22 month old son does not talk am so worried help

[wondermum1]

Please help, my 22 month old ds does not talk, he says random words and some are clear, like daddy, and some aren't like duckyou which means thank you. He does not say words unless really pushed and then they are pretty unclear. He does not seem to finish consonants well, for example, duck to him is duuuu. He is happy, affectionate, very physical (runs, climbs, walked early etc) and I took him to a speech therapist at 18 months who said he was speech delayed but she had no concerns. Today, my nursery school teacher said she had concerns over his development. I rushed him to a paedeatrician who said he thinks he is normal, and suggests some speech therapy. Has anyone had anything similar? Anyone got a 22month old or thereabouts who does not speak? I feel sick with worry that he is not developing properly and my husband thinks I am over-reacting.

Don't panic. My DD was 2.5 before she started talking properly making any sense, like your son, odd words but nothing else, then she started and now she won't stop.

Really, 22 months is too early to start worrying about speech. If he is saying a few words and some of them are clear and some of them are not then that is fine (I took my son to a speech therapist at around that age and she said that, that as long as he was saying a few words then that was fine). He did have some speech therapy from 2.5-3yrs to help with his prounounciation but now (at 3.5yrs) he speaks well and once they start speaking they start improving really fast.

He may be a little slow to speak compared to others but all children are slower and faster at certain things and I am sure by the time he is 3 there will be much less difference than there is now (this is what happened for my son). Really don't worry. Just encourage him to name things and to start putting words together and he will get there.

My twins are 20 months and hardly say anything recognisable. DS2 shouts "duu duu" a lot, which means duck duck. They both only say mama and dada instead of mummy and daddy, the only time DD strings two words together is "no mama"... DS2 has never strung two words together yet!

DS1 was late to talk and I seem to remember it was only at about 24 months he really got going. Up until then all his favourite things like ball, balloon and biscuit were just "ba".

Obviously I cannot say for sure about your son and it is a bit concerning that the nursery teacher said something, but what your son can say at this age does not sound abnormal in my limited experience.

Forgot to say that DS1 (now 3.5) has had many comments in the last 6 months on how huuuge his vocabulary is and how well he speaks [proud], so despite being a late talker he has turned out ok!

You are not overreacting...you are a mum!!!

My ds1 was 2.5 before he started talking. He is now 6 and HE NEVER STOPS

If your ds is in all other ways alert, happy and affectionate then I agree with the paediatrician. They all do things at such varying ages, its not fair to expect them to do things "by the book".

Relax and it will happen - it happened very quickly with my ds1.....my dh went away on business to the far east for 9 days. Ds1 wasnt saying anything except "mummum" and "daddy" when he went and he was talking in proper sentances by the time he got back!

My son is 2.7 and still not speaking and he does try.

His older speaks for him a lot of the time.

The speach therapist has seen him and given him excersises to do. She said he was a bright little boy and understands everything so I am trying to relax but it does panic me from time to time.

My DS1 had ST and he speaks beautifully now.

Neither DS2 nor DS3 spoke at 22 months, for different reasons. One thing health professionals checked was hearing. DS3 had lots of ear infections between the ages of about 6 months & 2 years. He had speech therapy aged 2-4. He's 14 now and speaks fine!

Doesn't sound abnormal to me - my DD is 2.4 and has only developed beyond odd noises and attempts at words in the last month or two. My DS barely spoke until he was three.

I didn't worry as they were both pretty forward in other ways (esp physically - DS could swim unaided before he could speak). I think they all concentrate on different things at different times.

I can't imagine speech therapy would hurt, but my children sound similar to yours and I didn't worry too much.

oh yes, vocabulary...my ds1 has a great vocabulary for a 6 year old. And he knows what the words mean, too.

Thank you all, I am worried, I suppose I wouldn't be normal if I didn't worry about my children! I am going to try some speech therapy. The nursery "head" teacher has a son with Asperga and she said to me she feels she owes it to parents to point out potential problems, however, she has made me really scared and worried. I have always been aware of the speech delay hence the first visit to a therapist, but now I am out of my mind worrying and feel so protective over him, he's so sweet and so good natured I feel so upset for him, he's never been a moment's trouble and he has a new sister who he constantly kisses and strokes. Poor kid

wondermum1 i have a 22 month old who doesn't speak either!

i was told not to "worry" until he was 2 (so 2 more months lol) and even then it isn't a huge issue as long as they are doing other things well.
he makes it very clear what he wants, and he understands what we esay to him perfectly, so i think it is simply a delay and he will do it in his own time!

i was worried for a while when he was around 18 months, because i was comparing him to his older brother, but y'know, they all do it in their own time

my ds2, 24 months, is (in my opinion - no professional diagnosis so far) speech-delayed. the only understandable words are limited

mama
dada
ellar - hello
ba-ah - bye

but he has a few more, which only our family would understand

gudigaa - spider
ais - again/more
nna - banana
lots of animal noises, but no names

i'm sure you get the idea! bascially, i'm not overly, overly worried because in all other aspects of development he's fine and loves having books read to him/looking at picture books, pointing things out for their names etc.

