nearly 2 year old speech

[IcedCoffeeQueen]

Ds2 will be 2 next month and slightly worried about his speech, ds1 has mild SN so not great to compare to. He can say mummy, daddy (randomly not actually because he wants us) car, hiya and me. Other than this he just grunts, growls and makes an 'ooh' noise when we ask him something like he's acknowledging us. If I say to him 'go and get your cup, teddy, shoes he will do it, he is very smiley, great eye contact, knows where is mouth, eyes, nose etc are if I ask him he will point.

He doesn't yet play with any purpose really he can roll a car back a forward and push buttons but cant do a simple peg board etc just puts everything in his mouth or throws them. He gets VERY frustrated all the time and is always hitting me, furniture or himself, bangs his head off walls if he's having a tantrum etc, he climbs everything and doesn't ever learn from bad behaviour he is into everything all the time and causing havoc

Should he be saying more by now? and how long should I give it before contacting the HV?

I work in SALT and we look for children to have around 50 words at 24 months. I would contact the HV straight away because it can take so long to get to see a speech therapist and just cancel it if he has a 'spurt' in the mean time. In some areas the waiting list can be 7 months.
In the mean time have a look on the Internet at the Hanen programme for some tips on how to encourage language development.
You could try sign as well? Just to help him with the frustration side of things.
I wouldn't worry at this stage, things can change over night, but id set the wheels in motion then you have your bases covered.

My dd is 19mo and was late saying anything (she was 17mo before she even said mama/dada) and her nursery told us there was no point taking her to HV until she was 2 as that's the earliest you'll get a referral. Nursery were quite concerned about her but in the last month her speech has really come on and we can't shut her up now, she's learning a couple of new words every day, it's incredible. No one is worried anymore!

Obviously our children are different and I'm guessing there's nothing wrong with your son but I always think that if you're worried, there is no harm asking a professional, especially if you're worried about the sen thing.

Having just read the previous poster, I'd definitely recommend learning some sign as well - we taught dd "more", "eat" and "milk" and it helped all of us!

Ds1 barely spoke until he was 2.5 years old - he used to make oinking noises if he wanted to watch Peppa Pig and Nee Naw sounds for Fireman Sam. He didn't properly say his own name until he was nearly 3. He's four now and since he turned 3, something clicked and he has barely shut up! His pre-school teachers gave him the highest level for communication on his end of year report and a lot of my friends with kids the same age comment on how confident and clear he is as a speaker.

Dd2 (22 months) has more words now than he did at 2.5 - I guess, they all just develop at their own pace.

I'd agree to have a 'healthy acknowledgement' of your ds's speech development by taking previous posters' advice about seeking professional help as a default position, but, seriously, I wouldn't worry.

Hope you are a little reassured :)

thank you for the replies, I was planning to wait until he turned 2 and then contact hv if we were still no further forward but I may just do it early, I think im so preoccupied with ds1 who is still awaiting formal dx at 7 I don't want to take my eye off the ball with ds2

Agree with advice to contact HV (should be having 2yr developmental review around now anyway).

My best mummy mate is a SALT & when I was having a stress about DD's speech, she recommended www.talkingpoint.org.uk

It's got an easy to follow self assessment questionnaire which would give you an idea of where DS is & ways to help. It also links to the ICAN charity which deals with speech/lang problems x

Not a huge fan of HV, but that's probably just my experience of them. It's true you are due for the review at 2 years old anyway but my HV wasn't very helpful and only told me of what my child should be saying by now, leaving me feeling bad that he didn't.

You can request referral to SALT via your GP and it wouldn't hurt to have a hearing test done too. We had a hearing test done, although I had no concerns, just to be able to tick it off the list, before seeing SALT.

SALT were fantastic and should address any concerns you may have.