22mnth ds not talking

[4boyzmum]

just want to know if im over thinking this one really. my gorgeous ds3 is 2 in march and is not saying anything at all yet. not a word. he gabbles and makes noises so he's not mute and he's also very animated when whittering away, but so far nothing that even sounds like an attempt at saying anything. no 'mama', 'dada', 'cat' or 'dog' or 'more' - words that ds1 and ds2 were easily saying by now. in fact im sure i read somewhere that the average number of words in a 2yo vocab were about 200!! is that right? if one more person says to me 'isnt he talking yet' im sure i'll floor them!! been to health visitor about a month ago and she didnt seem too concerned and said that come his 2 year check up he'd most likely be speaking then. but im not so sure...there just doesnt seem to be any indication that he will be. sort of no progress in his verbal communication at all since he started gabbling as a small baby. other than that he's an absolute joy, so confident and a very sociable and happy little chap. should i be worried or just leave him to speak when he's good and ready??

I would wait and see what the position is when he's two - on the one hand, it's not long away, but on the other, a lot can change in those two months.

I was slightly concerned that my DS didn't have any words at all at around 21.5 months -then around that time, something totally clicked and by age 2, he definitely had well over 100 words. He's now more articulate than some toddlers who were talking earlier than him - it's as though he was storing it all up. So wait and see - but if there still aren't any recognisable words by age 2, I'd ask again, because I understand the waiting lists to see specialists can be pretty long (in fact you could always try and get him on a list now with a view to cancelling it if he suddenly gets going).

How does he communicate non verbally ? Will he readily share attention with you ? Does he point and gesture normally ?

I had concerns about my ds - at 18 months there was hardly any language....I went to a drop-in speech group run at the local children's centre...it was very informal - set up like a playgroup with speech therapist on hand to talk to you and interact with your child. How is his hearing? worth getting that checked out...does he understand what you are saying? Some children are late developers and some have further problems. My ds is now 3.1 and has severe speech delay - go with your gut feelings and speak to your gp or find out about a group to go with

his communication non verbally is fine. points and gestures at allsorts. reading picture books and say 'wheres the dog?' for example and he knows exactly where it is. also can understand things asked of him such as 'lay down' or 'go and get your shoes' say 'nappy change' to him and he'll run and fetches his mat etc! in fact he's much better at this than my older 2 at same age! it is just simply that he hasnt uttered one solitary word yet - not even anything that remotely sounds like one! my friend said maybe he was lazy? as cos he doesnt need to talk he wont? to be honest my concerns have only been pricked at due to other peoples astonishment that he doesnt talk yet. then it slowly dawned on me that other children his age - and younger - where starting to talk whilst he was showing no sign.

That sounds encouraging but it would still be a good idea to push to be seen by paed to either get all clear or some more information on what to do to take the communication further

If it's any consolation, my ds who will also be 2 on March isn't talking yet either. (I'm also getting really fed up with people asking if he's saying anything yet!). I've been told it's nothing to worry about as he understands a lot of words, makes a wide variety of sounds, communicates very well non-verbally, and chews his food - apparently that has something to do with muscle development needed for speech. I think he's just too busy with other things at the moment.

thanks everyone for your postings - encouraging to know others little ones out there are same as my ds!! my health visitor did say too that i wasnt to worry but when you don't know of anyone else who's children are like this it makes you feel like there's potentially something wrong. we're our own worst enemy sometimes aren't we!!

Things develop hugely between now and 2 years.

My 20mth DS is also causing me to worry a lot. He babbles and seemes to be "talking" all the time, but we can't understand him! He seems to say mama or dada (or even his own name) sometimes, but not necessarily in the right context (although I'm told he says mama mama when I leave the room). He doesn't point but does clap, does "show mummy your nose" etc. He looks at books and understands things like no and get down from there.

I have made an appointment with the GP for a couple of weeks' time as I am beginning to think he should see a SALT (this would be covered on my private health insurance, I have checked). My DH thinks he is fine and will talk when ready, he keeps saying "look he is on the verge of talking", but I am getting anxious now.

Our 21mo DS doesn't really say much - no, yea, muma, dada, (ba)nana, ball and few extras. I think he actually does more animal noises then words right now.

All our friends children of the same age are pretty much at the same standard.

His non verbal communication is fine and he understands a lot of things. I've noticed him touch his nose both for the Something Special "make Mr Tumbles bag move" and the ITNG Tombliboos sequence.

My MIL has pointed out that one of her children was a verbal explosion at that age, the other didn't say much till almost 3. Both went to University got good degrees.

i have been worried about my DD's vocab since she was about 18 months and we would only ever here a proper word once in a blue moon and we wernt sure how much she was understanding she is now 21 months and in the past 4 weeks has come on loads she seems to now understand more or less all we say to her and follows things we ask her to do, looks for praise when she does things, her words are still not very clear but she is trying now things like dada, duck, quck, brum brum, clean, clock, mumma, keys, ball, kick, quick and a few others last week she waved and sed bye bye at the same time to me when i dropped her off for nursery, i was so made up and shocked and since then she now waves and says bye bye whenever someone is going

i have however got a speech and language assesment on a couple of weeks just in case there is a problem as i am aware that her speech is still somewhat behind, even tho the range of what is normal is so vast, and if they tell me that she seems to be developing fine then even better

anyway i hope that your DS like so many others has a sudden language explosion (and fingers crossed my DD's language continues to develop)

i have spent so much time over the past few months trawling the internet about this and there are hundreds of posts from parents in our position so im figuring it most be normal for quite a few kids to talk later

i do however know how frustrating it is to have people asking all the time about there speech and watching other kids of the same age having full conversations

i remember crying and crying when DP's dad rang up who hardly ever sees DD to say he thinks there mite be something wrong with her as she ignores him and doesnt speak and he looked on the internet and its not right i cud have killed him!!! she ignored him bcos she didnt know him and didnt really like him

oh and also i asked her nursery the other day about her talking and they sed most of the kids around her age have just started coming out with understandable words :)

hope this helps

i have twin boys just turned 18 months and i too am fed up of other peoples comments. They are saying only a few words, mama, dada, there, gone, more. They babble but some days they are really quiet. They are so bright non verbally though, they understand so much.

My gut feeling is that they are absolutely fine but whenever i get a comment like 'are they talking yet?' it makes me doubt my own judgement. I am so sensitive about it for some reason. I guess they are a little behind some kids with speech but i'm sure they are within the range of normal. I just wish i could deflect those comments better.
We are definately our own worst enemies when comparing and worrying!! I think trust your own judgement, if he is sociable, happy and you know his understanding is there i would wait a couple of months till he is 2 then see where he's at