Is this normal language development

[beowulf]

DS1 has just turned two, and he can say about 40 words, but they all rhyme iykwim (e.g. "bow" - bowl, "mow" - mould, "no", "go", "row"; "more", "door" etc) He hasn't got any words more than a syllable and he hasn't put two words together but seems to be stuck on a small set of sounds that he can manage. Is this the way that speech should develop: is it normal? My friends' kids seem to have had multisyllable words from quite early on, even when they hadn't got many words.

it is fairly unusual, but if he is managing to communicate ok with you, and you think he is understanding most of what you tell him, he is probably ok. if he seems very frustrated with communication, i would take him to the hv and maybe ask for a hearing test, just to be on the safe side.

beowulf, i would get him checked out, for your own peace of mind really and as lyra said, its good to rule out hearing problems. My DD is 2.4 and up until about four weeks ago she only had about 20 words, she is now talking in mini sentences. She is having speech therapy, but to be honest, i dont think she needs it now.

I don't think it's that rare (or at least not a problem if it is unusual). Most of DD's words are like that and she's quite articulate for 18m old (she just can't manage many sounds yet and uses the ones she knows). In her case, she's just getting to grips with new sounds -- so the things which were all 'co' last month have become 'cot', 'coat', 'cat' etc (But 'tow' still means toe, tower and towel.)

I would think that as long as your DS is some making progress, then there's no problem. I think (as in I seem to remember someone more knowledgeable saying once) that some children do learn by rhyming.