2yo talking

[LeBFG]

Hi - I've posted about this before but time has gone on and my DS is still pretty behind wrt talking. I'm wondering if anyone who had this problem could describe how talking progressed from 2-3yo? i.e. what sort of things might I expect to see? Is it likely he'll just talk all of a sudden or will he need a lot of help to acquire each and every word. I know at some point it stops becoming just late - I need help to judge that point.

For reference, he says about 50 'words' but lots are only broadly approximating pronounciation and some are just made up (e.g. dado for red??!). I'm not worried about his understanding of language. He doesn't put words together. I get the impression he's trying to say set phrases such as 'wassa' for what's that. He spends half the week with a french CM (we live in France) if that makes any difference and says 2/3 french words.

Bilingual children are "slower" picking up speech because they are effectively learning two languages. 50 words sounds ok, although i think he should be starting to try and put sentences together. By sentences i mean things like 'red ball', or three words. I have a friend who is from malaysia, her daughter was slow speaking because of the two laguages at home/school. Shes 10now and really bright/does well at school! (and can speak two languages!)

I presume they have 2yr old checks in france? Ask a health visitor if you are worried.

To help him come on talk to him alot and don't have background noise on all the time(radio/tv/music) because it makes it more difficult from him to pick up sounds. Also read lots of books to him and sound out words!

Making up words is totally normal ds1 called satsumas sheerooos until he was about 4, and ds2 called dinner nonnie. There were more!

I've heard both that learning 2+ languages either does or doesn't delay speech...very confusing. The 2 year check was wait till 3 and see. He was given this period because of the biligual thing. I'm not convinced it's why he's not putting words together or poorly pronouncing many english words. He was late to babble too, if that has any relevance. He's not had any hearing tests, could be that?

He loves stories and we talk a lot. I was wondering if I should up the amount I do and add in more 'look at my mouth' etc when I repeat words for him.

I wouldn't worry! With my friend's little girl the health visitors were 'worried' past 3years but it all fell into place at school.
Just keep doing what your doing and don't get stressed with him or make it too much like teaching! Lots of stories a good thing. You can also ask questions like 'what can you see in this picture?', as well as 'can you point out the ...tree, cat' etc. He's still young!

When son hit 2 years his words were below the 10 that health visitor recommended., they didn't start picking up until about Feb (his bday end of November). He's 2 and a half and now his words are coming in abundance, but felt like it literally happened overnight.

Being bi-lingual should not delay speech development. In fact, bi-lingual children generally have a higher vocabulary.

Quite serious speech problems can be missed because of professionals putting it down to being bi-lingual.

It could be that your ds is just slower with speaking. Many monolingual children are slow with speaking. Give it a couple of months and see how he progresses.

We are in Belgium and it took me months to fight for speech therapy for my ds, and finally it started when he was 3.5. Because of people fobbing me off with the excuse that he is bilingual.

He has now been diagnosed with verbal dypraxia, which is totally independant of his bilingualism.

Bilingual children hit all the language milestones to the same timetable as monolingual children. Being bilingual only delays vocabulary when measured in a single language versus monolinguals - bilingual DC should have a greater combined vocabulary than monolinguals.

One thing you can do is ask for a hearing check. Does he regularly get ear infections?

My dd1 was also delayed with speech and had a hearing problem and needed grommets. Her speech improved after that.

Agree with the others - can you do a hearing test. If there isn't a proper one available, what happens if your in the next room, and say that there is chocolate available? Does he come running??

Go with your instincts. If you think there is a problem, keep asking til you get the support you need.

