2-year-old with very poor receptive language — did anyone’s child catch up?
Hi everyone, I’m a first-time mum and I’m looking for experiences from other parents.
My son is 2 years and 1 month old, and my biggest concern at the moment is his receptive language. He doesn’t consistently understand or follow simple instructions, and quite often it feels like he doesn’t understand what I’m asking him to do.
His response to his name was also very poor when he was around 1 year old, but it has gradually improved. Now, if I call him from another room, he will often come and check.
He has quite a few things he knows well. He knows his ABCs, can count 1–10, knows several shapes and around seven colours, and can identify the colours on different objects such as cars and balls. He knows apple, banana and orange. He also plays with toys functionally and seems to understand how to use them.
He doesn’t really point to things that are far away, although he does point in books, for example while going through his ABCs.
Socially, he does enjoy certain interactive games with me. For example, he loves playing with a balloon. If I blow it up and let it fly around the room, he picks it up and brings it back to me so we can do it again. He also loves when I pretend to sleep — he’ll come over, pull my hair or try to wake me up, and then laughs when I pretend to wake up. He smiles and giggles when something is funny.
So I do see some interaction and joint attention, but he can also spend a lot of time absorbed in his own activities and ignore me.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from parents whose 2-year-old had very poor receptive language, difficulty following simple instructions and/or poor name response, especially if the child was much better at home than around other people.
Did their understanding and communication improve with time? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences, especially if your child eventually caught up. ❤️