22 month old DS - not many words

[InWithTheITCrowd]

I read somewhere that toddlers should be using 70+ words by the age of 2. DS will be 2 in August, but doesn't really seem to be saying many words at all.
He uses basics like "mummy" "daddy" "gone" "no" "hello" "bye" - but that's it.
He understands lots of instructions, and responds really well to things like "go and fetch the ball" or "where are your eyes" but just doesn't want to repeat words.
I know of other toddlers who are much more vocal. He is developing normally, and is very bright, responsive and chatty - just not with recognisable words.
Should I worry?

It sounds to me like your ds is doing just fine.

Some children just aren't that vocal. My ds1 (now 6) and dd (now 4) weren't at all vocal until they were 30 months. Now they don't stop.

My ds2 is 20 months and he sounds the same as your ds in terms of understanding instructions. He shouts a lot when he sees animals. So, he's showing recognition of words and acting on them too as well as expressing his happiness at seeing animals. I'm not sure many children will do much more at that age.

I sometimes think milestones are more harmful than good in terms of reassuring parents! All children are different.

DNephew strings 3-4 words together when he feels like it (4 in August). He is fully toilet trained and dresses himself, and is just about starting to write his name (ish)

Mate's DS is verbally fluent (4 in October). he's just about getting the hang of potty training and is nowhere near dressing himself.

They are both "normal"

HTH

ohhh, thanks! :)
I'm normally so laid back about stuff like this, but I just read "70 words by 2" and I thought - "he's never gonna learn 64 words in the next 2 months" - and then the same day my friend came over with her DD (born the same week as DS) who walked in the room and said "lovely doggy" and then looked at me and said "drink please" followed by "thank you" and "where's the book"
I was...

I shall relax. He'll do it in his own sweet time, won't he!?

My DS is also 2 in August and is exactly the same! (In fact he's only just stopped calling me Daddy ).

I'm trying not to worry as he's improving all the time and understands loads. He can whack a ball across the room with a bat every time but still calls the ball a 'dee'. It's quite sweet really.

with us, everything is "gone"
At first I was impressed as it was in context - now it's everything. Apart from the dog, who is simply called "no" apparently

even between 22 and 24 months he will learn tons more words. don't fret yet - a few months will make a huge difference. language seems to expand hugely at 2.

Thank you - I do appreciate it. I've been privately stewing over it for a couple of weeks now. Feel better now!

He most likely knows hundreds. He just doesn't actually say them! How many does he respond to - like, if you ask him to point to his nose will he get it right? I bet he doesn't say "nose" or even "where's your" very often but he knows what they mean

yes - he can do nose, eyes, mouth etc, and he recognises animals and can identify toys
I am being paranoid mum, aren't I!?

2 days before Ds,s birthday he swallowed a dictionary overnight and was spouting new words all day long.that is the way he tended to develope, going from nothing to expert overnight.u

Justifiably - verbal communication is extremely important

just dont think about how embarrassed youd be to ask this question at NCT

It truly astonishes me how DN and Mate's DS are so far apart in ability. We're hoping to get them together in the school hols (DN will come for a bucket and spade holiday with Mum's brother and girlfriend aka Uncle and Aunty Pidj) in case they can teach each other some stuff

My Ds was similar at 22mths and i was a bit worried but then he had a sudden spurt of new words and now at 26 mths has loads, copies everything we say so constantly learning new ones and uses 3-4 word sentences.

I would try not to compare him with girls of same age as there's a lot of research to show that generally girls speak earlier/develop quicker than boys

"I am being paranoid mum, aren't I!?"

No. Not at all. You're interested, curious and a bit concerned. Which is great because you're obviously a caring, attentive parent. Who could ask for more?

But I do think it's unfair to subject children to universal 'targets' like this.

When your ds is four and he's not talking then worry!

OP - I could have written your post! Ds also 2 in August - less than a dozen words - but very vocal - DD was speaking well by this stage. However he understands everything and is very vocal. Very adventurous - I think he is just using his energy elsewhere!

I think that's normal.

My DD1 was very verbal from a young age (very slow crawler/mover though, I am not claiming her to be a child genius!)

She was two last August and I have videos of her when her baby sister was born (a year ago on Weds) saying things like "hello baby, look baby is in the bouncy chair, what's the matter baby?"

BUT!!!!!! All of her little friends of the same age who were less verbal than her then have caught up. ALL of them. They can all speak in sentences now at the age of almost three. Do not worry. I'm sure I read that there is only cause for concern if a child has less than two words at two.

I think you were right to have that gut feel that his understanding was more important. I'll put a quote underneath to back you up (more for benefit of lurkers than you).

btw, don't bother getting him to repeat words - if he did have a language problem, (appreciate it sounds like he doesn't) your first task would be to train yourself to "stop saying "say"".

To check understanding, try saying a few instructions out of context (be brutal - it's so easy to think they understand more than they do).
Check for things like being able to blow to rule out expressive speech problem. Anyway, for those anxious lurkers, here's the real milestone for this age-group.

"By 18 months a child should be warmly engaged and capable of initiative and two-way communication. She should also be able to use complex gestures to communicate what she wants - taking her mother's hand and leading her to the door or toy chest, or pointing, for example. Without the use of words, she should be communicating with her parents, clearly understanding much of what they say to her, and communicating many of her own wishes back. If by 18 months the child can do these things, her gestural communicaction is developing on track and the building blocks of symbolic expression and language are present. .......The child who has a circumscribed language problem that will take care of itself will be mastering these preverbal gestural communication patterns."

["The Child with Special Needs", Greenspan, page 386]