22 months not talking

[grahlea]

Hi, my 22 month old is t talking says daddy and babbles a lot but no other words. Due to Covid she hasn’t been mixing with many babies. Has anyone had anything like this?

My son didn't start taking until he was 2.5 years. I wouldn't worry just yet, some take longer than others

They all do develop at different stages so I wouldn't worry too much yet.

Wait until he's 24 months then do the ICan Progress Checker. That will tell you if your DS will need some extra support and who to talk to.

If he does need extra support I'd ask the GP for a hearing test as low hearing can affect speech. I'd also do the MChat test.

The 2 year check questionnaire is looking to see if your child is putting 2 or 3 words together eg ‘red car’ or ‘I want chocolate’.

If your situation you need to ring the HV and ask for a referral for a hearing test and a referral to SaLT (speech and language therapy).

I wouldn't say it has much to do with being around other babies, she will learn to talk from you talking, singing and reading to her .
If you're concerned speak to your HV and they may refer for speech and language therapy if they think she needs it

Actually, I've read the two last posts and agree with them!

Your baby doesn't learn language from other babies, they learn it from you so lockdown isn't really relevant here.

And yes, the two year check is about putting 2 and 3 words together. So they'll be looking for think like "want milk" "want Daddy".

I'd call the HV tomorrow, as suggested above, and ask for a referral for a hearing test and to Speech & Language Therapy.

Get a referral to speech therapy. They accept referrals where I am (Ireland) for any child with less than 10 words at 18 months.
Get hearing checked too. I thought my son's was fine but he had a hearing loss significant enough to impact his speech. Grommets helped.
Hanen have great resources to help you while you wait for SLT.
The advice to us was don't try and directly get him to talk but to model model model and to follow his lead and narrate what you/ he are doing. So if he's playing with a fire engine we don't ask any questions (I was bad for that, "what colour is this? etc) but model 5 times then wait and see do they say anything e.g. "red fire engine!" "You're pushing the red fire engine!" " You're pushing the red fire engine up the hill" " oh no, red fire engine fell down the hill!" " Etc etc
I spent so much time narrating that even when I'm here alone I sometimes catch myself saying " mummy put the washing in the machine" "I'm peeling the potatoes" etc.

I disagree with PP about the baby thing as my 22 month old wasn't really talking. She just started at nursery last month and now the words are coming thick and fast! And trust me, we talk and read non stop.

Although I don't really have any advice because if things don't pick up in the next month, I'll also have to call the HV as DC won't have met the targets on the questionnaire.

It's tough isn't it

Ds1 had no words at that age. I went to a salt drop in, they said he had a severe delay. He started talking at 2.5 and hasn't shut up since.

Things to look for. Does he respond to his name? Point at things? Look at things that you point out? Can he follow instructions? Instructions in 2 or 3 stages (can you go to your bedroom, find your slippers and bring them here?)

A game I was advised to play, take a small bag and put 6 or 8 small items in . Take them out and put them on the floor/table. Ask dc to select the ball/toy car/sock/orange etc. To show understanding.

They are all different. Dc2 was starting to talk at 12 months abd had loads of words and shorts sentences by 16months.

We did have to go for a hearing test which was fine.

Not being with other babies isn't a concern - they will learn language from you (and others who are talking).

She might need to see a speech & language therapist in a year or two, but they won't do a lot until she is 3 as children develop at such different rates. They often won't take a referral for a child under 3 if it's purely about language - they will just say to wait and see how she goes over the next year.

They might recommend you take her to communication groups for babies, so you could look into this. They do things like nursery rhymes, stories and language-based games.

Are there any other aspects of her development/ behaviour that are concerning or is it just this?

Thanks a mill everyone, we talk to her non stop and read a lot. She points at stuff or if I ask for her to Pass me something she will, she hears the smallest thing so I’m not worried about her hearing. We haven’t seen public health nurse since she was 8 months old, waiting on app for early intervention and still waiting 🙈

All sounds positive @grahlea . The only thing to say is that a hearing problem until always as straight forward as her being able to "hear everything." It's the first port of call with speech delay so don't be surprised if she had to have a test to rule it out

Her hearing is probably fine but just to say my boy would come running from another room if he heard the Peppa Pig theme tune, even if volume was low, so I thought his hearing was fine but it wasn't. So no harm getting checked and just ruling that out.

@MistyFrequencies yes thats what I meant, it was explained to me when I said my son could hear the biscuit barrel opening from 3 rooms away, it's not just volume they tests but types of sound.