When do toddlers start to talk?

[Eulalia]

I have a similar concern to Croppy. Our son is 21 months on Thursday and says very little. A few words consisting of Dada, Umma (mum!), nana (food) and sometimes he says teddy and that is about it. The thing is he used to say more. He said his first word just after his 1st birthday (button) and loved saying it then it just disappeared. He also later said hat but that has recently been dropped too. I wouldn't mind but he 'shouts' very loudly and has also just taken to doing a high pitched scream. I am sure this is just a way of communicating but I don't understand why he isn't trying to use words more. He seems to like the rhythm of nursery rhymes - he says "baa baa" for baa baa black sheep and he imitates the noise of household appliances.

According to the literature he should have 200 words by age 2! What should I do to encourage speech or should I just wait? How should I deal with the screaming? I am saying "I" here because it is generally me that is with him most of the time. Husband tends to want to do things like put him out of the room when he screams but I am not sure if this is the right thing to do. He does understand words and quite complex phrases if you ask him to do something so I guess this is a good sign.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Dixie I feel a bit better now. I'll certainly try the list. Thing is you think you're the only person in the world this is happening to and you feel you should know what to do, say etc. That's why these talk boards are great. Ciaran is the Irish spelling of Kieran. At the time it seemed a good idea to be different but unless we move to Ireland I'll be spelling and pronouncing it for the rest of his childhood!!It was in honour of my Irish grandfather though.

DS has 2 friends who are both slighty over 2 yo and BOTH speak very little. One says mama and dada, the other says cars on top of mama and dada. So you're not alone !
One of his other friend spoke very well, very early on (she is not 2 yet and makes full sentences, she is very impressive) but she walked at 18 months old "rather later" than most children (but by no mean a problem).
I think children can not develop all at once, so their brain selects which part to work on.
As you say, if they can hear well then they can probably talk. It might also be good to "stimulate" them by not always guessing what they want so rather than giving them what they want because they point at it, try to look like you don't understand and give them a selection of words to choose from : apple ? toast ? banana ? - easy words of course... just a suggestion.

As well as Pupuce's suggestion of giving them a choice of words, how about asking them an 'either/or' question, e.g. instead of saying 'would you like juice?' (which the child could respond to with a nod or shake of the head) say 'would you like milk OR juice'?, to try to encourage the child to actually say the word for what they want. Hope that helps.

This is a subject very close to my heart (as you can see from previous entries). My ds is now 2yrs 7months and STILL isn't talking as well as the other kiddies around him. I went to see a speech therapist again (been once already) and she discharged him again. I feel suspicious that the Health Visitor's push you to see therapists to keep quotas up!? I'm probably wrong, but it felt pushy, even though they made me sign something to say I wanted the appointment.... wierd..

DS has a vocabulary of about 30 words, but most of them have the end missed off! He hasn't added new words for at least 6 months, so I'm getting concerned. All the advice given is correct - make them say choices/ either or, label all things you and he handle so he can see you mouth them and then don't hand anything over until he at least tries to say something......

I've done all this, followed books, etc. etc. I guess he's just not ready to chatter as much as everyone else! Well, he does chatter, it's just sing song babble with a few words thrown in. Funnily enough, mummy daddy and car were his first words.

Don't sweat it.... 2 seems quite young really (especially for boys). My son's cousin didn't really speak till he was 3 and started nursery full time....

There's time yet. We'll all remember this when they're over 5 and driving us mad chatting inanely and we'll pray they shut up!

My son did not talk at all ( nothing!!)till he was 2 unlike his sisters. I can't say we did anything about it particularly ( see below for why!) but he is now 8 and I would say has a relatively sophisticated vocublary and generally well thought out view of the world; however he does find it difficult sometimes actually to get out what it is he is trying to say. On the other hand his opinions are well thought out.
It can be very difficult to judge your own child's speech so ask a friend ( or 2) for an honest opinion if you do have a concern. Your child may for example have a hearing problem and basic Health Visitor tests do not always pick these up.
Finally my mother always said that a childhood friend of mine did not talk till she was 3. She has a first class honours degree and is a consultant now so didn't exactly set her back! This example kept me going when my son did not talk!

I posted on this site when my son was just coming up to two years old. At the time his very limited vocabulary was give me cause for concern. I found, as others here have testified, that 24 months or so marked a watershed in his language development. My son, now aged 26 months, has a much better vocabulary, and is very able to string two or more words together. I have lost count of the words he can say - at least 100. His speech is still not ultra clear, but is improving every day. I think it's natural to worry, but it seems, from reading this thread, that some children just make a sudden language leap when they are ready.

