2 Year Old Speech - Any SALT advice?

[snowballsandsunshine]

Hello!

My DD has just turned two. She said her first word at 14 months which was swiftly followed by another two after which she said nothing else for months and months.

Now at 2, she has probably about 10-12 words (basics, but very clear like Mummy, Daddy, No, There, Done,) and she's changed from saying 'Mama' and 'Dada' to 'Mummy' and 'Daddy'. She also copies animal noises (we have 'baaaa' and 'neigh' lots). She doesn't yet put words together at all.

Her hearing is fine, and her understanding/comprehension is great. She's been able to pick out objects/animals/people from books etc for months. She can follow instructions well and I honestly think (and can see from her responsiveness) there's very little that I say to her that she doesn't understand. She communicates by signing and gesturing too sometimes (not taught, made up by her). So if she wants a drink, she makes a gasping/gulping noise and points to her cup, if you ask her who her toy belongs to, she points to herself she won't/can't say her name or 'me'.

We've just had her two year check and she's scored highly on all other things, over the average in fact. It's just speech, she just doesn't seem to be picking it up. She has no health or behavioural issues at all.

We've always read to her lots, she loves books and has free access to them all day. I'm a SAHM so I've had the time to spend narrating our days, asking her questions, showing her things etc. She already knows her colours and things - I can ask her to pick any colour brick and she can. But if I say 'which colour I this one?' she just babbles a nonsense word.

Does anyone have any advice or resources that I can look at to see if there's anything I can do to help her? The HV is coming back in four months to review her speech and see if she needs a referral to SALT.

Thanks. Sorry it's long, I wanted to give the full picture.

She sounds very advanced. My almost 2yo has a few more words and will put a few together but definitely doesn’t always understand everything I ask, doesn’t know any colours, hasn’t made any signs for communicating words she can’t say off her own back etc.

I would say they all develop differently. Sounds like she has developed other way of communication so speech isn’t high on her agenda but it will likely come in time.

Thanks for responding, it's always good to get a bit of perspective.

Are you sure her hearing is ok? When did you have a hearing test? Glue ear could have built up?

Ps you’ll get a lot of posts like the pp. which is good to get perspective. But at the same time, you are her mummy - you spend all day with her. If you think there’s a slight delay/problem then 99% there will be. And it’s better to get it sorted and intervene earlier rather than later.

We are about to pay privately for an assessment for our 2 year old. She’s been referred to salt already but the appointments take blooming ages. We are going to get the assessment done and get a few tips and things and then chase up the nhs therapy.
In our case we knew she had glue ear and had been affected by this. Also she’s my second child and I knew how differently my older child developed.

I have the same problem and actually recently just posted about it only ds barely says 10 words and rarely mummy and daddy

Are you sure her hearing is fine, has it been checked? I would have sworn there was nothing wrong with my son's hearing but his language was also a bit limited at 2yr. The health visitor sent us for a hearing test and he has glue ear. I was shocked at how audible the noises were that he missed during the test.

Both of mine we like that at that age. No problems. Just developed speech later.

My ds was like this. Had very few words but could understand what was said to him and point at things if you asked him to. He didn’t know colours until he was nearly 3!
He did have glue ear and mispronounced a lot of words. He had grommets when he was 4.

Absolutely get her hearing checked. My oldest had glue ear and also started saying a couple of words then stopped for months. It was picked up by a very astute health visitor at her one yeear / 15m check who wanted to know why she started talking then stopped.

She gave me great advice in the meantime, eg no background noise (so no radio, tv etc) and always make sure my daughter could see my face while i was speaking to her, get close, lots of singing, very clear annunciation, simplified sentences (more than I already was doing). This really helped. She was talking well (though not that clearly) long before she actually had grommets fitted at 3.

Interestingly her younger sister with no hearing problems has developed v good speech without the steps mentioned above so I def think it's worth trying

I'm sure her hearing is fine in that she seems to hear very well. For example, she hears her Dad's car pull onto the drive from inside the house which I can also hear but it's quiet. She hears it well enough to know exactly what it is. She also always hears when she's spoken to/called, dances to the radio that's on quietly in the kitchen when she's in the living room etc.

But, good advice here - it can't hurt to have her checked out so I will do. Do I do that via the GP?

They are all very good signs re her hearing, and I'm not sure my daughter could have heard that well. However literally everyone at nursery /family / etc was convinced her hearing was fine, so it is worth checking.

I was referred by health visitor - could you contact yours to ask for a hearing test referral in the meantime? If not yes speak to GP.

Glue ear is often described as "selective hearing". Plus, it tends to be worse in winter / months where the child has colds etc - so it may be that right now her hearing is ok, but it wasn't for a while. Its common for kids with glue ear to be fine over the summer then develop it again

No advice OP but for reassurance my DS2 sounds very similar. He knows exactly what you're saying, follows instructions, very physically capable and lots of imaginative play but just isn't interested in unnecessary talking - we get lots of one word answers, excessive shouting of the word 'orange' and indignant pointing. Same as your DD he's weirdly reluctant to say his name/me (but definitely knows 'MINE').

In all honesty I'm not too worried. They all do things in their own time and it sounds like our children are too busy developing in other ways. My eldest was born talking and hasn't stopped for breath since - which is probably a factor - but he's not as physically adept.

But all that said, we have his 2y check next week & I'm sort of dreading it.

@LastOneDancing Ah, don't dread it! Ours was fine honestly. Helps that we have a nice HV I suppose.

I swing between being a bit worried and being a bit 'stop being so OTT, she's just developing at her own rate'. I will get her hearing checked definitely. They won't refer to SALT yet as they aren't that concerned but they will if she's not improved when they review her in four months.

Sometimes children can hear very quiet sounds but still have problems with hearing certain sounds or tones which can obviously then affect their ability to reproduce the sounds themselves. As others have said a hearing test would help to rule that out and would likely be suggested if a referral to SALT happened. It sounds like she's got very good communication/understanding though.

My DD was referred to SALT at 2y3m, seen initially at 2y9m and had some sessions about 6 months later, and she spoke her first words at 2y6m.

My DD didn’t say much when she turned 2. She’s now 2 years 10 months and literally never shuts up. Talks in long sentences etc.