Speech regression or am I over analysing?

[SoloMumJustMuddlingThrough]

DD is 22 months. Was a very early talker, and has been speaking in full sentences for a long time (cant remember exactly but before 18 months). Since Christmas I've noticed a real drop in her speech, she seems to be talking unclearly (I've never had an issue understanding her before) also saying things like ballerinary and mousey which she hasn't previously as well as lots of made up words. Before Christmas she was telling me stories, now she seems to get distracted halfway through and ends up talking complete gibberish. Mixing up 'you' and 'i' and sentences not making grammatical sentence when they did previously. She has no problem understanding or following instructions, is learning and using new words. Her hearing seems fine.

Does this sound just like a phase or am I right to be a little concerned?

It does coincide with a growth spurt, molars, potty training, a marked improvement in her second language. Only other thing of note is that recently she has needed me to fall asleep whereas before Christmas she had no trouble falling asleep on her own.

@mrbojangle Constantly pretend playing - today we've been feeding and looking after a giant inflatable pig? Making spab Bol for her grandad with some sticks and a milk jug, had pretend phone conversations, she pretended to be a character all afternoon. It's self initiated too. I wonder is she going in on herself so to speak or does she just have a very active imagination that keeps her occupied? Her dreams are vivid too by the way she just woke up shouting about bin men in the lift 😅

@SemiSober yeah, she did use the correctly and in context. Eg. *Here's word CRASH while a friend is reading our kids a story and chimes up "that's an onomatopoeia". I remember mentioning early December to that a Christmas tree is an evergreen (and must have used the word deciduous at that time too). One our walks a she points them out and when asked will essentially define them. Ex today she said "that's just an artificial plant, made of plastic, its not a living thiiiinnnmg" - it does sometimes sound like she's just reciting facts but she is correct 🤷.

Something she is doing at the moment (on repeat) is "is it a verb, a noun or and adjective, choose [insert random word]" she can with approx 80% accuracy giving the correct answer. She doesn't seem to do this at toddler groups etc or on playdates, but does it throughout the day with me.

She sounds so bright and initiating all the imaginative play is a good sign. Grammar is often copied when children start to learn language. They might copy ‘I caught a ball’ using irregular past tense verb correctly. As they start to understand the rules of a language’s grammar they start to overgeneralise and may later say ‘I catched the ball’ as they’ve learnt that ‘Ed’ is often added to verbs to make it into a past tense verb. Then ultimately around 5 years + they learn the correct irregular forms such as caught, threw , sat etc. So maybe you are noticing a deterioration in her grammar as she is starting to learn the rules of grammar for both languages and overgeneralising them. Just a thought!!

@mrbojangle thank you. I think I've sussed it. There's a couple of different things going on at the same time. I thought possibly new molars may have been affecting pronunciation, but no because her reading is clear as day. Instead she is starting each sentence with 'wuh with wuh' I think because she is trying to figure out 'I' and 'You', also she has started naming things 'something-y' "let's call him 'rabbity'" Also I think she is speaking a quieter and mumbled because she is uncertain about how to say something -. I may have been over correcting so will take any pressure off and let her just figure it out in her own time.

This thread has been very helpful in a few different ways. Thanks to everyone who commented

That makes sense. Molars don’t normally affect pronunciation. Yes don’t correct her - just model the correct pronunciation and grammar back to her, and don’t ask her to say it again or anything.