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24 month old delayed speech?

5 replies

Springtimeflowers · 06/06/2018 15:34

My DD is about to turn two, and I'm a little concerned about her speech. Before becoming a sahm I used to work with young children, and feel as though they generally had more speech than my DD does. We also attend toddler groups, where children who look about the same age as my DD are speaking in small sentences.

I often remind myself that I shouldn't compare as children are all so different, but it has been playing on my mind recently.

DD has a good understanding of what I'm saying, and can follow instructions such as "can you please get your shoes, as we are going out now". She can say many words, but still only says them individually or sometimes putting two words together. She will also be able to say a word correctly for a long time, but then out of nowhere will start saying it incorrectly. I also find that often dh and I are the only people that understand what she's trying to say.

We try to limit TV at home to under an hour an day, and I also interact with DD a lot. We go out and about most days, and practice much of Montessori. We read and sing songs, and I will ask DD simple questions. At the same time, I don't believe that I should always be entertaining DD, and encourage independent play too. My husband works long shifts and we don't live near family, so it's usually just DD and I - which I don't know has affected her speech. We visit toddler groups, but DD is always very quiet there. I also worry as when my sil visits; she is nice, but from her questions about DD it's always obvious that she's behind her friends children of the same age.

I'm trying my best to do everything right, but feel like I'm failing. I was just reading about 2 year olds development, and it said that at her age she should be speaking in 2-3 small sentences at a time.

I don't really know what to do or if it's something I should be concerned about (as I am), and was please hoping for some advice? DD means the world to me, and I don't want to let her down.

OP posts:
gower4 · 06/06/2018 20:08

If she's not even two yet and she's putting words together that sounds fine. I'm not a professional though. I think the milestone for 24 months is joining two words (not set phrases) so "car go" "more water" etc

Springtimeflowers · 06/06/2018 23:21

Thanks for your reply. DD can put two words together, but doesn't very often.

I think just writing down my concerns and now I'm feeling has helped, as I'm feeling a bit more relaxed about things after thinking them through.

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GoBigOrange · 07/06/2018 00:18

She's doing a lot better than my son was at the same age. At almost two, he had maybe ten words and was months away from starting to put words together.

He's almost three now, and chats away no problem - long sentences, huge vocabulary and fairly comprehensible even to strangers.

So sometimes being a little bit 'behind' where they should be in the development targets doesn't mean they won't catch up.

You're undoubtedly already doing this stuff, but I just narrated everything that I could stand to in simple words, used lots of repetition so it was hopefully clear to him which words were associated with which things, and as much as possible, let him see my mouth when I talked so he could get a sense of how the words were formed and try to copy. We also sat and sang and pulled faces in front of a mirror so he could see my mouth move then too. I have no idea if any of it helped him, or if he would have figured it out anyway, but it made me feel like I was doing something!

Springtimeflowers · 07/06/2018 08:45

Thank you - that's some good advice, and re assuring too. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and trying some new ideas too, and hopefully she'll catch on over time.

I also find with my DD; as soon as you ask her to say something she will refuse, as it has to be on her terms! So I'm trying to be mindful of not pushing her too much as well.

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Springtimeflowers · 07/06/2018 09:21

I've also noticed that she often seems to talk through her nose, as I'm not sure why she does as she's not talking with a dummy in her mouth or anything.

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