Should my friend be worried about her 23mo old?

[sillysalley]

Because he cannot speak. He doesnt say one recognisable word. His hearing is fine, he understands everything you say and follows quite complex instructions.

But all he does is make a 'iss' sound.

Should she be worried ... as she doesnt seem to see a problem

Im hoping that HV pick it up in his 2 year assessment

Maybe its just me, who needs to butt out ...

I think this has been mentioned before - my children and I think quite a lot of others were "mute" at 2 years old.

Does he make himself understood by sign language/grunting/pointing/non-words? i.e. communicate in his own way?

If I recall correctly it usually sorts itself out by 3years old and if not he will get referred to a speech therapist. But 90% of the time there is no problem just a bit late for no particular reason.

Yes, chill out!

My ds is 24 months. His hearing is perfect as far as i tell... he can hear 'apple/chocolate button/cake' whispered from the other end of the room!
He has not really said anything... his main phrase is 'Uh Oh' if something breaks, and will hum the tune to various nursery rhymes but no actual words.
We stopped his dummy two weeks ago and he is more vocal... making lots of babbling, but we haven't progressed to words.
I am trying not to get worried because I think boys are usually slower than girls with speech, and my ds just seems later than average... but other family members keep pointing it out to me.
If he can hear and can get himself understood by non-verbal communication and babbling, I wouldn't worry too much.

Does he follow the instructions without any routine element or visual prompts - - sees shoes when told to put shoes on and so on. Are his play skills the same as his peers? If the answers are yes then it may just be late end of normal for speech.

Few questions -

• does he have a dummy? Get rid of it!

• has he had any upsets in life (eg big house move or family changes) that sometimes sets them back a few months.

• is the telly/radio on all the time - sometimes the background noise slows them down in distinguishing sounds.

• Does mum read books with him and sing nursery rhymes or does he just have loads of push-button-play-music toys?

I was so worried about DS that I did a play and language course with Sure Start. Their recommendation was not to try teaching words but do lots of pre-activities - treasure boxes, messy play, nursery rhymes, reading books - basically get the child to be happy and interested and they'll have something to talk about.

For us what broke the dam was reading a book with animal noises as part of the story (not a push button one but one you read) (Very Busy Spider I think) - DS started copying the noises and then in a week was saying words and (as is usually the case) there was no shutting him up after that. Definitely not lagging behind peers now.

Our SALT told us it was between 5-50 words by age 2 so a huge range! The fact he can make a 'S' sound is quite unusual so is likely he could make other sounds if he so chooses.

I wouldn't worry personally or speak to your friend as it sounds like there are no other red flags other than late speech

How does he communicate without words ? Does he gesture/point/use sign language/use eye contact ? Parents should not need to do any specific as speech develops normally in all normal children but the questions tend to focus more on whether the development is normal or not. It's very hard to broach subjects like this with friends so I would not advise commenting on it. If there are issues, she probably is very worried.

I have similar issue really.
My DS is 2 and 1 week and very limited speech. They do not offer the 2 year assessment anymore here.

He can say hello, dada (which is def NOT Daddy - do not know what it is!) LOADS of animal noises (which I was told don't count ) Yes, without the s but can make ssssssssssss sund no problem. Peep beep ouch wow weeeeeeeeee no yum yum oh no.

he does not say Mummy Daddy or any other names. he knows who everyone is, the objects he knows are amazing and sometimes I wonder how he knows what they are. He understands indepth instructions qnd questions Can point to almost every part of his body including things like elbows shoulders chin neck etc etc He has lots of intonation, spot on! Even counting. he also has spot on hearing. Sharp as a pin he is. Can't get much past him!

The NNEB came to see him (I don't think my HV exsists tbh) and decided to refer him for SALT, although she wasn't certain!!! I think he absolutely knows how to speak and chooses not to. In the past he has said hello Grandma (about a year ago) and Daddy (clear as a bell) but never since. It drives me mad now to be honest as I struggle to know what he wants and I am trying to mske him try and say it more rather than just showing me or pointing. Mostly anything he says sounds like this (I will try my best to type it how he says it lol!)

"arrrr cnnn" or sometimes just "cnnn"

A friend of ours who hadn't seen him since he was a baby thought he was making racial comments he has an older looking face and when we go on the bus people always look at him and then ask me how old he is, and I know why they are asking