My 2.1 yo DS's speech development. Do you think this is normal or not?

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I can't decide if I'm worrying over nothing or if my DS's speech development is a bit off-course and I should seek some professional help. He turned 2 a month ago.

He doesn't stop 'talking' all day and is a very expressive communicator, I think, but the following things are starting to worry me -

1. He has no interest in copying words I say. Never has. No repeating or imitating sounds or anything.

1. He has given his own names to things that I KNOW he knows the correct word for. If I ask him to bring me his train or his car he does it without hesitation, but when he speaks trains are 'woo-woos' and cars are 'doo-doos'. Machines of any kind are 'wah-wahs', as are buses. The bath and any source of water is 'bah-bah'. More mysteriously, other children are 'shaddas', fire engines are 'ungs' and stairs/steps are 'baps'. All food and drink is 'numma' but when I refer to specific foods and drinks he knows exactly what I mean, he just won't name it.

1. He says 'no' very clearly but will not say 'yes'. Instead he nods and says 'mm'. If he say "can you say yes?" he looks me straight in the eye and says "no". Ho hum.

On the plus side,

1. He does have some correct words - bear, pig, stop, mama, dada, nana, yuk, bye, digger, dumper. Cats are 'gaks', so he's halfway there...!

1. He can say 'Where's the xxx' and does ALOT. In fact, at the moment I would say 98% of his speech consists of asking me where things are. But usually those things are doo-doos or woo-woos and I am perplexed as to why he seems so very reluctant to use the correct words.

1. His understanding of what I say seems very good. He can correctly identify every object in all his books when I ask him to point, and he gets ideas quite quickly. When I told him this morning "Amy is coming to see us on the bus now" he smiled and said "shadda in wah-wah' (see above for translation).

I think part of this stems from the fact that he has always been at home with me and since I understand him perfectly he hasn't had any need to use new words. He is going to start a couple of mornings a week at nursery next year which I'm hoping will force him to try a bit harder to make himself understood.

Seriously, what do you think? Sound about normal or sound a bit odd? I really really don't want to start labeling the poor kid as a slow developer just because I'm over-analysing things, but at the same time if he does have a problem I'd hate to not take action as early as possible. It probably doesn't help that a friend has visited this morning with her DD who is exactly the same age and has a very extensive vocabulary and copies everything you say to her!

Sounds within normal to me. What you could try to do is understand a little less - so when offering food ask "do you want a biscuit or an apple?" so he has to name one.

Normal. Dont put him under pressure. Let him get on with it!

I would pretend that you don't know what woo woos are and see if he uses the right word.

So if woo woo is a fire engine and he says "Where is woo woo?" I'd be tempted to say "Your ball isn't here." And see if he uses the right word.

He sounds great to me. But you have a shadow of worry. So call up the midwife/doctor and get him an appointment. You aren't giving him any labels. You can't. Its up to a professional to do that.

But if he does need some support - great - you'll get it, whether its simple techniques or a reading list. And if he doesn't you will feel LOADS better and get on with enjoying him.

I know how when you are worrying that someone thing isn't quite right - that at times, it can be overwhelming. Absolutely do not carry this burden but take him to someone more qualified to form an opinion.

He sounds like a lovely chatty boy to me.

Most kids have pet names for at least some things. He's got a few more than most, but has no need to use the real words because you respond to the made up ones. I'm sure that once he starts going into the big wide world of pre-school without you to translate he'll start using the correct words pretty quickly.

Why pretend you don't know what a woo woo is when you do? That's just mean quite frankly.

Sounds completely normal. Better than my DSs with mild speech delay.

Thanks for your replies everybody. I must say, writing it down in the OP helped me get it in perspective a bit and realise that I don't really have much to worry about at this stage.

I think I'll just let him get on with it for now, start at nursery and then we'll see how he's getting on at 2 and a half. If I still have doubts and not much has changed I will consider getting some professional advice.

SamSmalaidh and crazygracieuk you are quite right. I am going to develop selective hearing and understanding, I think!

And daytoday, yes, he's a lovely little chatterbox who has me in stitches half the time with his unique made-up word combos (that, ahem, make perfect sense to me). I agree with what you say, but on reflection I do think 2 and 1 month is a bit early for me to go into this yet. Time will tell.

My ds also turned 2 last month and sounds very similar to yr ds, and I am not really worried, but his talking does also seem less developed than my dds was at the same stage. My ds is also not saying as many things as his friends the same age.
He is increasing his vocab though so I am not worried, just keep an eye and try not to worry.

I really wouldn't start not understanding something you understood perfectly well yesterday- he'll refer you to the health visitor!!

I would start offering him choices though- if he asks for numma, I would say "would you like cheese or an apple?"

But lots of children his age aren't talking at all- so I wouldn't worry. Communication is the importwntbthing, and he seems brilliant at that!

And I hope you llike the irony of my last sentence!