21-month boy doesn't talk but uses throaty growl

[Nanarae]

My 21-month grandson is very advanced physically (he started walking and running at one year) and is very bright (he easily solves game puzzles for 2-years and up) but he does not talk yet. He constantly uses a throaty growl to express himself. My daughter has been working with a speech therapist for the last four months but it hasn't seemed to help.

My daughter and her husband have become short with the boy and constantly reprimand him every time he uses this growl in an effort to break him of the habit. It is very hard for me to watch them constantly yelling at him to stop and I feel the poor little tyke is absorbing their anxieties making everything worse.

I have ordered the Henin book "It Takes Two to Talk" and also a DVD on signing and talking and hopefully they will be helpful. I just wondered if anyone has had the same problem and how you overcame it.

hi
Sorry you are all going through this. It is very hard.

My Daughter is still behind (age 6), but making fantastic progress. She's catching up all the time which I'm assured is what matters. In fact she's almost caught up, but at 2 and 3 years old was not talking at all.

I found "Babytalk" by Sally Ward really good - it's practical and easy to follow. Speech therapy is great too, but it will take a lot longer than a few months. Your daughter and husband need to provide a safe environment for him to attempt to talk. And to provide a lot of encouragement and it takes a lot of hard work. A lot of 1:1 - Babytalk provides so many good examples of what to do.

I wouldn't recommend reprimanding any speech delayed child for any attempt at communication. Even a growl is better than total silence. Encouraging him to use words rather than growls would be better. If you shut him up entirely, you might really miss those growls.

Again, I'm sorry for the stress you must all be going through.

Regards
D

My dd1 was talking very well at that age but dd2 is nearly 20 months and will not say a word. everything is "oooohhh".
It really doesnt bother me as I know she will talk when she is ready and there is a good chance that she will do so soon.

Dd2 started walking at 11 months where as a friends ds didn't until he was 21 months, yet he chatted away non stop.
Every child is different and your dd and her husband need to remember that the more they stress the less likely your gs is to want to talk.

He is only 21 months and maybe I am wrong but I think it is a bit early for them to be panicking.

21 months os very early to be worrying really. In my opinion the worst thingthey can do is shout at him for growling, this is his only form of communication and if they forbid it then he will shut down entirely to any form of communication. However frustrating it is for hem to listen to him growling, remind them that it is 100 times more frustrating for him! My ds is 20 months and has quite a few words but they are all HIS words for things , eg 'mamma' 'dadda', 'babum' means bin, 'ses' means yes, 'bar' means ball etc. I encorage him to use his words but also say 'oh you want your BALL do you, lets get your BALL then' in the hope that if I pronounce it properly, hopefully he'll eventually understand how to say them correctly too. I really can't see how telling him off for it will help.

I've heard that until they are 2-3 you should really judge them buy their level of understanding rather than their vocabulary. Does he seem to understand a lot of what he is asked to do? Can he look at things like the clock or his teddy if you ask him to? If so then I would just give him time and I am sure his language will catch up.

Hanen is fantastic. I'm sure you/they will get a lot of good ideas from the book and DVD. Has the speech therapist given any specific advice or opinion as to why he is not speaking? It won't help to angry with him but they may be too stressed and worried to realise that. I don't agree that 21 months is too early to be concerned about this issue but you need to look at the whole picture of how he is developing - receptive understanding, non verbal communication, social interaction and creative play skills to get an idea as to whether there is any underlying issue.

agree with cyber, the Hanen book is excellent. Some speech therapy departments run courses based on the Hanen books, these are very worth doing, not least as they include 4 extra appointments for the child as part of the course! I think doing some signing with your GS would be an excellent idea. if they won't listen to you, suggest that they ask the speech therapist how they should respond to him "growling". Has the speech therapist suggested any reason for the growling (e.g. problems with making the mouth movements for speech)? Has he had a hearing test (it's a standard precaution for kids starting speech therapy to rule out an obvious physical cause for the speech problem).

www.teachmetotalk.com has some very useful info and vide clips.

www.ican.org.uk has some v v cheap dvds you can send off for (49p to cover postage) on the issue of communication problems and young children.

I was wondering what the outcome of this was? My son is going through the exact same things. Many thanks

I was wondering the same thing (except we know the underlying reason for our kiddos growl/growling words) just curious as to how long it took to get from there to talking using real words appropriately

You could try tagging in the OP to see if she responds but the DGS will be 14 abs in year 10 now, so it might be unlikely.

Sorry to message, I have just across this thread and my daughter is like this and has other development delays. I was wondering what diagnosis you received (if any) and any advice.