Was your toddler a late developer?

[QuiteLikely5]

Hi

Was your toddler a late developer in certain areas. Not physically but learning and speech wise and if so did they catch up?

My son is quite slow compared to his peers of a similar age.

Just wondered if others had this and the outcome was positive.

Ds2 was quite late to start speaking - only one or two words until about 2yrs 2 months and then they just flowed out. 6 months later his speech seems better than a lot of his peers, so all that worrying was for nothing.

What do you mean by learning wise? I have always taken the view that formal learning (eg letters, writing, reading) can be left for the school to deal with unless the child shows an interest earlier than that. There is no need to push them as there is plenty of time to learn at school.

If you have any concerns could you speak to your health visitor?

Colours, shapes that sort of thing.

He has learned some but seems to get confused!

Mine are too little to know yet but when I started school at just four I wasn't speaking by the end of reception I was level with the other kids. I didn't have speech therapy just developed slowly and later than others.

Yes my youngest was slow to talk - he has moderate hearing loss. Do you have any concerns about your lo's hearing quitelikely?

How old is your ds?

No his hearing is fine. He is 2.2.

Mixing up colours and shapes doesn't sound unusual for 2.2 to me.

How's he doing speech wise? There is a huge range of "normal" of course and he is still very young but ime it never hurts to have a chat with your HV if you have concerns.

Um, lots of 2yos don't know colours yet. Mine mostly didn't.
Plenty of 4yos don't know shapes yet!

Just a thought, but are his peers mostly girls? It's a stereotype, but with ds1 I found it completely true - we mixed mostly with mums with little girls and they were much further ahead developmentally than ds1. It's all pretty much evened up now, but at 2.2 it can be quite obvious.

2.2 is still quite young for colours and shapes. Ds1 didn't know these until about 4 at least and ds2 (who is 2ys8mths) doesn't know shapes. He knows colours mostly, but they were quite mixed up at first.

Thank you! Some of these posts are very reassuring.

Yeah he is surrounded by girls a lot.

The HV has referred him for speech therapy

Mine was late talking, about 20 words at 2, and now 2.5 too many to count.
I reckon he is still behind on understanding but I have spoken to a SALT and she reassured me that at 2.5 they cannot be expected to understand everything you are saying, you need to keep sentences short and instructions basic.
Also people talk about their kids starting to talk later and from one day to the next saying whole sentences. This has not been the case in my DS, but there is progress it is just a few things every day.
Doesn't sound you have anything to worry about! (Sound to me the health visitor going a bit overboard? I guess no harm in having a session...)

My son was late for speech. He's only 3.5 yrs now but has caught up. He's also a thinker and comes out with some intelligent thoughts.
If you're putting the time and effort in to aid his development (which you must be, by posting concerns on here) then I always think of the long term interest in education - ie it's not the sprint it's the marathon of life. Kids might speak earlier than others etc but if you're giving him a strong core to his learning and doing the right things, it'll pay off in the long run. My thoughts anyway.

Don't worry. My dd is the same age and can only just say a handful of words. She walked crawled and rolled over as a baby really early.
But the talking thing just isn't there yet. I wouldn't worry or stress over colours and shapes as they all get there at some point. I'm a strong believer in,if it interests them then they will show interest. Let them lead while you just guid x