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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Anyone got a child older than 2 years 5 months with no words at all yet

62 replies

nappyaddict · 22/04/2009 19:14

My friend's DD is 2 years 7 months and is still not talking. She hadn't been worried because another friend of ours has a DS who didn't say his first word until he was 2 years 5 months. Now she wants some reassurance that there's nothing wrong with her DD and that there have been children who have started talking older than our friend's DS with no other problems.

She is down for SALT but the wait in our area is 12 months.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 00:26

Gussy has your DD got no words at all either?

OP posts:

gussymooloo · 26/04/2009 07:42

she has a few words now (recent) mum, dad etc..

but some of the words she has dont sound like what they should and only i can understand.

Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 08:34

How old was she when she said her first word?

OP posts:

gussymooloo · 26/04/2009 09:30

about 2 years 7 months... she has about 6 words/noises now..

Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 12:40

ah so the same age as my friend's DD is now. Perhaps she is only weeks away from saying something then.

OP posts:

Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 12:42

Just realised your DD must only be 2.8 now if she's an August baby (friend's DD is an early September baby) So she's gone from no words to 6 words in a month. That's reassuring.

OP posts:

gussymooloo · 26/04/2009 12:45

yeah im hoping its the start! she is just so reluctant to speak.. she has these words but rarely uses them! infact 2 or 3 ive only heard her say once..

i can sympathise with you friend!! its frustrating and worrying especially when you see other kids chatting away.

shes been going to nursery since she was about 18months old aswell to see if that would help, but it doesnt seem to.

Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 12:48

How old was she when she first saw a SALT?

OP posts:

blueshoes · 26/04/2009 13:12

nappy, when you say no words, do you mean no sounds as well? I understand that making animal noises eg moo, is counted as a word.

Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 13:24

No she doesn't do animal noises

OP posts:

blueshoes · 26/04/2009 13:34

My dd's speech did not really take off until she reached 2.5 years, then it transformed almost overnight. However, she did have a few words and noises even before that.

Not being very helpful.

You need moondog. She is a SALT. Will see if I can find her and send her your way.

gussymooloo · 26/04/2009 13:39

She first saw the SALT in feb so she was 2yrs 6months ish...

they counted consistant noises (which meant something specific) as a word.. DD makes a kehh sound for dirty, a quack sound for duck which they counted words.

Original poster

nappyaddict · 26/04/2009 13:42

Looks like SALT really does work quickly then. A little girl at playgroup had no words at all went to SALT for about 6 weeks and now has loads.

OP posts:

moondog · 26/04/2009 16:59

I'd be getting concerned Nappy, enough to push for SALT assessment asap. (I'm a salt.)

Cote, re this...

'hen DD was about 1.5 yo, her pediatrician said that as long as she said one word correctly (and she did have that one word), there was nothing to worry about.'

Sorry, but that cannot be a hard and fast rule.I wish peopel would relaise that paeds. are categorically not the people tobe advising on language devpt. For that you need a SALT or a psych.

Why do these people take it upon themselves to give advice on an area they haven't been trained in?
It's like me giving advice on brain scans or
ecardiology issue.

Marne · 26/04/2009 17:13

My dd2 is 3.2 and non-verbal but has suspected high functioning Autism, she was refered to a pead at 2 years and SALT at 2.3.

CoteDAzur · 26/04/2009 17:27

Sorry moondog, I was only trying to help. Paeds are know-alls in our neck of the woods. They are the ones making the assessments, and orthophonists carry out the speech therapy if paed finds necessary.

moondog · 26/04/2009 17:45

Forgive me if tone churlish Cote.Just I see/meet so many people who take a paeds. word about language as gospel and it aint.Positively damaging at times actually.

cyberseraphim · 26/04/2009 19:18

It does sound like an unlikely thing for a paed to say - maybe it was more that if a I year old has many communicative single words then that is probably fine.

CoteDAzur · 26/04/2009 19:59

I think what she meant to say was that saying a single word correctly showed she didn't have neurological & auditory problems re speech.

We live in a very multilingual area, with most children learn at least two languages from the start. DD is trilingual. So it is considered normal around here that a 1 yo will say nothing and a 2 yo might not say much.

I realize this is not OP's case, but I thought paed's words re the necessity of pronouncing at least one word correctly was relevant.

CoteDAzur · 26/04/2009 20:04

moondog - I wish we had easy access to SALTs here. Thankfully, we didn't need specialist help in the end. However, two friends with kids born a few weeks apart with DD do, and they are having a hard time getting help. SALTs here are only contacted when kids speak but just not properly. It's all about the paediatrician here - they follow baby from birth, first with monthly visits, then biannually, etc.

Multiple languages also complicates matters, so it's not always easy to see if the child has a problem or if he is just taking his time making sense of the multiple languages around him.

moondog · 26/04/2009 21:29

True that multilingual kids often talk later, yes.

'I think what she meant to say was that saying a single word correctly showed she didn't have neurological & auditory problems re speech.'

That's not correct either,not at all.

CoteDAzur · 26/04/2009 21:53

Could you explain? I'd be interested to hear more.

moondog · 26/04/2009 22:07

What part?

CoteDAzur · 26/04/2009 22:13

The part where you said what DD's paed said was wrong.

I'm interested because we're having another baby who will again be trilingual, so I expect his speech will be delayed. If "at least one correct word" is wrong, I'd like to know how else to spot problems.

moondog · 26/04/2009 22:17

Cote, where to begin?
You can't judge everything to be ok on basis of one word pronounced correctly. For a start, that just focusses on speech (phonetics) which is a tiny part of what communication is about. Additionally it focusses on phonetics in the context of one word, which again is not what communication is about.

At this stage, there are many builiding blocks to language-play, eye contact, pointing, attention, turn taking, use of intonation. These are the true indicators of normal devpt. not one word said 'properly'.

There are many many children with seriously dosordered (not delayed, which is a much more straightforward matter)language who are/were able to 'pronounce single words perfectly' at a very early age.

Honestly, what a numpty.

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