ds1 didn't really start speaking till he was 2 either, so i think its just the way my two are. however, ds2 does have his 2 year check this week, so it'll be interesting to see what the hv thinks...

two of my nephews were also really slow at speaking, so it might just be genetic in our case!

thisisyesterday - does he do puzzles and shape sorting? I notice that my son does a bit and then gets bored and looks for something else, wondered if it was boredom or just that he is frustrated because he is unsure of the task. Is your son very physical? Mine is, I guess we all just want someone to say your child is fine, there is nothing wrong with him! Also my parents keep commenting on his lack of speech and it drives me mad. My son is also lazy with food, if it's "dry" example, sausages, chips, chocolate, banana (although that's not dry), crisps etc he will pick it up, if it's "wet", like spaghetti, casserole etc, then I have to feed him. I actually think a lot of it is just pure laziness, I've done everything for him since birth obviously - but I haven't stopped!

I have a 25 month old who is only just starting to say the odd word here and there, I am not worried at the moment as he understands everything and his speech is gradually improving.

I have posted that before and think I was 'told off' for NOT worrying

mrsmcdreamy - your message sounds very familiar, particularly animal noises, if I point out cat he goes "miaw" or sort of like that, and cow he goes mmmmmm. He says du for duck and sort of goes quack. Banana is ra ra. So I understand where you're coming from. He also loves us reading books to him and often brings books, but he rarely points at things. I wonder if it's a boy thing.

no he isn't really into puzzles and shape sorting type things. he will sit and do stickers for ages though, mostly over himself

he is VERY physical, in fact, both of mine walked very early and talked quite late (though ds2 is much later than his brother)
food-wise he eats anything and everything and we are most definitely NOT allowed to feed him hehe

we are just starting to get comments (mostly from my dad) about him not talking, but try and ignore!

will try and list his words:

du (duck)
doh (dog)
burr (bird)
tee (tree)
bubble
dish (fish)
desh (yes)
no

Like I said before my DS2 is 2.7 and doesnt really talk but he can load a washing machine and know where the powder goes and work the dvd player and always puts oven gloves when he's anywhere near the oven (switched off]

Children progress in different things at different rates.

My one likes stickers too. At least your one feeds himself! I have every confidence your one is absolutely fine!

Our words are

Daddy (no mummy sadly)
guckle (uncle)
cuggol (cuddle)
duckyou (thank you)
tata
go
eeyore
tiga (tigger)
oww (owl)
uhoh
caa (car)
hi
ducta (doctor)
duu (duck)
ishee (i see)
ta

vt (tv)

but before eveyone says that's ok, the only words that are unprompted are daddy, taa, tata, tiga, duu and caa

The rest are from me pointing or coaxing him to repeat asking him what the things are.

Forgot to say he can say BEN 10

If you are worried yourself about this it is not going to hurt to get a specific speech assessment sorted to check things out. I was telling my HV when DD#1 was 16months old that something was wrong with her speech and was dismissed as a worrysome parent. I continued to push and eventually with a new HV got referred to SALT and also to get hearing checks done. She failed her hearing test and subsequently further down the line had grommets in her ears which did help a bit re speech, but she has also had speech therapy since she turned 3 (there are long waiting lists round here) and continues to be seen aged 5 with moderate verbal dyspraxia.
For me the first signs were her not babbling like my friends babies did - I obviously didn't expect her to say much if anything at 16 months, but it would have been nice to hear something from her. Aged 3 we spent an hour a week just trying to get her to say MMmm, then Beh, then Peh with the SALT...frustrating beyond belief.
So, anyway speaking from my experience I would go with your instinct. If they find everything is normal you have lost nothing, if not then you will join a queue to get the help needed.
Good luck

what are grommets do you mind me asking? My son did not babble either, he is babbling more now. How is your daughter now? Does she speak and do you think it is noticeable now or does she come across as a normal 5 year old?

Thank you everyone for your posts I really appreciate it.

my near 21 month old sounds very similar. I think it is a little early to be concerned though i am keeping an eye on him. He's developed well in physical abilities and been quicker in this respect to many of his peers. He is very interested in books etc and understands instructions. I think often they level out so try not to worry too much.

thisisyesterday at the stickers. I got one of them too. Think they must be very similar as you could be describing ds2. Though mine hasnt got dish, bubble or tee. He does say mieow for cat, moo for cow and oink for pig. oh dear

oh well yours says a lot more than mine, even if it is prompted!

actually, ds2 usef to say a couple of other words too, but now he refuses to lol
I rather suspect he can say a lot if he wanted to!

i do worry about glue ear though as it runs in the family, but we'll wait and see

oh squiglet you did just remind me, ds2 does a kind of growl/grunt thing for pig. it is NOT a word though, just a noise lol