My son is a late talker also. He is now nearly 28 months and has very little conversation tending to point to things. He will however quite suddenly imitate a word when he hears someone talking and says it perfectly. However he won't use the word in context. It just seems that some words take his fancy.

However in some ways he is talking less as he used to pick things up and say what they were. It is almost as if he feels he doesn't need to now because he knows the word. His latest habit seem to be pointing at things and making a questioning "Eh?" noise to ask what it is. He does this at everyday objects, pictures in books etc. I wondered if anyone else had this experience. I tell him what the things are but it can be annoying that he just doesn't actually say them. However if I ask him where the things are he will point to them and knows probably hundreds of words - he just doesn't vocalise them. However I am not worried as there is obviously some progress and he is still young yet.

Hi! I'm new here but found this topic close to home for me. My dd talked very early and had a sizable vocabulary by 18 months. She was talking in three word sentences by two and a half. My ds is now 2 and a half and is getting there slowly, but we are still limited to mostly single words, although new words appear all the time now.
He was referred to a speech therapist by the clinic at around 20 months as he was only saying "dada", "mama" and "up". The therapist seemed to do little more than play with him and talk to him about what they were doing, encouraging any attempts at talking and praising any words. But it worked! After about 6 months, I had him reassessed and although his vocab is still slightly below average, his pronunciation and comprehension are good, and he is starting to use 2 words together.
One of the things she told us is that because they understand so much more than they can say, you tend to talk in more complex sentences. Although they can understand these, they can't try to repeat or imitate them. So we had to simplify our sentences a little, which was difficult when his sister was almost 5 and we often had to talk to both at the same time! But she wasn't bothered, and it did help him. So instead of "Look there's a doggy going for a walk" we would say "Look, doggy walking". If they show an interest in something, run with it and talk about it as much as you can!
Words where the middle sound is duplicated are easier to say too, hence dada and mama are common first words. So apple, nana (for banana), little, baby, doggy, puppy etc. are good ones to encourage and repeat. Picture books are great for this.
Ds used point and grunt alot, too. The screaming and tantrums came out of frustration I think, from not being understood and not having the words to explain himself. Sometimes it's all a big guessing game! Choices are good, but often they can still get away with the point and grunt, even if its to maintain your own sanity!
Anyway, my opinion is: check with the clinic, go with your instincts, have an assessment if you want one (it can't hurt), get a checkup by a GP (both hearing and oral - the ST said often there is a physical link and children who had feeding difficulties may also have speech problems), and talk and read (and listen) to your child as much as you can!
Yes it will all come with time, but if there is a delay it can't hurt to try to encourage it along. The earlier you start, the less help they will need to "catch up". :-)

My ds was a late talker he would say the odd word,but it was about 3 years before you could actually understand what he was saying. I took him to see a speech and language therapist and she basically could not see any real problems, by about 4 years he talked non stop, he is now 5.7 years and his speech is incredibly sophisticated for his age. I have a baby coming up to 1 and I am concerned that his speech will be delayed. I bought an excellent book called `Babytalk' written by Dr Sally Ward, it gives a lot of useful advice on how to talk to your baby at all the different stages right up to 5 years. It is recommended that you spend half an hour talking and playing with your child without any background noise (this could be difficult with other siblings around) t.v, radio,etc. turned off. Basically complete silence, and talk about one toy, say what it is,colour,shape, size and what it does,by the end of the one to one session most children will interact and try and repeat sounds. I have tried this with my baby everyday and he is saying daddy,cat and his brothers name. I made a huge mistake with my eldest child by having the t.v and radio on nearly all day, and I'm convinced this had a lot to do with his speech delay.

ps. I forgot to mention rhyme and rhythm are essential in developing talking and memory skills, I have found a brilliant website where you can get printable nursery rhymes and a picture to colour-in, it's ENCHANTED LEARNING.COM.

I am in a similar situation and am at my wits end! my nearly 2 year old doesn't say a thing! He understands very well and responds to music and rhyme but no words. He's due to go for a hearing test fairly soon, he would'nt sit still for the last one. I was worried about my elder child's speech also, he's now nearly four and you can't shut him up!I think children speak in their own time, particularly if they have older siblings to do it for them! There is far too much pressure from health professionals to do the right thing at the right age and woe betide you if you don't!

