Lack if words at 2

[Chattymummyhere]

My recently 2 year old has only 4 words

Mama
Dada
Yeah
No

Three of those words are used completely randomly, one day everything might be dada the next everything is mama.

She is very frustrated by this and goes into complete meltdowns and hits out for attention, her concept is not great, an example of where is your nose and she will point to the window, yet if asked if she wants a bath will go and wait at the stair gate.

I'm waiting to get the paperwork to get her referred to speech therapy but that's 2 weeks away then the waiting time for the first appointment which won't be till well after the new year.

We tell her what good she has, ask her questions, read with her.

What else can we do in this time while waiting or is it likely to be more than just a speech delay? She is very small for her age at 1 year she was only 18lbs and she can still fit into 9-12month clothes.

Hmm normally I would say don't worry, they all get there at different ages, you can't compare them to others BUT I would be a tiny bit concerned in your case mainly because of the lack of understanding. I am not sure if it's a developmental milestone or not but the 'average' 2 year old normally can point to their own head, nose, mouth, legs, feet. They may get muddled between eyes and ears, chin or cheek etc but generally will be able to understand it's something on their bodies and point to it in a round about way. Is her hearing OK? Does she hear you when you say her name?

How is she when you read to her, does she seem interested? If you ask her can she point to the correct pictures when you ask her eg, where is the pig? etc? Not trying to panic you at all, it sounds like you are already doing everything you can do and it's just a waiting game until the appointment comes through.

Both my cousin's boys started talking well after 2 years, closer to 3 actually but both caught up and are just as verbal and articulate as my 6 year old now so try not to panic!

I sympathise with the hitting out and going into meltdown but I do think this is a normal 2 year old 'thing' regardless of how good their speech is. My 23 month old is very verbal but still struggles to understand some of our explanations for things and doesn't understand he has to wait or not have a biscuit right before lunch! He melts down easily and throws his weight around. His older brother was the same at this age too. Lots of tears and anger at not being able to understand WHY we need to put our shoes on or WHY we can't eat the entire box of grapes!

She gets bored with the books mostly just wanting to always hangs the page, although she was roaring when I pointed to certain dinosaurs in hers brother book.

I've tried doing the head, shoulders, knees and toes songs whilst pointing/touching every part like I did with her brother but even doing that loads she has never picked it up, however the second naughty boy la la la comes on the radio she puts her hands on her heads and nods her head like she has been shown by her Aunty.

She seems to hear perfectly well In fact my next doors music just came on and she heard and shouted no, yesterday we walked past the dentist and the air vent made a funny sound which scared her and she ran off.

Dd gets angry about having to go in the pram at times, being in a car seat, not having your attention, wanting things she can't have, moving dolly from where dolly must go.. Now she's having a strop because I didn't want her to hit me in face. Ds was never this bad

My dh is very defensive about dd though when ever it's mentioned that she is not at the right stage

by the sound of it, you DD has also trouble understanding ('of where is your nose and she will point to the window')

does your DD understand what you tell her? this it at this stage more important? Can she follow commands such as 'get your shoes?', 'where is the ball?' etc.

how does she communicate with you? does she point at things she wants and/or does she point to show you things?

I would probably also get a referral to a hearing test to rule out any underlying hearing issue.

maybe also worth looking at the M-chat . This is an screening tool for autism and it might be worth raising it with your GP or HV if anything gets flagged up.

in the meantime until your SALT appointment: keep language simple (e.g. say 'get shoes' instead of 'oh lets go out for a walk and lets put the shoes on'). give choices ('water or milk' and see if if she can indicate her choice at least non-verbally.

Yeah she understands certain things

Do you want a bath? She will go and wait at the stair gate
Let's go get ds! She will go and wait by the front door
Go get your coat/wellies/shoes, and off she will go although I'm normally getting ready at the same time so that could be a routine rather than understanding.

She will point and eh, or drag you over to something but she could take you to the toys and every single one you ask her if she wants will be yeah(if yeah is the word of the day) but then if you give it to her its not what she wanted

Will have a look at m chat

Even though you think her hearing is ok get her referred for a test as hearing loss can happen on different frequencies meaning you hear certain things and not others. The slt is likely to want a hearing test done to rule anything out so its helpful to get the ball rolling on that now.

I'm a children's slt and the advice I would be giving generally is:

Giving choices rather than asking whats that questions

Repeat after your dd when she does use words

Use single words/small phrases yourself and repeat.

Sing lots of songs/nursery rhymes, use predictable language in games e.g. ready steady go and see if she can fill in missing words.

Play lots of games with noises e.g. animals, transport etc

This is all general advice but hopefully after detailed assessment your slt will give you strategies more tailored to your situation.

Www.talkingpoint.org should have some info and also check out the hanen website (sorry can't remember tbe address but it will come up in google)

Will do, well I see the hv to sign off the paper work for salt soon so will see if I can get a hearing test sorted as well rather than wait for salt then wait again for salt to send off for hearing test. Got to go back to the doctors for her foot too bless her

She's fast asleep now she threw her dinner on the floor had a drink and fell asleep