No words AT ALL at 23 months

[judybloomno5]

My DD1 is 23 months old and has yet to speak. She has pronounced though Im not sure if she has said it deliberately, Muma and Dada a few times but does not do this consistently.

Comprehension wise, she can understand what we are saying to her as when we go through books and ask her to point out things she will. Bee, Butterfly, Cow, House, Clock, Teddy etc etc. She can follow instructions and is an affectionate child. She does babble a range of sounds.

I know we aren't supposed to compare but her peer group are using sentences and have a growing vocab. She has said NOTHING.

She does point and wave but not consistently.

I think Ive done everything I can, i read to her all the time, try and talk and describe things to her a lot. Talk her through what we are doing. Her nursery don't seem that bothered about it.

I've been referred to the local integrated therapies service and they have agreed to see her but when I rang up for an appointment the woman i spoke to said 'Oh she's still tiny'.

I feel like DD has missed a major milestone and nobody really cares too much.

Even with their response have they agreed to see her, I'd wait and see what they say and try not to stress over it too much.
Within my DD group of friends there are varied levels of speech dev, and they are all roughly 2 1/2. The ones who weren't being as vocal you could see were still taking it all in, and still now are perhaps only saying singular or pairing words. Don't fret too much, it will happen.

Take her to the doctors. Ask for a hearing test. This can take several weeks plus to arrange so start early. If your DD requires any kind of speech support therapy they will want to rule out hearing problems so that's something you can do straight away. 23 months is still very young but there's usually babbling and attempting to communicate. Does she attempt to communicate through noises, even if speech isn't clear/apparent?

Also you could contact your Health Visitor. There are sometimes speech and language therapists attached or in touch with local children's clinics who you can see fairly quickly. They will be able to make a very general assessment. But long term, don't be fobbed off and keep your eye on the ball. If you feel your DD isn't making progress, don't wait for the HV to say so. Some say that some HVs are unwilling to refer a child for speech assessment before 3 years old or even older for speech therapy and if it turns out your DD might benefit from some intervention, you would have lost a year plus waiting list time. You can find a private speech therapist to assess your DD at any stage and offer advice as a one-off session, you don't have to commit to a course. You can look them up for your local area online quite easily.

Finally the Sooki and Finn DVDs are good. As is My Toddler Talks book, it's full of practical advice about getting your little ones to chat. Hope this helps.

But start with a doctors appointment for a hearing test!

Sorry just noted you said she babbles. Does she seem as though she is trying to tell you something? Is there an attempt at direct communication with you/others being made or is it more babbling to herself?

She does babble at us but no words in there. She doesn't tantrum much
She was saying 'sicka' repeatedly today.

My DS had no words at 23 months either. He started talking at 27 months and had caught up and was speaking in full grammatical sentences by 30 months. Some children just have their own timetable, so stay positive. However... there is no sure way to tell which children will catch up spontaneously by 3 and which will need help (though babbling, and good understanding, are encouraging signs). So I agree with the previous poster - best to seek help now, not least because NHS waiting lists are long (in this area, 4 months from referral to SLT assessment and then a further 4-5 months for actual therapy to start, if required). And asking your GP or HV to refer your DD for a hearing test is also sensible.

You can of course see an independent SLT at any time and it won't stop your DD receiving NHS support. Independent SLTs are generally able to offer an appointment reasonably quickly so it's something you don't need to decide to do straight away but could easily revisit in a couple of months if there's been no change. We saw an independent SLT after DS's 2nd birthday and it was immensely reassuring and helpful. The NHS SLT assessment came a couple of months later and DS was placed on the list for 1-1 therapy, which would have started around 2 years 9 months had he not found his words in the meantime.

The Hanen Centre's book It Takes Two to Talk is a good and accessible source of advice on strategies to use at home, at this stage and also as the words start to come, and well worth getting hold of. It sounds as though you're doing brilliantly already but there might be some new tips and tricks there that you could try.

Thank you very much- I am going to see if I can download the Hanen Centre book onto my iPad so I can read that straight away.

Im about to have a DD2 so will probably look into an independent SLT once she is here.

I don't think it's available as an ebook, sadly. I got my copy from Amazon, then found it cheaper here www.winslowresources.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=It+takes+two+to+talk

You're right, it's not and Amazon wants £50-£150 for it!

Thank you

I was about to come on asking the exact same thing DS is almost 9 months. He grunts and laughs and stomps around for attention but wont say a single word. He almost say bye but couldnt get it so he stopped full stop. How are they physically? My ds was very active early on.

I don't think I'd worry at 9 months! I'm assuming you mean 19 months? Physically she is great, too great, she can out run me easily!

Yes just a typo! Same here ive been told the more active the less vocal but who knows?!

My DD was very similar and I worried a lot. She watched a lot of Mr Tumble and I noticed she was signing a few words so I followed her lead and added in a few simple signs so I felt I was at least communicating with her more. But she was a very quiet child without much babble, nursery agreed she was behind language wise but still in the "normal" range. She's now nearly four and we have whole sentences and chatter chatter although she's still not as clearly spoken as my DS was at the same age. I had started a SaLT referral and had asked for advice from both the HVs and nursery when we suddenly had a language explosion about 6 months ago. Its so difficult not to worry but all you can do is keep trying and keep on checking the professionals that she is progressing as best as she can. My HV team had a language checklist which was very useful and suggestions on how to adapt my language when talking with DD also.

Signing really helped us too. It eased frustration and also gave DS practice in back and forth communication (as did peekaboo!) which is a key precursor for speech. He dropped the signing like a hot potato as soon as the words came. NHS and independent SLTs both advocated signing. Makaton will most likely be familiar to nursery/preschool but any baby signing would do the job.

Woodwaj, yes my DS was (is!) very focussed on moving too! Though the first to walk in my antenatal group was also first to talk so it doesn't always follow.

The first step is definitely a hearing test. My DD was a late talker because she couldn't hear properly. Once she had grommets in she started to speak within a week. I was very relaxed about it all until she was about two and a half but now wish I had acted earlier. Your little one sounds exactly like her at age 2 - comprehending everything, saying very little.

She's now 8 and is a good reader and writes well but recently we've been told she has word finding difficulties which have probably been there all along.

So my advice is - if you're worried take her to the doc and arrange a hearing test as soon as you can and take it from there.

I decided to ring my health visitor this morning. Hes coming out wednesday to assess my ds. He said at 18 months he should be doing between 6 to 20 recognisable words, he said the hearing test would be first followed by speech therapy depending on his assesment

That's great. I'll bet it's related to hearing. I think they are a bit tighter about funding grommet ops these days so you might want to keep on to the medics as time goes on. Little ones having an operation is upsetting but in our case it was really worth it. Good luck again.