Well ds has finally come out with a word - Emma (the girl who looks after him at nursery). Don't know whether to be upset or happy. He's only at nursery three days a week. Anyway he has added to it with hiya and bye when he wants to. May be its my fault for responding to his pointing and grunting. Should I just ignore him and make him say the word? That seems too cruel though. I think the HVs do put a lot of pressure on parents because whenever a child isn't 'textbook' they seem to panic and want to send them to all manner of professionals. They don't like to accept that said child is just a bit a slower in some aspects. As I've said before ds is far advanced in his activity skills so may be his brain just can't cope with another skill so soon (one which he probably thinks is unnecessary as he gets pretty much want he wants by pointing etc). He was a big baby who is now bigger than the average two year old. The HV kept saying he was too heavy for his age (he's nearly 3 stone) then she would measure his height and concede that perhaps he was all in proportion (he's roughly 35 inches tall). It was obvious by looking at him that he's all in proportion but because he wasn't textbook they didn't like it. He's always been on his own little curve above the other centiles and this seems to freak them out! I think I'm going to give up with all these so-called professionals and all they do is make me feel that there's something wrong with ds and I know there isn't. Anyway thanks for all your helpful hints and advice its certainly been beneficial. I'm doing the lists and giving the word options so I'll persevere and see what happens. One thing has struck me though reading this thread and thats most of the children who have been slower to talk have been boys. Anyway I'm not worried now (well no more than normal anyway!)

My ds was also a lat talker, barely saying anything at 2 years old. Now, at nearly 2.5, he manages quite complex sentences.

A close friend and neighbour happens to be a speech pathologist and she told me she had been quite worried about him when younger as he appeared to have no interest in speaking (his hearing is fine). Like some others here, his fine and gross motor skills were (and still are) very advanced. Now she says he's doing very well and all of this with no intervention. It just takes some children longer to do some things than others.

My friend also told me that 90% of the time children who are slower to speak are boys and children who are slower to develop physically are girls! They all turn out OK in the end though so, in the absence of any medical problem, don't panic I'm sure they'll all start chatting away in their own time.

Funny you mention that Chele, because my son is the one with the speech delay and my daughter has a gross motor skills delay! Actually a few people would say that when I expressed concerns about his not talking - "boys are later talkers, don't worry about it". Easier said than done! The worry and the guilt we put ourselves through as parents is ridiculous isn't it.

Now I worry because although he now uses 2 word sentences sometimes and is expanding his vocab all the time, he still doesn't say his own name, nor will he say his sister's name. Doesn't that seem kind of strange?

I also had a laugh at your message about pronouncing truck wrong (with an "f") - my ds does this too...it's quite embarassing! Luckily most people just laugh or smile but some look a bit dubious when I explain he really means "truck" - honest!

He also uses "ta" for both please and thankyou. Not sure how to get him away from that - any ideas?

Mollipops - my son aged 2 1/4 has never said his name either. I am not sure it is that odd - as a child wouldn't have reason to say their own name often. I guess in time they will say it when asked what their name is.

My son, Tom, attempts his own name all the time but for some reason it always comes out as "Nom". He can say the "T" sound though, as in toast, toes, tap etc, but whenever it's his name it's Nom, Nommy or Nomis.

Eulalia, thanks for that, nice to know he's not the only one! I always thought most kids said their own name before they started to use "me" or "my" and "I"...like "Daniel cup", then later "me cup" and finally "my cup". He seemed to skip the first one! Maybe he got his concept of self early!

Dd was an early talker but was still mispronouncing her "c" as a "t" sound, like tat for cat when she was almost 4. The ST had a few sessions with her while she was seeing ds (she used to come to the house which was great!), and that was all it took. I think it's pretty common, like lellow instead of yellow. (A boy in dd's class still says "lellow" at 5, and his speech is generally quite unclear...yes he is having ST! But poor kid, shame it wasn't picked up sooner for his sake.)

My biggest regret about the whole talking thing is this: because dd talked early, and being our first too, we expected a lot of her from quite young, and she always seemed so "grown up". Ds on the other hand seems to have stayed a baby for so long, because he wasn't talking much, and so we don't demand so much from him. I feel a bit sad that I missed dd's babyhood in a way. Does that sound silly or does anyone else have a similar experience?

Update on my ds is that he's started saying words and naming things but still not to the speech therapist's liking. Had to go back to the speech therapist last week who agreed there had been a marked improvement but said my (just) two year old had a problem with his attention span and should go see an education psychologist. Problem was Ciaran wanted to play with the football (and paid a lot of attention to that!) and not name the toys the therapist had out. I feel he's far too young to be going to the education guy. How long is a 2 year old's attention span supposed to be? I find it hard to come to terms with the fact Ciaran has to go to a speech therapist to learn to speak when the speech therapist himself speaks english with a heavy accent and can't pronounce ds' name properly.

