What age is a child considered to be a late talker?

[justgaveup]

I know there's a discussion further down on late talking, it has caused me some concerns cos my son is 2.1 and makes a lot of noise and pointing and gesturing but no words at all!

I've done some searches on internet but can't find an age that defines 'late'.

Who do I contact if I'm worried, HV or GP?
Feel a bit stupid taking my huge 2yr old to baby clinic with all the newborns.

I have 2 girls from my post natal groups who's 2yo's are not talking. The HV says not to worry, it'll come at some point, they're doing all the other stuff and pointing is a good sign and it means they don't have to bother to learn to talk.

Go and chat to your GP or HV and (if they are any good) they will point you in the right direction and give you some advise on 'late talkers'. You could also get him assessed privately by a local SALT (costs though).

My ds2 was referred to a SALT (speech & language therapist) aged 2.8 because he did not have the number 'word bank' expected at his age. The SALT told me he had some immature sounds but would develop on his own .... and she was right. Now aged 6 and you couldn't stop him talking if you gagged him .... that's another story

The benchmark is they should be putting two words together at age 2. No words at all at age 2 is late, by any standards. Go the GP and ask for a referral for SLT and hearing check.

i was told if by age 2 my son wasnt talking to take him to gp as by this age there expected to have at least 50 single words my son had less than 10

its also early intervention can make all difference as speech therapy waiting list can be long so best to get in quick

Few, or no words at all at 18 months would be a mild speech delay

Few or no words at 24 months would be a moderate speech delay.

Few or no words at 30 -36 months would be a severe speech delay.

My son is 3 and 3 months and only has about 20 words. So what was initially labelled mild became moderate, then severe. Now I notice they say he has a speech disorder (not mentioning mild,moderate or severe)

Hth

oh yes 'combining'. eg, 'more now' or 'blue one' or 'my cake'

My son still doesn't do that. They expect children to start word combining at about 2 I think.

Those of you whose babies had hearing problems, did you suspect this might be the case or was it total shock?

My son reacts to his name and doorbell, telephone, hears daddy's car pull up, understands an awful of what we say - surely this suggests that he hasn't got hearing problems?

Just wondered...

ps, if he is pointing then he is "joint referencing" and that is a good sign.

it can be tones for hearing certain noises can register more than others hearing test will be done as standard and they test all sounds to see how child reacts as some children can hear just not certain tones

some children are naturally late talkers, will be said a lot about boys just being slow in our case my ds was dx with ASD but whatever is said do seek help early in case it is more than just speech delay

you could find in a month or two speech just comes on great but its easier to come off a waiting list than to get on it

My son only had around twenty words at two and was noticeably late compared to his peers as his nursery helpfully told me! Now at three he is still struggling with his pronounciation (lots words starting with d) but puts sentences together, is using my and I and has come on in leaps and bounds in the last year so they can improve very quickly once they get going!

In our area there is a checklist they send you at 2yrs 7 months and from that he got referred for some speech therapy to help with his prounounciation (although he passed the tickboxes of 200+ words and putting three words together). I had phoned up the health visitor about his speech at around 20 months-2yrs and saw her and had a brief chat with a speech therapist but at that point they just wanted to wait and see so it is worth contacting them (particularly if he isn't saying any words) but they may just want to leave it until he's a little older.

Forgot to mention that I had his hearing assessed just after his 2nd birthday which was pretty much there but not perfect so he got a recall back in the summer when thanks to no colds everything was fine. The health visitor was very happy to refer him for a hearing test so if it is something that you're at all worried about it then it's worth doing as it's one thing to rule out.

I counted my DD's words and she has about 65 (she's 23 months). But she has only put 2 words together a couple of times "daddy sit" and "up please". Most of the time she just babbles incoherently with the odd "arm" or "wipes" thrown in.

People keep telling me she'll be OK but all my others spoke properly by now. It's difficult not to worry.

Pointing , gesturing and shared attention are good signs but I don't think you would be wasting time if you asked for an assessment to get some ideas about what to do next. 2.1 is late for first single words (imo -having no qualifications at all to say so !) so getting some help now is a good idea

Catweazle, if she has already combined a few times before 2 then don't worry too much. She may have a mild delay, but that doesn't mean she is delayed as such, just that out of a hundred random children, most of them at that precise age happened to have more words.

My son is 3 and 3 months and I still believe it will all come together eventually. He has never combined, only has about 30 words (if that) and can't say 's' at all.

We had a late talker, barely 20 words at 2yo. Was 2.7 when he uttered first sentence, there is truly no shutting him up now. BUT of course you can't see the future.

Perhaps has already been said, if HV will refer for speech therapy, the waiting list is so long by the time you get an appointment it will either have sorted itself out or you will know you have a genuine issue. When is the next development check, the referall was done from our 2yr check.

My DS2, 3.5 yo doesn't do "s" either, source of many misunderstandings!

Spoke to the HV today and she said she's 'concerned' about him not speaking and that he should have at least 50 words. She's referring him to SALT...am bit upset but glad I rang. Just wait and see now.

good luck it is upsetting but remember they can just be late talkers it doesn't always mean anything else

in our case it was something else but early intervention regardless is always the way to go you have done the right thing good luck

Liffey thanks