Speech at 2

[boo64]

When dcs have their 2 year old check, what are HVs expecting to hear speech wise?

What are 2 year olds expected to be saying in terms of no of words?

I have read the 'norm' (and yes I know they all develop at different rates etc) is 50 words at 2 but should that say 50 clear wordsor just 50 words you can understand given the context?

Ds is 2 next week and his vocabulary is coming on nicely now - maybe 100 'words' - I have lost count but the vast majority are very unclear - maybe only 15 are actually clear and said correctly. So is it 50 clear words or just 50 garbled words!!?

50 words you can understand. Plus At least one 2-word phrase.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough! 50 words YOU can understand, whether strangers can understand is not essential at this point.

Thanks lljkk - he has a small no of two word phrases but is starting to do more e.g. yello (slight pause for drama!) been = yellow bin (he is obsessed with bins and skips - a future bin man I think!)

So stuff like babba or bababba for banana when pointing to banana would 'count'? In this context he definitely means the banana

He substitutes letters a lot and leaves ends off words loads too (which I know is pretty normal).

Sorry to sound like such a pfb mum - I guess I was just wondering why such a high proportion of the words are garbled.

DS2 is 3 and still says "nana" for banana, "bee" can mean: biscuit, beach, cbeebies, several other things....

All of mine missed various so-called speech "milestones". DS1 didn't manage a 2 word phrase until a month after he turned 2. We had trouble understanding much of what DD said until she over 4. Both DS1 and DD later got cited as "very articulate" by their reception class teachers. DS2 is still garbled but such a chatterbox, I've learnt not to worry (too much).

Our speech therapist confirmed to us that if we can underdtand it, its a word therefore stuff like babba or bababba for banana when pointing to banana would certainly 'count'.

Ok, that's very reassuring. Thanks guys.

Boo

Banana is obviously a difficult word ... DD is 3.3 and generally pretty comprehensible these days, but is still hanging onto 'blana'. Blanas are the favourite food of 'minkeys'. I shall miss blanas and minkeys when they're gone.

5 to 500 words at age 2 is what I remember reading - hell of a range.

I don't really think the number and/or clarity of words is that big a deal at this stage, the important thing is that he's attempting to communicate verbally (by speaking to you) and non-verbally (by pointing) as well as understanding a good deal of what you say. IME if he's doing these things then he's fine!

I'm a part time HV and we are told that at 2 children should be attempting 50+ words that a parent can understand. Clarity is not essential at 2 but attempting words is seen as reassuring.
However, IME many children don't meet that criteria of 50+ words and for a variety of reasons. They don't all develop at the same rate, some have hearing loss of varying degrees, some have older brothers/sisters who interpret for them etc, etc. A small number will have a speech and language disorder of some kind or other.
My DS now 4 had barely 10 words at 2 but was holding conversations at 3.

Thanks AKA - I think he sounds fine then as plenty of words albeit garbled!

I guess some of them manage to manipulate their mouths/ tongues etc better earlier than others to get more sounds coming out clearly.

He still has a dummy - for sleeping only though - so maybe that is another reason I was worrying!

Hmmm I might just be being paranoid but the range of consonants he can say is very limited still - he was 2 a week ago and can only really say b, d, m, y,

I don't have any concerns about his general development but surely he should be able to make more sounds than these - he can't even repeat others so p words are said with a b eg. bear instead of pear.

As I said before he has plenty of words now but they all use the letters above or are unclear.

Apologies if this is totally normal and I am being paranoid but I just don't know much about it.

At the 2 year check I hadn't really realised how limited his letter sounds were so didn't mention it.

Is this normal for some 2 year olds or a sign of a problem?

DD does not have 50 recognisable words , but she talks constantly ! she is 2 at the end of the month. only one two word phrase, 'all gone', with accompanying gesture to show empty hands

as she can communicate exactly what she wants , i am fairly relaxed about the 50 word thing, surely, like all these milestones, it is an average, some will have 20 words, some will have 75, and it averages out

she can say apple beautifully, and recognise it in a book

sure your DC will be just fine too !

Just to clarify - it's not the 50 word thing I am concerned about as he has quite a lot more words than this - it is the fact his range of consonant sounds he can say is very limited

My ds (2.3) also mixes up consonants and can't say some of them, although I think he probably can do more than your ds - for mine I am putting it down to the fact that I know that he has a perforated ear drum one side and slight glue ear on the otherside, so that his hearing is likely to be impaired to some extent. We are under a consultant for his ears, so I am not too concerned at this stage, particularly as the consultant hopes that the perforated ear drum will heal itself (hopefully over the summer) and that he will probably grow out of the glue ear.

