"He's just a lazy boy"-speech delay

[NickyEds]

My ds is almost 23 months old and has no real words yet. He'll make 3 different animal noises and say "daddy" but nothing else. The hv says that they won't do anything until he's 2 (won't refer to salt etc) and that he'll probably be fine. His comprehension is ok I think, if I ask him to get his shoes he will, he understands we're going out, time for nap etc but some things like animals, objects and shapes are very hit and miss.I'm desperately worried about it. He doesn't seem to be able to form words at all, lots of babble and noises but no proper words.
I'm getting so bloody sick of hearing the following;

-"He's a boy- they're all lazy!"- no, lots of my friend little boys are talking
-"He's just a lazy boy"- my boy personally . Some family members have suggested not getting him things unless he asks for them. I think this is mean. He's already getting really frustrated and upset.
-"Have you tried talking to him?"- ffs.
-"No, really talking to him???"- do piss off!
-"He'll talk when he's ready"- I'm glad you're so sure of that!
-"he doesn't need to talk- you're always there, get him into nursery". I worry a lot about this as I'm a SAHM. We can't afford for him to go to nursery but he's going to be going to pre school we think, after Christmas. This worries me too as I think they'll be expecting him to talk.

I'm not even sure what advice i want really. Just a moan I suppose. Any stories of almost two year olds who suddenly started to talk? Any experience of pre school and their expectations?

[bruffin]

I've heard of the 50 words by the time they're 2 thing before and it scares the life out of me- he's so very far from that
Ds got the 50 words 2 days before his 2nd birthday. He woke up that morning and was spouting new words all day, like he had swallowed a dictionary over night. He did have problems with pronounciation and had some speach therapy at 5. It was immaturities like s for f and t for c. He actually was a year ahead for vocabulary by the age of 5 and had the grammar reception of an adult at the time.

[bookbook]

My DD ended up getting in a private speech therapist for an assessment.
One tip she gave was to take his cars away - he used to have a car in each hand, and 'lose' himself with playing with them, so he wasn't interacting. It worked , along with other stuff. This was when he was 2.3 . (Though a lot of DGS problems were due to ear infections and lots of tonsillitis. He had his tonsils and adenoids out when he was 2.5 , this year.)
She self referred to SALT, though it was really hard in her area to find the proper contact details. And got an appointment quite quickly when she did.

[bruffin]

Meant to say, becoming an expert over night at something was the way ds developed with everything, whereas dd would add words on a gradual basis. DS also walked without crawling etc .

[namechangedtoday15]

OP I can only tell you what happened to us. DS (one of twins) was a late talker and had speech therapy because when it did come, it all happened so quickly that he developed a stutter. In our area (and things may have changed) you could not be referred to a speech therapist until 3.

I was also worried - thought it was connected to his hearing - was constantly doing little 'tests' like rattling something behind him so he'd turn round. He didnt turn round 99 times out of 100. I think once you have a worry, it's hard to let it go. But now, knowing that everything is ok (he was referred to an audiologist but everything was fine) I do think he wasn't interested at the time in achieving the time associated goals that I thought he should. It is so easy to compare - I had his twin sister there as a constant reminder that he was "behind" or "late" but now they're 10 (and I have a 3rd child too) I have realised that they are all different and will hit various milestones at completely different times.

As PP have said, look into it if you're worried but try not to worry too much.

[NickyEds]

Thanks again-it's all really helpful.

I've got the number of a SALT drop in clinic so I'm going to take him along. I do try not to worry about it and some days I think he's absolutely fine, then others I just need to know that 's ok-I need some sort of sign that he can understand me.

[Jellyandjam05]

Help. I haven't read all the replies but I wanted to add my experience. My DS is now just about to turn 7. When he was the same age as you DS I was worried like you as he had very few words. I also heard everything you did as well as "you are probably just comparing him to his sister" (who happened to be an early talker) etc.
my health visitor also didn't want to refer him at that age and said to wait and see what happened in the next few months.
He didn't improve over that time and so I asked his pre school to refer him (now we had a problem here in that we moved twice in this time and so had to wait again for a referral when we moved to a new area)! The wait was very long- 12 weeks for an initial assessment and then a further six weeks for therapy to start. He was put into a group and made very little progress in my opinion in this time. I should add that his understanding was always good so this was never an issue.
Then came our second move and back on a 12 week waiting list. This time he was given individual therapy (he was now four and starting school with very unclear speech). He did much better in these sessions but they were only for 5 weeks (1x 30 minute sessions a week) and then he had to go back on the waiting list. At this point we employed a private therapist which was the best thing we ever did! Along side this I also used //www.mommyspeechtherapy.com and did lots with him at home and his progress was remarkable. Your DS is probably a bit young for needing this yet but we also were advised to do lots of activities like blowing bubbles, playing with whistles etc when he was younger to develop oral muscles. He now never stops talking and no one who meets him realises he had to have therapy.
My biggest regret is not getting it sorted sooner. If you are worried then get it checked out. If there's nothing to worry about then there will be no harm done. Good luck.