How to get some support from having the 2 year check?

[1990shopefulftm]

Nursery nurse is coming to see DS next week after I raised concerns about his speech, I initially spoke to them at 18 months and the person's words were "enjoy him for 6 months", I then had to ring back at 21 months and be clear that I knew I was being fobbed off so would they consider doing anything to help him now He's now 22 months and although has said more, he really only uses 2 words regularly.

So I m wondering apart from his ASQ which has a 0 score for communication, how do I get them to want to help him and not fob me off? Extra evidence or anything to add to my argument perhaps?

Considering I ve already been told an SLT referral is 44+ weeks in our area, I m worried after the way I was spoken too when initially raising my concerns that they aren't going to want to refer him.

What is your concern exactly? Does he understand? Does he use gestures eg pointing to let you know what he wants? Babbling?

He babbles, he gestures, but his pointing is pretty minimal, he's had very slow progress in speech for a good 6 months now.

It's tricky to tell if he has any difficulty with his receptive language or if sometimes he's choosing to ignore us.

2 words regularly used shouldn't be considered enough for his age surely. I'm just worried I'm going to get a HV that's of the wait-and-see type again, despite an 11 month wait for any SLT help locally. I'm wondering how to politely get across that I can't take that as an answer on top of giving them the questionnaire and discussing his difficulties.

There are kids saying more at this age but it doesn't necessarily mean he won't easily catch up. There's a big difference though between a baby this age who isn't gesturing/making their needs known and who doesn't vs a baby who understands what you're saying (even if they don't necessarily listen) and who uses non verbal communication. The latter is far more likely to catch up without much intervention. It's a bit difficult to say from what you're saying where your baby is at. However it does sound like there could be some small issues across the board. I wouldn't panic though I'd just keep asking for assessments. Wait times are what they are I'm afraid with my own dd we paid for private speech tx. She only ended up having an initial assesment and one session before NHS took over but it was worth it to get a thorough baseline assesment which gave nursery some things to work on whilst we waited for NHS. This might be worth considering if you can afford it. I really wouldn't panic though until he's 2. A LOT can happen in this time. I also found a website called www.teachmetotalk.com really useful as it has podcasts which really explain speech aquisition and simple ways you can help your own child. I don't necessarily think you're being fobbed off but keep an eye on things and act if you're worried. Xx

I m trying to put the money aside for a private assessment, so we d already planned to do that regardless of what they say at his 2 year check this week (he's 2 in 5 weeks so we aren't far off)but we can't afford much more than that with all the price increases,which I feel awful about since at best no one on the NHS is going to see him till almost his 3rd birthday.
I spoke to ICan back in may and we ve followed all the tips they have us since then, I ll check that podcast out.

For context I ve no speech issues but there's a little family history of neurodevelopmental conditions including, they didn't seem to care when I mentioned it.

Of course I know this could just be a delay but I m keeping my fingers crossed I get someone that does care about helping him for his check, or I ve got to start being much more more abrupt with them.