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Original poster

My 2 and a half year old isn't really talking - I'm not worried but ...

15 replies

jodee · 27/08/2002 22:46

I know they all develop speech at different rates, and I'm not really concerned about it, but I was wondering about your experiences with toddlers starting to talk. DS is coming up to 2.5 years and is still not talking in sentences. He strings a couple of words together - 'Oh No!', 'all gone', 'I did'. He will sometimes say 'all day long', if The Wheels on the Bus is being sung. That's about it. He does say quite a lot of individual words, but he doesn't say the 'whole' word, if you see what I mean, eg. bus is 'bu', hat is 'ha' etc.
I'm sure he can understand almost everything that is being said to him, and easily carries out instructions, I was just wondering if this type of pattern of speech was fairly common, and when the proper sentences and complete words kicks in?

OP posts:
janh · 28/08/2002 08:46

My DS2 was the same, jodee. He started playgroup in Sept at nearly 2½, and was still speaking like yours at Christmas, at 2¾, but by his 3rd birthday in April he was pretty fluent.

He still didn't make sounds properly, even then, "playgroup" came out "claybroup" and "five fish fingers" was "bive bish bingers", he had speech therapy and it all got corrected eventually but I think it would've anyway (speech therapy was HV's idea, not mine.)

HTH!

crystaltips · 28/08/2002 16:07

jodee,

As you say kids all develop at different rates. However, just a thought, what have DS's hearing tests come up with?
My DS was copying a lot of my words and I thought that he was progressing nicely. It transpired that he failed his hearing test and was 'technically' unable to hear due to glue ear.

When I was made to think about it - I realised that when I spoke to him I was VERY animated and more likely than not he "saw" me speaking to him rather than hearing me! He therefore learnt very early on to lip-read.
We caught this very early on - he had the vents put in and we haven't looked back!
Just a thought.

SimonHoward · 28/08/2002 16:59

Jodee

My middle brother didn't say a word till he was 4. All he did was grunt and I translated for him.

It came as a bit of a shock to our parents one day when a little voice asked 'Can we have the TV on please?' and everyone turned around to see that it was my brother speaking.

He was perfectly able to speak, he just didn't.

clary · 28/08/2002 17:38

Jodee, I was quite worried about my ds, now 3, at a similar age to yours. In fact I took him to see the HV but when he said a four-word sentence (yellow ball up there, from memory) she said that was fine, two or three words together would have been plenty and not all 4yolds even know their colours, so I felt quite proud! It might just be worth checking with your HV to see what she thinks but by the sound of it he is fine. DS by now will come out with quite complex sentences ("mine no wee wee in my pants mummy" springs to mind as a current example!) and has just made massive progress so I'm really happy; i'm sure your DS will do the same (and hopefully not weewee in his pants either !!)

Original poster
jodee · 28/08/2002 21:04

Thanks everyone for your replies. JanH, Clary, I think I will have a word with the HV to see what she thinks, I'm not keen at the moment to go down the speech therapy road, but then again if there is a long waiting list, it might be a good idea to just put his name down anyway.
Crystaltips, I don't think he has a hearing problem - I tried asking him to repeat a word while we coming down the stairs and I was behind him, and he answered correctly, but it might be worth getting them looked at anyway.

Just another thought, would you equate late potty training with late speaking? DS never indicates he has done either no1s or no2s, he has never yet said the words 'wee' or 'poo', and if asked if he has done a poo when he obviously has, he will deny it. I haven't even attempted to try to potty train him yet, I just wondered if the two were linked?

OP posts:
pupuce · 28/08/2002 21:58

Not sure if they are linked.... again though 2 1/2 isn't late for potty training... I know loads of kids who are 3 and are not potty trained... Just (try to) relax.... if he is happy it will all come into place - hopefully he will be speaking and potty trained by the time he goes to uni !
Just kidding

Batters · 29/08/2002 09:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ScummyMummy · 29/08/2002 14:52

I really agree, Batters. I notice that with my twins all the time. The one who spoke earliest is not the one who is speaking most clearly now and they have leapfrogged each other constantly in every developmental area!
I think really your ds is doing fine, jodee. I understand that the basic expectations of speech therapists are: single words by around 18m, 2 word phrases by around 2 yrs, sentences by around 3 yrs. So by that yardstick your ds is developing his speech normally anyway.

Original poster
jodee · 29/08/2002 22:17

Thanks all for your replies, I think I needed some reassurance that ds will 'catch up' in his own good time. The only thing that makes me want him to be able to communicate better is the fact that whenever we go to a park, etc., because he is fairly tall and could pass for 3 plus, other children start talking to him, and when they just get a load of babble back, they look at him strangely and walk off! DS is trying so hard to talk to them, but it's as though he's speaking Cantonese or something, I'm sure he's getting a complex (well OK, not really, it's probably just water off a duck's back to him, but it bothers me!)

Scummy, I think this is a sign that I'm too addicted to this - I had a dream last night that I was at a Mumsnet reunion and you and I were next-door neighbours!

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Eulalia · 30/08/2002 08:38

jodee - my son still babbles and he is just over 3 years. He is very slow in talking and often doesn't say anything at in public. He was round about the stage your boy is with words in fact probably further behind. There was a bit of a rush around 2.9 when he finally started using phrases. He said his name for the first time on his birthday although he said his new baby sisters name first a few months before (it was so lovely to hear that). However he uses fairly complex 3-4 word sentances now and maybe just fills in with a bit of babble in between.

He also said 'ha' for hat and 'ractor' for tractor but then quite suddently would manage to say it properly. I would say being a late talker has meant he has skipped the baby talk.

I know it can be difficult - I found it hard to know what was wrong with ds at times. Also his grandmother wasn't too pleased when he wouldn't say hello. I think you know yourself if anything is wrong.

ScummyMummy · 30/08/2002 09:46

I wish we were, jodee! That would be fun. Funnily enough I too have had dreams featuring Mumsnet personnel before now and wondered if my addiction had gone too far!

robinw · 30/08/2002 18:53

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robinw · 30/08/2002 18:53

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Original poster
jodee · 30/08/2002 23:01

Eulalia, that's the other thing, trying to understand what it is he wants/what's upsetting him - I always thought parents understood every word of their child's babble, but I can't make head nor tail!
Robinw, I'm convinced his hearing is OK, but it might be worth having his ears looked at just the same.
Thanks again

Note to self - stop using the computer so late at night, no wonder I'm dreaming about Mumsnet!

OP posts:
tiktok · 31/08/2002 16:35

My son was three before he said anything beyond the odd virtually unintelligible syllable. He soon caught up - his ears were checked at the time and found to be normal,

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