However, ds had over 200 words at 2 (that he could be understood to say) as well as short sentences (me ride pony, my want biscuit, no want bath, daddy go work bus...), so we felt happy that he was hearing enough not to be held back.

Can your ds hear whispers from the other end of the room if he isn't facing you? Does he have a good idea of where sounds are coming from - if he is OK with these, probably not a problem with his ears, but if not, you might want to check that he doesn't have a problem with his ears. Don't want to worry you, but, if he does have something like my ds ie slight glue-ear its better to have it monitored to ensure that it doesn't get worse and result in any longer-term problems.

But children do develop at very different rates - current thread on gifted children and what they were like as babies and many of these not speaking particularly early etc.

Thanks Mistle - very helpful post. I do hope your ds's ears improve - poor chap. Does it cause him discomfort as well as affeecting his hearing?

I will do some whispering later and see but I feel like his hearing is ok.

Will take a look at the gifted babies thread out of interest. My brother didn't talk til 3 - at all - but is very bright and a Cambridge grad - a perfect example of this.

He only occasionally gets any pain, and not usually in perforated ear (ie its already perforated so even if it gets a bit infected, the pressure doesn't build up so its not too bad - just gets very gunky which is disgusting).

Re whispering - its quite difficult to tell sometimes - I can't decide whether I'm being ignored because he can't hear me or because he is so engrossed in what he is doing that he is effectively filtering me out (dh does that very effectively when it suits him!) - and children do really well at lip reading so it needs to be when he isn't watching you.

I know that some consonants are difficult for children to sort out in terms of what they hear, let alone being able to say them. I couldn't say 'r's for ages, but can now!

If you're still worried, perhaps you could go back to your health visitor and ask - this would mean that, if there was a problem you might be able to help earlier rather than later, and if there is no problem, your mind will be set at rest?

Hi

I did the whispering thing and he responded fine by trying to whisper back.

I don't know, I'm still a bit concerned about the lack of consonant sounds. He is trying so hard to say things but it just all comes out wrong....anyone else got a 2 yr old (or had one who is older now) who managed loads of words but very very few come out right?

Toying with the idea of asking for a referral to a SALT but nursery think he is fine and I wonder if I am just being paranoid (still!)

my boy was 2 at start of April and his range of words is really good now, but he still mixes up all his consonants. ie, corn is torn, zip is lip, you is ooo, S always seems to be F if its at the beginning of a word, he cant say a hard G sound, basically every word probably has some form of mix up, but i love it really, and will miss it when its gone. I'm not sure if this is what your talking about Boo, is it?

Hi Katie
it's a bit different really as he actually can only say m,n,b,d and y...but he does use those letters in substitution for others.

Hi Katie
it's a bit different really as he actually can only say m,n,b,d and y...but he does use those letters in substitution for others.

He is only 2, boo!

My ds is only 6 mths older than yours and he is saying sentences (I can't get him to shut up!) but even now occasionally I am the only one who can understand what he has said!

At 2 he said some words very well - some numbers, yes, no, mummy daddy, juice, water, soup, yoghurt, play, toys etc - words that were important to him or that he had been saying for a few months - other words (the newer ones) were less clear and often I had to hear them a few times before even I knew what he was attempting to say. I really would not be too worried - if your ds' vocab is "coming on nicely now" and he is frequently trying to say new words it sounds like he is doing really well!

He is only 2, boo!

My ds is only 6 mths older than yours and he is saying sentences (I can't get him to shut up!) but even now occasionally I am the only one who can understand what he has said!

At 2 he said some words very well - some numbers, yes, no, mummy daddy, juice, water, soup, yoghurt, play, toys etc - words that were important to him or that he had been saying for a few months - other words (the newer ones) were less clear and often I had to hear them a few times before even I knew what he was attempting to say. I really would not be too worried - if your ds' vocab is "coming on nicely now" and he is frequently trying to say new words it sounds like he is doing really well!

sorry about the 2x post

Oh yeah - ds wasn't saying all consonants at 2, but he can say them all now, alot happens in 6 mths!

yikes

ds is 2.2

says very little

a handful of recognisable words, at best

we haven't been called for a review yet - will be interested to see what they say when we do...