Does anyone have a DC who didn't start talking untillater than everyone else?

[bt1978]

I do.
My DS is 2.5 and barely says a word. He can recognise some numbers and letters and will say them (not perfectly, but has a good go) if i ask him to - ie by asking "what's this?" etc.
He also knows a few other simple words like 'hat', 'apple', 'banana' etc but again, will only say them when i prompt him.
He is very good at letting me know what he wants without words- he will point to things and take my hand and lead me places.

This is very different to my DD who is 4. She was very chatty from early on and her speech continues to be good. I don't want to compare them too much - they ate different people after all.

I read to him every day. Talk to him, tell him the words for things etc.

Anyway, I'd be really interested to hear from anyone whose DC were late to start talking. And did they just start doing it one day? Should i be worried?

My dss was really, really quiet until about 3. He wouldn't chatter to himself whilst playing alone, didn't babble as a baby, would point rather than speak. Suddenly he found his voice and now, at 9, you can't get a word in edge ways.

Keep encouraging him to say the words for things rather than pointing and speak to a health professional if that would settle your mind. But they are all so different.

My DD3 is 2yrs 4 months and has very limited speech. I honestly think she's just abit lazy having 2 older siblings who do all the talking for her! Our nursery is great and can refer to a speech and language therapist directly, but have said that they won't do so until she's 2 and a half.

Have you had your 2yr 3 month developmental check yet? If not, mention it there, or just call your HV and get a referral to an SLT - chances are by the time you get round to seeing one, your DC will be nattering away all on his own!

Have you had his hearing checked lately? Just in case he's developed glue ear. Probably worth checking with your HV. If you google speech development milestones, you would probably expect 100-300 words by his stage.

There's a huge variety of normal but salt referrals can take ages, so much better to be on the books and then not need it when the appt finally comes around.

dd2 didn't babble until about 18mo, didn't speak until 2. She communicated at the one-word level until about 2.5

she was referred in to speech therapy, and for hearing tests
apparently she has some very small degree of hearing loss, but not to the extent that they feel warrants intervention.

She's now 3.4 and doesn't speak markedly differently from her peers of the same age.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying he;ll probably get there in his own time, but there's no harm in getting a referral just in case.

My 2nd was a later talker but at 3 he is now a chatterbox and very articulate with few mispronunciations.

DS2 was a late talker and never really did 'baby talk'. He seemed to go from nothing at all to complete sentences almost overnight.
Now we can't shut him up.

Agree with getting hearing checked asap

Please get his hearing tested. My son did not speak clearly by his 2nd birthday and it turned out to be chronic glue ear in both ears. We had suspected nothing because he was so good at lipreading. He had never had an acute ear infection but had lots colds and chesty coughs. It cleared up spontaneously when he was 2.5 but he needed speech therapy to help catch up. It was all fine in the end, but I'm glad we didn't wait too long before asking for a professional opinion.

(He's 20 now and absolutely fine.)

DS was late at EVERYTHING.

I tried everything to get him to talk but he wouldn't/couldn't. Now that he's nearly 10 I can't get him to shut up!!!

Don't worry.

Best test for glue ear is to stand across a room from them while they are engrossed in something and ask if they want any chocolate. If you don't get an answer you know their hearing needs a check!!!

My youngest didn't say a single word until she was over 2 and half. She was referred for spech therapy and now at four still having it but theur is very little difference between her and her friends.
She gets a bit cross when she can't express herself clearly but has had no problems making friends.
She didn't walk until late either and whilst the health visitor called it global delay I put it down to her older brother speaking and doing for her.

Same as Kaluki. We booked an appointment with the hearing specialist as DD2 didn't respond to us and wasn't speaking much- turned out she could hear just fine but was ignoring what she didn't want to hear.

She hardly spoke until she was three then suddenly started with complex sentences. She is 15 now and still just as independent as she was as a toddler. And she still ignores what she doesn't want to hear.

I would get everything checked out OP, but I wouldn't worry too much yet as it seems to be very common.

Thank you for all responses and advice. Nursery suggested getting his hearing checked but i had convinced myself he was fine because he can understand and follow instructions...hadn't thought of lip reading - thanks to whoever mentioned that.

I think i will call the HV today. Best to get it checked if even just to rule it out.

Thanks again everyone.

Both my DC (2 and 3) are late talking.

Get him checked for glue ear and ask for demand a SALT referral. They can be quite slow to get sometimes, so worth asking early and not needing it later.

Our speech therapists have all (seen several) been very concerned whether or not the child is able to communicate and get their point across, rather than how many words they are actually saying - that this is more the important bit instead of the talking. It sounds like your DS is doing that, so that's good.

Don't worry, but do demand the referrals. It doesn't hurt to get him in the system and sooner is better than later.

It can be v difficult to spot hearing loss in a toddler. An easy quick check is to whisper something likely to get their attention from about 1-2 feet behind them (do you want a chocolate button, as suggested above, would work!). But that shouldn't replace a formal check. Just something to do in the meantime to put your mind at rest. Hearing checks can take a while.

Good luck with getting it sorted.