can you have a conversation with your just 2 year old?

[sliceofsoup]

DD2 has just turned 2. She was slow to speak (only compared to DD1) but as she started getting a lot of words around 20 months I had stopped worrying.

But now that she is 2 I am back to thinking about it. She is desperate to talk to me, and will call mummy and when I say what is it she will say a whole load of sounds but no words. Sometimes it sounds like a question, others just a statement. So she is definitely trying to make a sentence. I always respond with something related to what we are doing or whats happening.

She has maybe 20 words, not many sentences yet, but she knows what a circle is and a square and can say their names and can draw a circle. She likes books and I read to her a lot. I talk to her all the time.

She can ask for juice and food, says thank you all the time, but she is very repetitive and says the same things over and over.

I know I shouldn't compare, but at 2 DD1 was talking in whole conversations and constantly learning new things. With DD2 I feel like her speech has slowed up again.

Please tell me this is normal.

No I couldn't. DS was putting maybe two words together occasionally but mostly babbling at just 2.

He doesn't ever shut up now it's normal, whole conversations are quite rare at 2 I think. I know DS started talking in sentences a month or two after he started at the childminder and it was extremely sudden. Once they can do it they tumble into it and it's a quick change,

My DS (2 years 5 months) is only just starting to get conversational and shape identification has only happened in the last couple of months, and even then it's only circles. It sounds like your DD1 was very advanced, and DD2 is slightly ahead of average TBH!

Yes I think that must be it. DD1 is now 5 and while she is doing well at school I would say she is just average. But she is still very advanced in her speech and it is commented on by everyone we know and at all appointments. The school nurse couldn't believe how good her communication was. She seems very grown up to people who don't know her age. But as I say shes average in other areas.

I suppose because DD2 really had no words at all until she was about 17 months and even the HV said she would intervene if there were none by two (we were all thinking along the lines of hearing although her hearing appeared to be ok in general) I am overthinking it a bit. And I really shouldn't compare them but its hard not to sometimes.

Oh, crikey, no. DS only just consistently got 'mummy' and 'daddy' around 20 months and only a handful of other words at the same time, and that's even with being at nursery FT. No concerns at all at his two year check so, yes, I think you're overthinking it and have a super-advanced yardstick to measure her by

DS wasn't saying anything at 2. Nothing. Incredibly worried, but at 3.6 he talks pretty well. Refer to SALT if you're concerned but try not to compare.

My DS didn't say his first word until he was 2 and half! He did see a speech and language therapist for a while up until he started in reception class. He really didn't start speaking much until he went to nursery and i probably couldn't have a proper conversation with him until he was 4. All children are different though. He is now 6 and a very talkative (and a little too opinionated) little boy!!

Yes, I can just about (if I am patient and wait for her to get the words out - she has a LOT of words and speaks fairly clearly) - but I am told DD is unusually advanced in her talking/understanding. She sounds like your DD1.

On the other hand she is pretty uncoordinated (only just learning to stack blocks for example) so I guess they all focus on different things at different times.

I have heard that second children are often slower to talk than first children, perhaps because they don't get as much one to one from adults. But then they pick it up quicker later on, and it evens out overall. No idea if this is true!

Dd, yes. She spoke in clear sentences at 18 months. By 2, she was easy to chat to about most things.

Ds could do 4/5 word sentences at 2 and you could exchange sentences, ask questions of each other but it was repetitive and somewhat hampered at times. He's 3 now and a sly, conversational wizard.

My little girl turned 2 last month and had very few words until she was 22 months. We can now have very basic conversations with her, but she rarely asks questions back. It seems to be quite 'age appropriate' with her toddler friends.

An example of a conversation between DD and I would be:

"Would you like to go to see Grandma?"
"Yes"
"Do you like going to Grandma's?"
"Yes, we feed the ducks"
"Do you like ducks?"
"Yes, and Granny has a big pig and she feed it the ducks bread"
"Really?"
"It's fun"

Mine were both talking in full sentences by 2, by 3 they could both negotiate and trip you up verbally if you weren't on your toes. DS2 was slightly later to start talking than DS1, I think because DS1 used to speak for him, bring him things etc so he didn't need to try so hard to communicate

Most just-two year olds I know can have a conversation with their primary carer but struggle to make themselves understood apart from that beyond a few basic words. I do remember an HV telling me that a child should have around 50 individual words by the time they are two, but not necessarily be stringing them together.

Maybe its worth getting her hearing checked?

yes we can have a conversation with our DD who has just turned 2, she has been speaking since she was 12 months but she didn't walk until about 15 months. she babbles non stop and she can be very bossy but shes very funny too. we haven't had any bad words yet but then everyone around her is very careful because she picks everything up. I would guess shes up to about 150 words that includes colours/numbers/animal names/names of sounds etc.. unlike farmerswifey we have started getting questions back from her...

She also comes away with stuff we don't say to her and we have no idea where she picks it up from and this morning was a perfect example. she spoke to a family member and said "get well auntiepeggy love you" and blew a kiss down the phone then said "now remember stay in bed and get better"

Ok I am going to try to think of all the words she can say...

She can say hello, hiya, bye bye, daddy, mummy, baby, DD1s name, doggy, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, toes, head, bum and can point to them all. Nappy, door, book, juice, cup, chips, chicken, tshirt, spoon, num num, nice, thank you, go, down, up, night night.

She says things like "its ok" "there you go" "here you go" "come here" and may or may not add a name to the end of these if shes directing it to someone.

She has names for cbeebies characters that wouldn't make sense to anyone else but that we understand.

She can respond to me asking her to get something or do something (when she wants to lol) and she can point out things in books. She can make a few of the animal noises but usually just waits until we do them and then laughs at us.

Her pronunciation isn't entirely perfect with all this, like cup is bup and spoon is boon, but most people can understand what shes saying.

That's nowhere near 150 and there is absolutely no way we would have anything that resembles a conversation. I would ask her a question and she says mm hmm no matter what I ask.

slice I think your DD sounds absolutely normal and her speaking sounds fine for a 2yr old.

everyone keeps telling us our DD is really good speaking but I keep saying shes just normal... some kids are good at one thing, others are good at something else - just so happens ours is good at speaking... im sure once she gets to school she will be the same as the others.

That's quite a bit more than my DS1 had at just 2 and he's absolutely fine according to nursery and the HV. Apparently, as long as they're understandable by most people by 3.5ish there's nothing to worry about, and you especially don't need to worry at just-turned-2. What you're describing definitely doesn't indicate that speech and language therapy is needed.

Not 150 - 50!

If she can say all that and is stringing a few together then I wouldn't be worrying.

Ah yes I see now. 50. Ok so shes not too bad then.

Its funny miaow mine are the same. DD1 was a late walker, only started cruising around 14 months and didn't take her first step until 18 months but by two she could talk away to anyone and was always coming out with the most random things.

DD2 walked at a year.

I will relax about it now.

No, not yet.
She's two next week and she usually just answers questions like "what does the say?" And "what would you like watch/eat?"

She says "I go there" and "I go up". She tries to count. She's always been quicker with her motor skills than her verbal skills. We're waiting for an assessment with a speech therapy because most of her words sound the same.