Two year old still silent......

[DukesofHazzardMum]

My two year old DS is not saying any little words and only makes the occasional sound he is not even saying Dada or Mama and no matter how much I try and spend time and talk to him he does not want to know....I have four and he is 3rd eldest and the only boy. Has anyone else got this problem with their little ones and if so any advice??

Sorry DoH Mum , but I would be more concerned about the lack of pointing, waving and babbling than the lack of words. I would get it checked out if i were you. I know quite a few kids, especially boys, who had virtually no words at 2 but they were all pointing and babbling. They all caught up later.

BTW I should say that i am not an expert on anything, just a mum

Thanks JimJams, that would be great. TBH my dh doesn't really think that the speech delay is due to using 2 languages - he just thinks that IF there is a language disorder, which we don't know yet, then using just one language is probably easier for ds. But that's just his opinion. I found a reference to a Canadian study that compared kids with language disorders that were taking part in language immersion programmes (I assume that means English at home, French at school) with kids with language disorders in monolingual environments and found no differences.

Well, we should find out in a couple of weeks if there is anything wrong with ds. I'm quite optimistic, really. Yesterday we were watching ds's beloved Baby Einstein DVD, and when the bit with the otters came on, he said very loudly and clearly "otter"! I was so pleased! I had kind of watched all of his four words emerge from the babble, but this one came completely out of the blue!!

Homsa- I would second what KristinaM has said- if the pointing and other methods of non-verbal communication are in place the it's early to worry about words. Unless there's something like verbal dyspraxia (which is fixable) then the words will follow. Words are the least important part of learning a language (seriously). Jont attention etc is more important. So don't worry about the langauges etc you use.

ds2 didn't reallytalk until 2 and a half. I thought he may have verbal dyspraxia as his speech sounds were all over the place but I never worried about him having anything else as his communication and understanding was so good.

Re the GA for hearing tests, I n my areaI know this is as a last resort if the child will not cooperate as DD1s friend has just had this done at 4 1/2 as she wouldn't sit or do any of the 'games'.

Re. speech at 2 , my dd2 has had problems dut to hearing loss but it returned but it caused a delay in speech.

Does he ever appear frustrated by his lack of communication?