Can yours talk yet?

[fatmomma]

I am getting a little concerned about my ds's speach as he is 2 years old in 4 weeks and still knows only 5 words (not including mummy ).

He does babble quite a lot and understands a lot of what I say to him but he is a good 6 months behind according to 'the books'. I was thinking of calling the health visitor tomorrow but would be interested to hear some other parents experiences first.

If you are really concerned call her. I have a 4ur old who I know has speach problems. I have known this for a long time but my old HV never believed me.

Poor you Louise, I know how frustrating it is when health professionals wont listen to you. My HV is generally very helpful though so I will give her a ring.

Does he go to nursery or anything? I've said it before here but DS2 barely uttered a word until he started nursery 2 months before he turned 2. He was there for 2 full days a week and his vocabulary exploded over the next 2-4 months, it was amazing.

It's always worth checking these things out though as it take ages to get anything sorted should there turn out to be a problem of any sort.

Hi SoupDragon, yes he goes to nursery 5 morning a week and has done since the age of 7 months. I have seen studies that say nursery improves language and vocabulary but ds obviously hasn't read them . I prattle on to him a lot too, perhaps he can't get a word in edge ways!

Have you had his hearing checked? My ds's speach was delayed until he had grommits in and adenoids out, made a huge difference once he could hear properly.

Mine has a lot of words, including some two syllable words and pronouns - 'I' and 'me' and 'you'. She'll be two in June.

My dd only spoke 6 words by the age of 2. The HV decided to refer her just in case there was anything wrong. Like your ds she had a good understanding and was pointing at things and babbling. She just refused to speak. She is also a twin and her sister was speaking fine.

We saw a speach therapist when she was 2 years 3 months and I had made a list of all the words my dd knew, including the ones that were hardly unrecongnisable. In just the 3 months she knew 40 words but was only linking the word Oh No.

The therapist played games with my dd and at the end said that she was behind but everything else seemed normal.

She is now 2 1/2 years and can link up to 4 words and will try new words all the time.

If you are concerned I would ask to be referred just to put your mind at rest because I found I became more anxious as time went on but once we were seen by the therapist it really made me feel more relaxed

Is he pointing at things ? does he like reading books ?

My DS2 will be 2 at the end of May - he has been quite delayed in his speech, babbling away to himself but not saying much. His big brother was putting sentences together at the same age.

But over the last month his language has exploded and he will respond to " can you say....." and in the last week has started to put two and three words together.

It is like he has suddenly developed the confidence to speak and now nothing is stopping him.

From what you say I would imagine there is nothing to worry about and his language will suddenly explode. Keep and eye on him and just up the books you read with him. My DS2 though behind in talking is advanced physically for his age, they sometimes concentrate on one thing and other things get left behind though it all equals out in the end.

Hope that helps.

I am saying this meaning to be helpful - please see it as such!

Both of mine (3.5 and 1.5) were very early talkers - it was just their "thing". I was as well and apparently it is very hereditary - maybe check what you and DH was like? DS (3.5) was almost freaky at about 20-24 months, but that all it was - early speaking. At 3.5 all of his peers now speak at almost exactly the same level - including some who didn't utter a word until they were past 2. By the way, DS still will only drink from a "sucky cup" and would be spoon fed if he thought he can get away with it (he can't!) They really are all quite different at that age!

mine speaks really well and is putting words together but a friend whos boy is the same age (22 months) only started to talk about a month ago and was referred for SALT.
She was very worried about this because she compared her boy to mine. I strongly disagreed that he needed SALT because he was understanding every word spoken to him. However, it was explained that the HV had only referred him because the waiting list is 6 months and upwards so if his speach hadn't improved in this time, an appointment should be through for him. It has improved and he is now on a par with ds. They have met all of their developmental milestones at around the same age since birth.

Hi, my ds1 didn't really talk at all untill he was 3- 31/2 yrs old. He had to go to speech thearapist for quite sometime but they also found that he had glue ear which was delaying him as he couldn't hear us or himself properly.
Have you had your ds ears checked for anything like that?
They soon come round to chatting, ds1 is 5yrs old now and doesn't ever stop!
But with ds2 he talked from a very young age, but then he didn't learn to walk for a long time, i guess it just depends on the child.
Hope you figure something out.