2 year old not speaking a word

[Lofari]

I am turning to the wisdom of the mumsnet force here as i feel so lost.
My 2 year old ds doesn't say a single word. Not one. At his 1 year check he did as he should, plenty of babbling. Then the ear infections started. No lie he's had 12 now on one side so the Dr referred him for a hearing test. We've waited months for this absolutely convinced he has hearing issues. Anyway he had the test yesterday and apparently all is fine.....i am floored by this. Multiple infections and he doesn't respond to us.... logic said it was his hearing.
We now have the speech therapist involved and she is coming on Friday to meet him but I wondered if any of you lovely lot had a similar experience? I have 2 older children and have never had this problem before so I'm in unchartered waters here.

How is his comprehension? Does he understand what you're saying to him?

Hi there. No. He doesn't generally give the impression he's understanding much of what we say at all. If he wants something ie a drink or food he will take one of us by the hand and drag us to the kitchen
Similarly if he wants to go outside he will bring me his shoes but that is as far as we go.

Any verbal interaction at all with toys/peppa (or whatever characters he may be familiar with), in the bath etc?

No not really. He will splash with the toys and chew them but not usually any sound.

So he is communicating and you can build on that. E.g. using makaton signs . Watch something special and singing hands and model signs .
Make simple communication books using photos ...so after brining shoes he can point to park or shop to say where he wants to go to.
There are iPad communication apps too. Have him play kids apps on iPad to learn to point and swipe as iPad can be a great tool for communication.
He needs a full assessment by s l t.
For now focus on developing signs e.g. makaton and using photos to give him a voice.
Keep reading to him and showing letters .
My ds types on iPad comms app...no verbal speech but he learned to read and recognize words very early.

.

It could still be his hearing - if it's glue ear, it doesn't present constantly so you could be tested and it be ok.

When my DS was almost 2, I took him to a local drop in clinic for speech and communication issues. By that point, he'd said maybe 10 words, most of them one time only. He's never had any suspected hearing problems, and communicates in a similar way to your boy (taking our hands and placing them on his waist means he wants picking up, reaching up to a particular place in the kitchen means he wants a drink etc).

We got referred to an early communication workshop, and attended it when he was 2y 2m. The next day, the words started coming. We started to write down the words he was saying, but we stopped within a few weeks when he got to over 100 words! He's now almost 2y 4m, and he's amazing us with what he can say now.

I was dubious about the early communication workshop, but it worked wonders for us. If you get offered something similar, I'd definitely recommend it. If you don't, I can send you photos of the handout we got that day.

Message me if you'd like to chat. I know how it feels to want to poke some numpty in the eye when they say "ooooh, soon you'll miss the silence and want him to be quiet!". NO I WON'T. I love that he's talking now. I'm loving finding out more about what's going on in that beautiful head of his.

Sorry, got a bit ranty!

I hope you get useful assistance, and the silence is broken soon. :)

We had similar it was glue ear

Try Olba oil for a few nights and see if there's any improvement - no harm if there no issue

Very few people never learn to speak - see what Friday brings

Are you seeing ent already? If not get him referred for frequent ear infections.

Although his hearing might be ok now if he's had 12 ear infections that's 12+ weeks of not being able to hear - it's still the most likely cause of the speech delay so tackle that first. Just because he wasn't symptomatic at the time of test doesn't mean the infections aren't causing him problems

Seconding glue ear btw

It could be glue ear OP. My eldest had loads of ear infections through his first couple of years, but was never diagnosed with glue ear. At just over 2 years he wasn't saying much at all apart from 'that' when pointing to something he wanted.

Try to get a referral for ent or speech therapy. My boy had to have a hearing test. I also chucked all his dummies away in case they were linked to speech delay.

I think there may be some resources online to help a child's comprehension. I got mine from my preschool as I mentioned my concerns to them. I think they were from the LIPPS service or something.

Good luck x

Thanks so much for replying all of you. Lots of helpful suggestions.
I just feel so sorry for my little boy. By now he naturally is terrified of doctors touching his ear so of course we get an audiologist who was crap with kids and that's the very first thing he did rather than let DS get adjusted to the place. So he screamed all the way through his hearing test. One of those where nothing on God's green earth will calm them down......
The bloke actually sighed and said to me right how do we calm him down! Only helpful thing he said to me as I was leaving was to get DS referred to ENT if the infections continue.
I'm looking forward to the speech therapist coming to see him tomorrow I'd love her opinion.

My DS was referred to speech and I insisted he had ear issues - they said it wasn't their department

I spent a morning on the phone because he was born in a different area to the one we lived in so neither area would accept him for a hearing test - bloody nightmare -

Anyway turns out glue ear in one ear which explained the occasional hearing/ignoring - he also couldn't filter background noise which made hearing difficult unless you were in front of him

The Olbas Oil in boiling water - half an hour before bed - steamed his room and his ear 'popped' (3am and he cried buckets) and it was sorted

It's £3 in the chemist and worth a try

I shall try the Olbas! Worth a go for sure!

