22 month old identical boys language delay

[mrsbertiewooster]

Hi to all you mothers of twins/multilples out there! (I hardly every post on this thread but must start doing it more!) Would be grateful for any advice on this.

Am getting very worried about my boys, 2yo in July. They're quite delayed in their language, definitely compared to my FB DD (4.5). At 22 months she had LOADS of words, lots of nouns, verbs, adjectives even and 3 and 4 word sentences (I know as I kept a record of it as have a background in Linguistics so know a bit about the area of language)

My boys have a few words only -
More
Bye bye
Bear
Ssssh (for sleep)
Ma ma
Dada
Emma (sister's name)
There
That
Bottle
Bubbles (in bath but say 'bub bub')

They gesture (point, shake and nod head a lot) and are communicative in that they can point and babble in stream if they want something (they might point to a biscuit, say, on the table or in the kitchen and say 'ah ba ba ba ba ba' until I say 'Do you want a biscuit?' and they nod their heads or laugh to I know it's an affirmative.

Am doing as much reading, talking to them as I can (with a very active/quite demanding older sibling). I feel guilty as I didn't do as much talking/interacting or playing with them in the frist year as I did with their older sister, or as much as I'd like. They didn't sleep the night til about 13 months - I mean awake every four hours for a year so it was tough on me and DH. Really tough.

Am also very worried about ASD or other problems as they seem very quiet sometimes, esp in the car when I drive them to the creche, i chat away ('can you see the bus?' etc) but they just look out window or sometimes smile at me. A lot of people, family and including their childcare workers tell me they're happy, smiley little boys.

Have read a lot about language delay with twins, in particular identical boys. And all this 'oh they communicate with each other' comments from everyone. But I can't hlep but me very worried and guilty too that I didn't give them enough time. Am finding tings generally easier now and enjoying the boys, I talk/read to them every day, but what more can I do? Thanks in advance for any advice or if any other twin mums had similar experiences.

Hope you get some advice soon. It sounds v tough for you. I don't have twins so my experience may not be relevant. My Ds is a bit younger but only says 2 or 3 recognizable words and a couple of animal sounds. I think the lots of babbling is good. They are communicating with you which is fab. My boy is happy and very smiley and I know he is ok but leagues away from his sister who was able to talk quite clearly at his age. I hope you get some advice from someone with DTs soon.All I do is try and talk about what we are doing at home with him and try and read to him when I get the chance. I know what you mean about doing less with the young sibling & I only have one so it must be double the guilt.
Good luck x

thanks gingerroots

They have the animal sounds too:) But their language development is so different to their sisters

Thanks for reply though!

My non id 3yro twins developed language later than their older sister. My son still doesn't talk as much or as clearly as his twin. I also have a friend with a 2yro who doesn't talk.

I have had singletons with simple speech delay & your twins are saying more than they were at that age, more clearly too, I suspect. I suggest you speak to your HV, but they sound normal to me, it's just that you had a very chatty pfb so you haven't had the lower end of normal, before.

eg, At DS3's check (2y+2m) he was saying about 11-12 words, I think. He's okay now (2 yrs later), still unclear on some sounds, we haven't done mega interventions, either.

Are you adjusting their age for possible prem birth, btw?

My dad was an id-twin who had his own language with his twin when they started school, didn't speak English really, they needed SLT to get some sounds, too. Grew up to be very articulate lawyers.

My non id boys are almost 2 and are quite slow at speaking. They have a similar amount of word to your boys. My dd was much further on at this stage. However one of my boys has had to have speach therapy due to a birth defect, and the speach therapist is not at all worried about him. She says his speach is well within the range expected at that age (and his prouncation, which his birth defect would effect is also fine) and that if they understand loads then there is unlikely to be a hearing problem which is the most common problem in speach delay and they will get there fine in their own time. No harm in chatting with the hv though if you are really worried.

My two didn't say much until they turned two, now there's no stopping them and they have a huge vocabulary.

My non-ID boys are later speakers. A at 22 months could say one word and maybe one or 2 animal sounds, M was on a par with your boys.

They were both referred to a SALT who said M was fine, but has continued to see A every 6 months since (3yo now), each time her prognosis gets better - one to one work at 2, became wait for group work at 3, became may need some help with clarity before school as comprehension and sentence forming is now fine.

He has really come out of his shell and chatters away at nursery now (bit too fast and mumbly, but getting there).

SALT has been great for reassurance, and knowing that if there was a real problem they were already in the system - so no harm in talking to your HV about a referral. Some places they take quite a time, perhaps by then you won't need it.

There is a great book that I followed when talking to my DTs:

www.amazon.co.uk/Babytalk-Sally-Ward/dp/0099297205/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338369999&sr=8-1

It goes through each stage of language development and recommends ways to interact with your child at each stage.

I find all the talk from strangers about twins "special language" or "special bond" hugely irritating. And IMHO they are just making small talk and have no idea what they are talking about.

You just need to treat them as two individuals (as I am sure that you are) and speak loads to them in short clear sentances.

One of my DTs (non ID) was a very early speaker and was always one of the best in his class. The other DT was more physically advanced and developed his language slightly later.

Good luck!