Hello,

my three year old son has been bladder trained for about 8 months but is not yet bowel trained. He does his poohs in his nappy every night and is as regular as clockwork. I have tried all sorts of things including:
leaving his nappy off during the night (still doing this) but he just does it in his trousers
making a fantastic star chart (gets a gold star if he manages a pooh in his potty)
bringing his routine forward a bit so he is eating tea earlier in the hope that he will need to go earlier
giving him loads of fruit/roughage to get his bowels moving

Nothing seems to work. It does not cause him any problem and is a real habit that he has got into. I think the only way to solve the problem is for him to really need to do his pooh during the day. But how can I get this to happen?

Bit worried 'cos he could carry on like this until he is 5 or 6!
Anyone else had this or a similar problem? I'd appreciate some advice Thanks...

Selja, I have just discovered this thread and was talking about this very thing to my friend today. Another mutual friend's wee boy,about the same age as yours (he is two years three months) said his first recogniseable words last week. She had been a bit concerned but like you, even more reluctant to let him get sent to either a psychologist os a speech therapist.
My sister's son, now five and 100% healthy and normal was exactly the same. She too felt there was almost a stigma ( albeit mainly in her own head ) about sending him to a speech therapist.
Is anyone in this group either a speech therapist or an educational psychologist who could enlighten or reassure us?
I completely understand your reluctance to have him seen by a psychologist and if you are unhappy about it, refuse.
The bit about the ST not pronouncing his name right made me laugh!

Selja, my brother used to have his own language (not sure at what age he started talking properly, Ill ask my mum) and me and my sister used to translate whenever he was asked to repeat. He had no reason to talk when his sisters did it for him. I think my mum was asked to go to a therepist but she didnt go. It does annoy me that the 'officials' have there charts and expect everybody to follow them. Sometimes I think all the fuss can make matters worse. Why dont you go with Batters suggestion and go from there. Im looking forward to meeting the little man.

Jasper, Sorry, am I being very thick, I can't understand at all why anyone would be reluctant to go to a ST. My son (4.5) has never spoken clearly - we had concerns at 2, though many 2 yr olds speak that way, but his speech just didn't mature. His language (amount and depth of vocab) was always fantastic, but there was a whole raft of sounds he couldn't make. We were desperate for him to see a ST, but didn't actually get proper 'treatment' until he was nearly 4. Within a month he was saying 's' and 'f', which he had never said before, and he could pronounce his own name, which he had never managed before. In 8 months, he has made tremendous progress, and has learned to make many of those missing sounds, though he still has some way to go.

I would definitely recommend seeing a ST if there are any speech/language probleme - they are the experts, and they can help.

There are no difficulties other than ds has been a slow to start speaking - he's been far too busy learning his activity side. Even the HV said he was way advanced in his motor neurone skills. Dh was apparently slow to talk as well. All the other side of things he's advanced in and doing things kids older than him do its just the speaking. I object to the HV pushing him (she recommended him to a ST at 18 months) to do things he's not ready to do. He obviously doesn't feel the need to talk yet although I have heard him say things once and its almost as if he's thinking oh well I've mastered that and then he goes onto the next thing. I also don't think its fair for the ST to get every toy out in his office, ds start thinking its christmas and birthday rolled into one and then ST complaining ds has an attention problem. Of course he does in that situation he's got all these toys to go through before he goes home! He's also got a toddler level sink in his office and for a water baby like ds its mecca! Anyway dh is going to some course to be taught how to help ds with his words so maybe that will help him come on quicker and get the HV off our back. I'm just getting very disillusioned with HVs and can't help thinking they get flustered when they get a child who isn't 'textbook'. When he was a baby it was his size they didn't like - he was on his own curve from about two weeks - and now because he's a bit slower than normal to talk its lets recommend him to a ST. To top it all though its a ST who can't speak english himself properly. Sorry I'll get off my soapbox now. I just get so that I border between there isn't anything wrong with him to maybe all that alcohol I drank early in pregnancy (before I knew I was pregnant) has affected him and everyone else sees it except me. I don't have a problem with speech therapy itself (my friend's two daughters benefitted from going) its just that I feel he's far too young to be assessed as having a problem.

On the contrary, KMG it is me who is being a bit thick!
I did not explain myself very well.I would just be reluctant to send my child to a ST as young as two because I know lots of two year olds who don't say much if anything. I reread my post and realised it sounded a bit anti ST which I am not in the least, just would be a bit reluctant to seek help about lack of vocabulary/ clarity of speech in such a young child.