However, here is our story:
Shortly after his 2nd birthday DS1 had less than a dozen words (bilingual here), but could follow complex instructions (go fetch your yellow jumper and put it in the washing machine) in either language (if the mood took him....) At about 2y4mth, his language suddenly exploded. He went from hardly anything to 3 and 4 work sentences, which were pretty clear to people outside the family. At 4yrs, I'd say there is very little difference between most of the kids. Some are easier to understand than others, and one I can think of is very advanced, but he always was (string words together at 18 mths).
So it is possible that its just the way he learns. Is he very physical? DS1 was, and still is, further ahead in terms of climbing / jumping /balancing etc.
HTH

i've also posted millions of times on here about my DD who is now 2.6.

her speech is extremely slow, at 2.5 she had maybe 10-15 words and that's being generous. i've taken her to the doctors numerous times, had her ears tested, just about everything literally.

she was assessed at 2.5 and was found to be 6-8months ahead in everything apart from her speech - where she was classed as being where she should be....very odd considering every other child her age and below were having bloody conversations with you

anyway, literally about 2-3 weeks ago, the words have started sprouting out, there are now too many to count!! its so true what the HV said, she will do it when she's ready.

the advice i was given, was not to speak for her, not to say "say x y z" to her, when she was asking for something to give her a choice and say the words to help her say them to. Positive reinforcement is a good way forward to, for instance if he is saying ".at" for "cat" say thats right good boy "Cat"...dont tell them the word is wrong just praise them and then say the word correctly, they'll get there eventually honestly lol

also, at this stage they are more concerned with their understanding of words rather than the spoken words. Does DS understand simple instructions like "go get your shoes" or "wash your hands now" that type of thing??

i have no idea where this influx of words come from, but they are flying out and are too many to count.

advice i would give, is you know your son better than anyone. if you feel there is a problem, do not be afraid to get it checked and push for help or assistance if you think its needed. in the meantime, talk to him all the time, read to him and play games where you need to take turns, as this helps with the forming of a conversation as in "i talk, you talk" type of thing.

x

I'd second getting his hearing tested. Dc3 had glue ear and it really affected his hearing although it wasn't all that apparent.

Lots of children do just get there in their own time and your ds may well be one of them but no harm in checking ime.

he is fine. DS5 said 5 words at the age of 27 months.
he just turned 3 and wouldn't shut up. also bilingual.
if hearing is ok don't worry, he'll catch up.

Thanks for the posts ladies. He hears well but then I've read on here that toddlers may not hear some frequencies so well if they've blocked ears. He follows complex instructions in english and simple ones in french. He has a great memory (they almost always do at this age - astonishing isn't it?).

I'm sure his brain is doing a lot of processing at the moment....but why won't he bloody talk??? I find this fustrating as does he. I played a horsey game the other day - he had to say go to get the horse (me) cantering along. It took hours before finally he gave a tentative 'go'. He now says go quite happily. But a lot of effort to go to for one tiny word! He wants to communicate but seems to be blocked somehow.

Lovely story awwwwmannnn - I really hope the words just fly out of DS too. Seems like I've been waiting forever for that though. I try and give choices but when I repeat the words DS just says yes to the one he wants. He never attempts to say the word. The words he does have are words that immediately appeal - I was plucking a duck and a pile of feathers were building up - he repeated 'feather' straight away...'choo choo train' was another he liked straight off.

LeBFG i know that feeling oh to well, i was desperate to hear my DD beautiful voice and never thought i would!!

don't get me wrong we've still got a way to go, but i actually feel like i'm having a "conversation" with her now. i ask a question or talk to her and she will actually answer, basic 1 or 2 word answers but i feel we've finally turned a corner.

i was so convinced there was something wrong her as there HAD to be a reason she wasn't talking. her ears were blocked at one point and she was given a decongestant to take for 3 weeks, ears unblocked and doc thought that was that - 4-5 weeks down the line, still no words, i cannot describe my frustration.

it doesn't matter that he's only answering yes or no when given choices, the main point is, you are asking a question and he is answering, its the very basic start of a conversation and shows he has very good understanding. how your DS is now is exactly like my DD she had a "favourite" word and never got tired of repeating it.

i don't know if this will help but what help majorly with DD was making different animal sounds which meant moving her mouth around in different shapes....like for monkey we got her to say oo oo oo oo oo, for a snake ssssss and roarrrr for a lion and so on, it was when she mastered these that everything else kind of took off if you know what i mean.

above all have fun when your doing it, make it a game

xx

LeBFG - does your insurance cover speech therapy?

The reason I ask, is that insurance companies in Belgium have been known to use the fact that a child is bilingual as a reason NOT to reimburse the cost of the treatment.

