2 year old behind?

[squiddylama]

DS is almost 2 (in 2 weeks!!!!) I am really concerned about his development speaking wise but not sure if I'm putting to much pressure on us all?

Before I start we only saw the Heath visitor at 4 weeks old, I had to cancel our 8 week as my partners grandmother was rushed to hospital and I had the car and then when I called to reschedule they never got back to me. Since then I have moved area and registered with the new areas health visitors but after calling a couple of times when he was turning 1 for his 1 year assessment I gave up as they never got back to me!!

So DS is amazing motor skills wise and has a brilliant understanding of what we say to him/can point at things if we ask e.g nose, head, cat, dog, bunny etc

His speaking seems to be slow. We have a good range of basic words maybe about 30 and we have a couple of 2 words e.g bye bye, good girl (for the dog!), oh dear, uh oh. But that is it. We don't have sentences, we don't have the 'I do this' or third person 'NAME do it'. We haven't really got any friends with babies the same age (around 2 people). The firsts daughter can count to 10, do 150-200 words, do full sentences, colours, all the ABC's etc. The seconds son can do 'NAME do it', and three word sentences etc.

I'm worried and every time I try and reach out I'm getting nothing back! Am I putting too much pressure on DS? For context he has never been to nursery and only met another child once since he has been more 'aware' of what's going on (maybe 13 months). Other than that we moved to a completely new area and then covid happened and DP is vulnerable so haven't been out really at all!

Any help would be really great

My oldest is now at secondary, and I think the guidelines for the 2 yr check have been toughened since then, but, aged 2, DS was referred for speech therapy as he didnt meet the check requirements of 10 words. About 3 months later, his speech just exploded and the referal was cancelled.
I'd say it's worth keeping an eye on it, but that he's doing great, and it will probably come soon. If speech isnt ramping up in the next few months, start pushing for some intervention.

They all learn things at different stages. If his motor skills are ahead, it might just be he focused on those while others did language acquisition.

Hey,
We were referred at 2 due to less than 10 words.
So I personally think your LO is doing great! He has the understanding and of course words.
As pp they seem to be either talkers or skilled based!
I was told to repeat words in sentences 3 times with different sentence (eg; there’s a blue bus, look at the bus, wave to the bus) and to not ask the child to say something, give a pause to allow time for them to speak back. This may help build his sentences but otherwise he’s doing well!

Thank you both. It's very hard when I don't know what I'm doing haha!

From memory (my DD is about to turn 3), that sounds in the range of normal. But if you have any concerns call your HV team and ask them, you should get a 2 yr check but they're usually carried out between 2 and 2.5 so might be awhile away yet.

My youngest daughter didn't start talking properly until she was 2 years 1 month and a bit, after she started nursery. Up till then it was just the odd word.

We were similar last year. I went to a speech therapy drop in and the therapist was very encouraging that it was within normal. HV wasn't concerned at his check.

A few months later DS started talking at about 2 years 3 months. His speech is excellent now at 3y5m.
I would continue to narrate what you are doing and perhaps contact someone by 2y6m if no improvement.

Both of my boys had about 10 words at 2 and they are both doing great now. Your DS sounds fine!

Sorry meant to say too that I was concerned as like you, DS wasn't at nursery either.

@squiddylama

Thank you both. It's very hard when I don't know what I'm doing haha!

Your doing a good job to me! Don’t be hard on yourself

He sounds absolutely normal to me. Here is a link to one of questionnaires that is used www.justonenorfolk.nhs.uk/media/3304/24-month-questionnaire.pdf

That sounds about the level that DS was at at that age. He's 2y5m now and doesnt stop talking! You'll probably witness a similar explosion soon too. I've heard that boys can often be slower to progress in this area than girls, so i've been careful not to read too much into it when hearing about girls his age being so far ahead.