My little boy is 2 tomorrow and isn't talking.

[shoesontheglasslamp]

I'm trying not to worry about it, but we had a party today with other children of the same age and they were all much more verbal.

Anyone been there?
Can I do anything to help him? We talk and sing all the time, I tell him what things are 'look DS, here's your spoon, can you say spoon' 'dah!' 'good boy, spoon.' Etc etc!

He's a right bookworm too..!

My son is 26 months and has poor speech definition, turns out he has recurring glue ear which we are monitoring.

First step is to ask your health visitor or GP for a hearing test.

Is he communicating in other ways e.g. pointing, pulling you towards what he wants? Is he making noises which you can't understand or just not making any noises at all? If he is just unintelligible then he make just be a bit delayed which is not unusual = although I'd still seek professional help. If he's not communicating in other ways then I would definitely see your health visitor as soon as possible. If he is, for example, a bit deaf then its best to find out so that you can give him the help he needs. There are many children at two who can't speak but its well worth getting it checked out. Good Luck

Very Very common concern expressed by Perents of BOYS every week in clinic. Cannot compare kids - all are different and Not talking at Age 2 dosent mean there is anything wrong and CAN mean he is so happy at home that he has no need to talk.
Generally boys are notoriously slower to talk than girls because their brains are wired differently. Some don't speak until way past 3+ years and when they do, parents are gob-smacked at their range of vocabularly and articulation.
Some don't speak because;
They Simply don't have to.
Their silence gets attention.
Older sibs (especially girls) at home.
Ear infections / Hearing problem.
In many areas a Speech Therapist (ST) would not take referrals for a 2 year old (especially a boy) without audiology checks or an ENT or Hereditary history which suggests there MAY be associated speech delay.
Where family's are really concerned ST may provide a syallabus to practice at home. Sounds like you are already doing this.

Yes, my son had very few words at 2. He refused to copy, would just shake his head when asked to. I spoke to the hv and she said it was very common and not to worry until he turned 3. I also spoke to a speech therapist who confirmed that. She asked if he communicated in other ways, which he did - he had an extensive sign language of his own making - and said to speak to her again if he hadn't started talking by 3. By 2 yrs 4 months he started talking, and like quietlysuggests he was speaking well within a couple of months. At 3 his vocab was great but pronunciation not that clear.

It turns out that he did have glue ear - he didn't have ear infections so we hadn't picked up on it. He didn't have grommets and grew out of it by 6 (although his speech was fine well before that). I guess that could have been part of the speech delay. He is now a very articulate and high achieving 9 yo so I hope that reassures you a bit.

Wow - thanks everyone.

He is an only, so no siblings talking for him.
He points, makes himself clearly understood (!) and has all the vowel sounds. He has 'words' that we understand that always mean the same thing. He has his own signs too.

Will chat with HV just in case. I found out last night that DH was a late talker too, so might be a nature thing too...

So grateful

DS is the same, has about 10 words if I think really hard about it and is now 2.2. Our area offers a SL assessment for all children between 20 and 26 months old which I took up and the assessor referred him to a therapist who I saw last week. Its really not traumatic, half an hour session in a room full of toys where she asked me questions about how he communicates and basic medical/family history while playing with him.

She said he would benefit from some 1 on 1 intensive play therapy sessions to get him to engage eye contact more (has a tendency to find the toys far more interesting than mummy) and gave me some basic strategies to use until his appointments start at end of Jan.

Its nice to be listened to by someone who says something other than "don't worry, it'll come in time" and "my son/daughter was speaking in sentences at 18 months". I feel a lot more in control now I have some back up.

I read in a book somewhere that Einstein and Mozart were both late developers language-wise and there were concerns that they were backward at an early age! No personal experience just thought I'd share that. Your DS is probably focussing on something else right now.

hi just wanted to say I have just posted a new topic. my son is similar. he's going through speech therapy now. I am concerned about other things that may be a result of the speech. x

Ds swallowed a dictionary two says before his 2nd birthday. He was spouting new words all day, but that was the way he developed. He would become an expert overnight. Think he was mulling it over in his hwad for a week or two before as he would be miserable before a developmental spurt.

Check his hearing.

Assuming that's fine.

A friend of mine had this, her ds could make himself understood by pointing or tapping the TV or .... well you know.

he went to a speach therapist who taught her 2 signs, one for drink the other for food.

Within 2 days of his mum making him sign if he wanted a drink he decided it was easier to speak.

A former work colleague didn't speak until she was 5. But then started with complete sentances

I'd go straight to the winslow publications site and buy "It Takes Two to Talk". I promise it won't freak you out - very friendly.

hearing test is a must, as others have said.

You are very lucky he is autumn born (more time to catch up before school)

I confess i used to find "I didn't speak till I was 5 and now I'm at the Sorbonne" etc etc range of anecdotes comforting, which would make it hypocritical of me to tell you to ignore them..... I suppose the way to put it is that anecdotes like these only do harm if they stop a parent from getting the hearing test, etc......if they are a way of justifying inaction.