So I would run as far away as possible from any suggestion at all that a child's speech disorder could be caused by bilingualism, as it simply is not true, and this myth is being abused by the insurance companies.

In Belgium we have to pay nearly 200 euros a month for ds's speech therapy. This is despite ds's speech problem being bad enough for him to be offered a place in a special needs school because it is classified as a communiation disorder.

We are fighting with our insurance company to get the money paid back.

Insurance companies will use any excuse at all not to pay back the costs of necessary medical treatment.

my son had no words at all on his second birthday, no words at all, no babble. by his third birthday he was a total chatterbox. he is very general in his word usage but he is speaking! my health visitor said not to worry at his two year check, to just wait and see what developed in the next year. and she was right, in his own time he grew in his own way.
his best friend is bilingual, German and English and spoke neither for a long time, he invented his own quite detailed language which we all learned. he is now a chatterbox too in both languages. don't panic, just give your boy time to grow in his own way.

It's nice to hear the full range of talking experiences. Kelda, were there any early signs that your DS's speech problem was more than just a bit late? No, I don't have insurance for speech therapy. For the moment, the pediatrician says we'll reassess at 3yo, no immediate rush. But to contact her if I have any worries in the meanwhile. I'm keeping an eye on it.

Interesting about animal noises. DS doesn't really move his mouth into an 'o' shape, neither when blowing bubbles nor when making sounds like 'shhh'. We'll work on that I think.

Looking back, there were signs. He was difficult to breastfeed, despite me having nearly three years experience, and difficult to wean. Those can be put down to poor motor skills.

He started tryiong to talk at about the right time but he has just always been very hard to understand.

At the moment, because his vocabulary has increased, his speech seems to be getting worse because he just loses co-ordination totally. Much of the time even I have no idea what he is trying to tell me.

One of the biggest signs that something was wrong was other parents looking confused and quizical when they heard him speak. And of course children less then half his age having far better speech.

My DD is bilingual German/English and for too long we were fobbed off with this as an excuse for her poor language skills. She was actually almost totally deaf for the first 22 months of her life.

I really would get your child checked. They can hide hearing loss by lip-reading (consultant told me toddlers can learn to lip read in 3 months) and they also watch your gestures and body language to get by.

DD always watched our mouths when talking. She also seemed a bit lost and would appear dazed and a bit... well... vague I guess. She'd get knocked flat by other kids because she couldn't hear them coming.

Everyone around us was convinced I was being paranoid. They were convinced she was fine. But she never startled at loud noises and the whole thing came to a head when I realised she couldn't even locate a ringing phone a mere 3 feet away.

Her ears cleared on their own at 22 months (it turned out to be severe glue ear) and my God the DIFFERENCE. She's bright, chirpy, engaged, chatty... and it's only been a few weeks. Now everyone says 'oh, I see what you meant - we just thought she was a bit quiet'.

So I'd say get the hearing checked out. :-)

My dd1 I'd 3.8 and her speech has never been brilliant...sigh..
Anyway, because of this I've had her tested for glue ear, which she was cleared of, but as we were seeing an ENT specialist he gave her a thorough examination. It turned out she had a pea stuck up her nose
Her nose was quite snotty and she had a red patch under her nose, and doctors kept saying that she had impetigo under her nose. The ENT looked and found there was something up there. She had an X-ray, and turned out she needed surgery to remove it.
This has delayed her speech by a lot, as she has a small impediment.
Just throwing an idea at you.
I was 18 months old and talking two languages fluently, well according to my mother, so I've got a different perspective on two languages being taught.
Try seeing a doc and getting referred to ENT. It's a start. From there they may get your dcs hearing tested too for glue ear, and possible speech therapy.

My nearly 2 yo started with a few words at 14 months then lost all of them except mum. He has great passive understanding. A hearing test showed severe glue ear and that he did not turn his head for sounds. I would not have guessed this as he seemed to hear fine to me.. I think now he was attuned to my voice and good at lipreading and general decoding of my expressions etc

Ds didnt say 5 words at 2yrs, let alone 50. I wouldnt worry. He is now 4 and speaks two languages well.