2 year old speech - is this normal?

[BarberBabyBubbles]

My daughter is 2 years 4 months old. She started putting 2 and 3 words together a couple of months ago - so a little late but I wasn’t worried. There’s a couple of things she does that worry me.

1. She echoes a lot. Just now I asked her “what happened?” And she replied “what happened” not “banged head”. She had bumped her head and she knows those words.

1. She won’t engage in conversation / answer questions. If I ask her if she wants eg an apple and she doesn’t, she’ll just not answer. If she does want it she says “good apple. If she’s done something wrong eg snatched a toy from her sister, I have to resort to really loudly saying her name to get her to look at me and then she won’t engage at all in a conversation.

She knows lots of words and talks a lot but often this is to herself or repeating phrases she’s heard. So she was looking at a book earlier and said “bag of shopping” but that’s because she’s heard me say that about that specific page.

Her memory is amazing. She can “read” loads of her books. As in go through pages and say several words / phrases that are on each page.

Anyway, not sure if I’m working over nothing or whether I should speak to the HV.

Sorry this is so long! Grateful for anyone’s thoughts / experiences.

with all these things at this age, it could be something or nothing.

If you are concerned, talk to HV.
In the meantime, model lot sof questions and answers. Use teddies/dolls
Also, if you ask her if she wants an apple, and she reaches for it gently say - yes please mummy, apple, as you hand it to her, constant modelling of the correct response.

With the teddy, you can do lots of simple repeats - would teddy like and apple? Yes please. Oh goo teddy here you are.
Would teddy like some crayons? yes please. Oh good teddy, here you are
etc etc

Thanks! I do the modelling like you say with the apple, but not the teddy role play. That’s a good idea. Thank you.

Definitely speak to your HV. Also ask for a referral to check her hearing.

Thanks. Do you speak from much experience? I don’t want to worry unnecessarily!

In our area they have just started a drop in clinic for speech and language therapy. when my ds1 was little the speech therapist was doing a talk at our local library and I spoke to her at the end about a few concerns and she suggested a referral. It was nice to have my mind put at rest. The health visitor did not think it was a concern at all so I was glad I talked to the Speech therapist. IMHO it is better to speak to a someone early so that they can either say 'wait and see', 'no problem', or put some early help in.

My DD is 3 and her speech is advanced for her age but she started ignoring me and sometimes not answering questions so I requested a hearing test and she does have a hearing problem.

I would say if your concerned then professionals should be concerned.

DD has glue ear which is incredible common and probably won’t need treatment but it does need monitoring and it means nursery/school and we are aware of it and what we can do to make things easier for her.

It's so very difficult to say at this age, but the echolalia and not responding were big flags for me as well. DC3 presented with very similar issues and he is on the spectrum (saw paeds at 2 and a half and he will be turning 5 next week). He's high functioning, in mainstream school, sharp as a tack, and has outgrown those tendencies which concerned me. He's a hand-flapper and his speech is a bit behind, but other than that, he's doing incredibly well and loves school. The echolalia and non-responsiveness are totally gone. Those issues died down in nursery (age 3).

I'd go straight to the GP for a referral to paediatric audiology (that's the first step- rule out hearing issues). It could be hearing. And if it isn't, you're plugged into paediatrics and they'll support you from there.

Ok, thanks everyone. She had a hearing test before she turned 2. It showed fluid in one ear but she did ok on the test. But they want her to go back in a few months - no appointment yet.

But I’m convinced she can hear properly now. She can hear the word “biscuit” very well even in a loud toddler group.

I think I’ll speak to HV. Or perhaps I should just wait for the next hearing appointment to come through.