It doesn't sound like an effective hearing test.
Assume glue ear.
Using alternative communication like signs and pictures won't hinder speech developing but will help to deal with his frustration.

Ds started ear infections at 10 weeks, and had them constantly (well about every 10-14 days) until he had grommets put in.
He had (and still has at 10yo) severe glue ear.

If you test him over the winter his hearing can be terrible. We've had it down below 20% in both ears at times. However if you test him in August, his hearing is actually slightly better than normal.
It's worth asking for a retest about November. ENT don't bother testing him in the summer now, he has a check up in February/March time then October/November. No point checking him in August.
It's perfectly possible to have had multiple (ds will have had well over 100 in each ear including multiple perforations and 3 sets of grommets) infections and still have normal hearing when the glue clears. Ds does.

Also at that age the hearing tests are very unreliable. Having to put the figures in the bus was ds'. His first one, he ignored the sounds and put them all in the bus and drove it round. The second time he understood better what he was meant to do, but was nervous. So the nice friendly lady said "did you hear something?" he nodded. "Put it in the bus then." and he worked out all he had to do was wait until she asked if he heard anything and then do it.
He was much better when they moved onto the press button when he was 4yo-he loves doing that even now.

Did they do the puff of air test? That's the one that is used to check how bad his glue ear is I think. The chart should have a big peak in it. A small peak and there's some glue there. Ds' presented almost flat on several occasions.

I'd go for signing. Ds did that, and because he started using communication he picked up other means. He used to lip read (didn't notice until ENT pointed out that him turning my face was not for attention, but to read my lips) and picked up reading quickly at 3yo so he could read subtitles on DVDs.

He had a quick look in both ears. Then stuck another thing in there to test how the eardrum was moving? He said there was no glue ear presenting. By that time he was hysterical.
The only other test he did was make me sit with him on my knee (howling by this point) with a sound box on either side of us. He then played different frequency sounds to see if DS looked the right way. Which he did but he screamed the place down the entire time. It was awful.

Was he a paediatric audiologist? It sounds awful and totally different to my experiences with Dd2.
For testing glue ear dd has a little machine with something poked in her ear and it creates a wave line if she is hearing, and is flat if the glue ear is there (or maybe the other way round?)
I suggest you ask for a re-referral as it sounds awful.

My nephew had persistent ear infections on one side from a very young age, he was treated for glue ear and given grommets, but it turned out to be this www.nhs.uk/conditions/cholesteatoma/Pages/Introduction.aspx

It's rare, and the chances are your son doesn't have it, but I wanted to tell you about it because it's so rare GPS don't look for it.

Don't wait for the next ear infection - ask your gp for an ent referral now. You might have to be a bit pushy but I'm afraid that's how the system works.

Hello,
We've had the same. My daughter is 3 now and still not talking (we're looking at either a social-communication delay or asd but your situation could be very different).

Speech therapy in our area isn't great so we've not had any yet but here are some things that have helped:

Makaton! Number one. She picks up makaton like nobody's business and it has helped so much as she can tell us when she wants 'more' or ' help' or just to tell us she's seen a 'tree' Mr Tumble is useful but watch the old ones on YouTube where it's just him in a room as he really goes for it with the signing. Also YouTube Dave Benson Phillips makaton nursery rhymes.

Fish oil. I know it sounds a bit meh but we started giving her Efamol Brain (on amazon) and although it didn't help with the speech it had worked wonders on her focus and comprehension. Of course could be coincidental but when we forgot for a few days she went right back so I'm sticking to it! I've also read a thing that says to give more vitamin b12.

There's a fab book called 'The Late Talker: what to do if your child isn't talking yet' - also on amazon. It has excellent advice and is quite reassuring.

Let me know if you want to talk anything over. Im not sure how much help I can be but I was in the same position and felt like crap, and am now feeling better about things.

Thanks so much!!
In a way it's nice to see I'm not alone. I know you should never compare but all his peers are so far ahead of him it seems very disheartening at times.
I shall look into makaton with him I think it might be the best way forward. Asd is something that's been mentioned too particularly as he's fascinated with things that spin and he flaps his arms when he's excited.

My daughter is exactly the same... the gap seemed so big when she was 2, but somehow now she's 3 it feels less enormous - it's just the speech!

The same with the excited arm flapping and enjoying spinny things I mean. Some says I think she really is asd and other days not at all

I would be concerned about ASD given the lack of non-verbal communication from him that you describe other than taking you by the hand.

Does he point/wave/blow kisses or use any gestures? If he does point is this just to get his needs met or would he point to share his interest? If he points does he look back to check that you are looking at what he is looking at? What about eye contact and facial expression directed to you to communicate?