To access speech therapy for 2 yo?

[Twilightspring]

2yo seems very behind with his speech (hearing fine) his understanding is good but he seems to have a delay.

I know it’s largely pointless waiting for a referral so how do I put in motion speech therapy for him privately? Sorry to ask on here but a bit worried.

How do you mean not completely as expected, though? That’s my worry: that I’m missing sonething obvious!

My son needed speech therapy and to be fair we didn't have to wait that long for the NHS. Might still be worth getting a referral.

I don't know if you are responding to me, but I meant not developing as you expected. There's a huge range of normal in terms of language development. Some children may have a handful of words (at that age) and some may be able to speak in sentences. Your dc is showing intent and trying to communicate. They have good understanding. Some kids just take a bit longer but the majority of kids all catch up.

Yes, to you sorry! I don’t mind him taking a bit longer, just worried that he’s struggling and needing help.

From what you’ve said I wouldn’t worry - it’s in the normal range. At 2yr3 months DS was only using odd words and I was a bit worried as at the same age DD had been a chatterbox. He’s 2y8m now and speaking in short sentences and we had what felt like our first ‘proper’ bedtime chat tonight when he asked if we could do what we did today again and told me about his day 💕 They all develop at different stages and your son sounds like he’s doing fine.

If there hasn't been an improvement by 3 I would definitely go private if you can.

But kids make so much improvement and develop so much between 2-3

@Twilightspring I'm just replying because I know I was trawling these threads when my son was the same age looking for info for exactly the same reason. What you describe is exactly what my son was like. My mum kept telling me he was totally within the range of normal and he'd catch up in no time, nursery weren't worried, and a friend of mine who is a SALT also said she couldn't see anything that would concern her just yet as his understanding was decent and he was communicating in other ways (and had single words and the odd two word pairings)- I still worried about it of course!! 6 months later and he never stops talking, and his speech is now quite advanced in comparison to a lot of kids his age, where as before he was noticeably behind (not claiming he is "advanced", just that at this point in time his speech has come on at lightening speed). It has really made me realise that progress isn't linear, and they give "normal ranges" for a reason! I would keep an eye, but from what you have described, it really doesn't sound like a concern at this point.

I'd recommend the hanen book 'Learning language and loving it.'

I also think he seems to be developing speech normally but this book shows you how to interact and play with children in a way that helps language develop so it might make you feel better to know you're doing what you can to help him, even if he would get there on his own.

Sounds normal to me, especially for a boy.
My son was the same and he started reception at just turned 4. He is a fluent well speaker now and even had a play part as a narrator.
His speech came on all of a sudden at 2 3/4 yrs ish

My 19 month old can’t say any words yet and I don’t think he understands much of what we say either… the health visitor is going to come out in a few months and has referred us to speech but I have no idea how long that will take and we can’t afford to go private 🤷‍♀️

Honestly, you do whatever you feel is best but when my LO was 2, he said a few words but was the same in not stringing two words together and definitely not sentences.
Everyone told me that he would get there in his own time but I was so worried. But all of a sudden, things started to change.
He's now 3 and a half, his speech isn't perfect but I'd say he's further on now than what my eldest was at his age. He's so detailed and specific in what he wants to say, it feels like his quieter years were spent just taking everything in.
Do what you think is for the best but honestly, a corner could be turned any day now 😊

I mean this kindly, but it seems as though you are over-thinking this. He's building his vocabulary and learning to build short sentences - that's completely normal development at this age. Don't compare with other children of the same age - development is not linear. Sounds like he's doing really well - try and enjoy watching him flourish.

Just to add your nursery will have a senco it’s a requirement it’s their job to identify children who need extra support.

NHS speech therapist here. What you are describing is very much within the range of normal, he doesn’t need speech therapy at the moment. The best thing you can be doing is lots of stories, songs, getting down on the floor to share play and modelling back what he says with another word added. For example if he says car you say ‘yes, red car, ‘fast car’, ‘big car’ or ‘car go’.

My DS was referred for speech therapy at 2.5 - this is exactly what we were told. We had four sessions on the NHS.

To be frank, it didn't feel massively helpful because we generally did that. But there isn't much else to do at that age. He stayed behind his peers for several years, but can monologue with the best of them now.

Get him on a waiting list if you're worried, but keep your expectations for immediate results low! He'll catch up.

DD didn't talk till after two and even at three was limited..she was running and walking very early. Now aged six she a chatterbox, talks well with no problems. Hoping that helps your worries. Please see hv if worried.

NHS referral for my son got rejected at that age as he was too young. They was right, he soon after started talking and didn't need the help.

My son hardly spoke at 2. He passed every other task easily at 2 year check up, but HV said that the speech was something to be reassessed at 2.5 years. We soon realised that we were doing everything for him. He would point to things and make a sippy sound when he wanted a drink. We definitely fussed over him. So we stopped and said if you want a drink you have to ask. Reading books that he knew, we stopped reading and got him to read. The pointing stopped as well. When HV rang at 2.5 years, I put him on the phone and they had a conversation. Looking back it was us keeping his speech back, it was there he was just lazy.

You could book a free telephone call from an SLT on this website and talk through your concerns, they will be able to tell you whether you should seek further help or not:
https://www.icancharity.org.uk/i-can-help/
I'm also an SLT and he does sound within normal limits although I know how worrying it is as my daughter was late speaking.

Has it been highlighted by nursery? If not I wouldn't worry

Nursery are trained to pick up on developmental delays, you are not! The best thing you can do is chill, he's 2. If there's an issue, nursery will inform you and make a referral.

If he's got words already he's not behind, my younger child was roughly on your child's schedule, she's now an adult and doing extremely well. Her sister was 4 when she got speech and is autistic. If he's 3 and still not got sentences that's when to worry

I never thought it would be a relief to be wholly unreasonable but I am very relieved and grateful.

Nursery haven’t raised any concerns, they once did say he wasn’t very verbal but it was in the context of discussing pushing - it wasn’t critical, if that makes sense.

@Mindymomo ds can definitely be lazy with speech but equally it’s hard because sometimes he really can’t say whatever it is he wants! He probably has been babied a bit but then he is still little … hard isn’t it?

I don't think you should worry, but I also think you've been given poor advice on this thread. I wouldn't trust any nursery to intervene as many are just too busy and they don't know your child like you do.

Your child would probably be fine without speech therapy but would still benefit from speech therapy. It's not a medical intervention as such - you would learn ways for how to help your child communicate using words and it would just be helpful. You don't need there to be something 'wrong' to benefit.

Sounds quite normal. My eldest is severely autistic and non verbal so I was worried when my daughter wasn’t babbling or talking at 2. In fact she didn’t utter a single word until she was 3 years old. She did understand everything we said and could follow instructions so I wasn’t overly concerned. Even at 5 her speech was still really bad with missing sounds like “L”. She’s a teenager now and it’s a distant memory. My youngest was chatting away at 2 years old. They’re all different.

So glad you made this thread and it helped you out OP