year word burst" is right around the corner. The reasons she isn't concerned at this stage is the babbling, the understanding and communicating with gestures is there. We've agreed if the burst doesn't happen by Feb we'll go for speech therapy. I'd contact your HV and ask for a face to face assessment

@Spinxsta

Posters that pipe up with anecdotes like "my DS didn't speak until he was 9 and now he's a professor of the universe" really irk me. There are children who have language delays that naturally resolve but there's a significant proportion where a language delay can be a disorder or a symptom of something else, or the language delay can result in negative behaviours and low self esteem. Not trying to scare monger but it's always worth seeking advice. Early intervention is very important and will never cause harm. Agree with the poster who mentioned Hansen and iCan.

Strongly agree. I'm sure they are kindly meant and the posters are trying to be reassuring but it is very very unhelpful. My son has an EHCP at 3.5 and is receiving daily SALT at school only because we pushed for early intervention with the support of an excellent HV and preschool setting. He'd still be struggling unnoticed if we hadn't started the process a little over a year ago.

Speech and language provision in my area is still very limited to certain problems which meant we actually bought in a private S&L to my preschool and it looks like we will have to do so again this year. So frustrating as we aren't even allowed to refer children.

But, if you have a children's centre near you can self refer to their little talkers provision. You may have to wait until they have enough people to put on a session but I would start pushing for it now.

I always say I would prefer to refer if I had any concerns and would rather be told there is nothing wrong instead of leaving it and it is a real concern.

[quote MissHavershamReturns]@Spinxsta I couldn’t agree more about anecdotes on speech delays self resolving. I almost posted this myself. Some speech delays will resolve on their own but a lot will not.

As my dd couldn’t hear hers would not have got better any time fast. I dread to think where her speech and language would be now if I had listened to those voices on my own mn thread that I started at the time.[/quote]
It's dangerous advice. I used to work on the diagnostic pathway for preschoolers (SLT) and saw too many parents who'd been fed these anecdotes and had delayed accessing the service.

@yellowspot this is the kind of advice I got from hv. The problem was dd was babbling loads but no recognisable words because she was deaf. I would get her in for a hearing test now - they do it so nicely with this age - usually little toys pop up when a sound is played and they measure hearing by whether they look round at the toy!

@tapdancingmum you sound like a wonderful setting. I wish my dd had been at your pre-school.

I’m sure you are all over this, but I wondered if you had seen ICAN’s talkboost programme? You can deliver it in preschool to all children and it accelerates speech for those struggling. Looks to be extremely good and you sound like the kind of setting who would love it.

@Spinxsta I would like your post if there was a like button on mn

I would ask as advised, but before you get into a panic, here's an uplifting story:
I know of a child who didn't speak at all until around 4 yrs old
Until her mother was asking if anyone had seen the furniture wax.
Then heard her child say, "It's in the under stairs cupboard" 🤣
It was the first time he'd spoken

@MissHavershamReturns thank you for those kind words. I am quite hot on picking up on any SALT needs as I feel the sooner we can get children help the better in the long term before they go to school. I have resources coming out of my ears but am not qualified to actually diagnose what the need is. Once the children have been diagnosed we support the therapist by doing a lot of work in the setting with the child. I look at the ICAN website quite a lot but will revisit it again as I have another couple of children I am worried about. The communication carousel on our LA speech and language website is quite good as well but I will also reiterate what others have said in asking your GP for a hearing test. I forgot to say that iny original post but once this is ruled out (or in) decisions over provision can be made.

I understand people saying they will grow out of it as some do but the vast majority don't and the sooner you can get professional help the better for the long term.

My children all talked fluently at different ages. If you are concerned, get onto the speech therapy waiting list however it works where you live.
I found the Cat in the Hat was a good way of getting them to fill in blanks. Or other books with rhyme and rhythm, and repetition.
I agree, children do speak fluently at different ages ehich is great, but some need a bit of assistance.

Mix56
My brother was the same, he was nearly 5 and was barely understood by anyone
My mum actually went to the primary school where he was about to start and told the headmistress how bad he was. She told my mum once he started school and was with all the other children he will soon make himself understood.
The problem was I understood him and asked for things for him, so he didn't have to bother.
He soon started talking once he realised no one was going to do it for him.

One of my children didn't talk clearly until 4! I was so worried! Now he wont shut up. My husband was the same. And Albert Einstein didn't talk until 5! Unless you have any other concerns I'd not be too worried, like if everything else seems fine.

[quote MissHavershamReturns]@yellowspot this is the kind of advice I got from hv. The problem was dd was babbling loads but no recognisable words because she was deaf. I would get her in for a hearing test now - they do it so nicely with this age - usually little toys pop up when a sound is played and they measure hearing by whether they look round at the toy![/quote]
Oh I should have said yes we have a hearing test booked for beginning of feb. So speech therapy with start of the words don't come by then and the test is clear. Oh I'm glad it seems to be done in a nice calming way. I've been worried how he'll react to it