2.5yr old first words are letters?

[Notsomerryandbright]

My ds is 2.5 and up until a couple of days ago didn't have any words.

He's not really worried me with it because he's always had excellent eye contact, points, babbles, claps, plays appropriately, understands well and can follow simple instructions. He's quite smart and likes his books, his favourite is a book that has numbers, letters, shapes, colours etc and he knows them all.

The only issue was he had no sounds that he used as words in his own way, and had no words that were recognisable either. He does babble a little bit but uses short sharp shrieks quite often to voice disagreement.

But he has just started pointing at the letters and saying some of their names.

I'm so happy to hear his little voice. I'm just not sure if it's normal? His first word isn't mama or juice or something useful, it's letters.

Anyone have similar? Or any SALTs have any advice? I've been keeping language really simple with him, and he hears me and dd3 talking all day. We do lots of ready, steady, go type games, nursery rhymes. I'm probably just overthinking it.

I wouldn't worry given that he's social and playing correctly plus he's pointing and babbling. What about playing a game with his fave book where you're reading it with him and he's saying the letters...but when you get to a particular letter, you can say "C is for car!...C C Car!" sort of thing. Maybe have a few props handy to show him. Don't do it with all the letters as it might put him off his book...but just choose two or three letters and have an item handy...a toy car, a ball and a rabbit or whatever.

I'm not a speech therapist I'm mental health.

I would refer to speech and language for this as he is 2.5 and should have basic vocabulary by now.

It's good that he is making eye contact, clapping etc and so I wouldn't worry too much but he might benefit from some group intervention with a speechie. Just having a conversation with them might help as well.

Your health visitor or gp can refer you. If you find the website for your area you can often self refer.

Hth

I disagree letters are useful. They spell words.

Can he point to numbers as well and say some of them? Worth seeing if he recognises any of them.

Thank you for your replies. Yeah I did a self referral to speech and language a few weeks ago, just waiting for the initial assessment to come through.

He definitely recognises most things. I could say 'where is 20?' In his book and he'd point and look at me. Or where is the triangle etc. He's definitely very switched on but it's just the outgoing speech that's a bit concerning.

@Notsomerryandbright

Thank you for your replies. Yeah I did a self referral to speech and language a few weeks ago, just waiting for the initial assessment to come through.

He definitely recognises most things. I could say 'where is 20?' In his book and he'd point and look at me. Or where is the triangle etc. He's definitely very switched on but it's just the outgoing speech that's a bit concerning.

Do you point to say a cat and say where's the cat and so forth? How does he respond to that?

Start to speak at 2.5 years is not average, at this age the expectation is to be speaking in sentences, so most people can’t comment on if it’s normal. Have you asked for a referral to audiology for a hearing test?

So I just asked him where's DD and he looked around, pointed to her and smiles. Said where's cat, and he did the same but with a big waaaaaah noise while pointing and laughing.

Now I'm typing and my heads down, he's getting annoyed because I'm not making the rocket noises while he's holding his rocket over his head pretending it's flying.

I feel like he's using me to do his speaking.

I should add he does copy sounds but only random sounds that he's made on his own accord first. So he randomly figured out make a zzzzzzz sound, like a bee noise. And if I say it he says it back. But if I say mama for example or even mamamamama he's never made that sound before so he just sort of looks and smiles. He knows I'm mama but he doesn't attempt it.

I've been using makaton for eat and drink but he's never copied those. He can copy actions however, he does it with nursery rhymes but that's quite a recent skill too.

Hm the more I'm typing the more worried I'm feeling. I don't really have any concerns about his hearing, we live near quite a busy road and if he hears an emergency vehicle in the distance he points out the window before its even registered with me it's coming.
I have tested him before though, just out of curiosity, like quietly given him an instruction while not facing him and he's managed no problem. I think I'll speak to hv about it though, there's no harm in ruling it out. His newborn checks were totally normal.

Have you had the 2-2.5 year check yet? I had this recently with my DS who is the same age. If you Google "ASQ 3 27 months questionnaire", you could look at how many 'yes's you could tick in the communication section? Apparently less than 4 is a concern. Also, if you're in England it might be worth chasing that check up with your HV.

I do think you have a reason to be concerned. It's very late. He should have a good vocabulary by now. My DS was fluent by 2.5 and I know that's only my experience, but my friend's DS has been completely non verbal until almost three and now he's chatting away, but it's echolalia.

I'd double and triple check his hearing. My nephew is deaf in one ear and it took his parents 6 years to realise!

Sounds similar to my boy. He's also 2.5 he only started talking about three months ago. Now has lots and lots of single words, a handful of phrases but his favourite thing is the alphabet, saying it, playing with letters, lining up the letters in order. He's similar with numbers but not to the same extent.

Still can't ay mummy though.

It may just be a confidence thing in saying his own words, he does have you and an older sibling so can get by on his communication with pointing etc
I'd try open ended questions, without physical aids

So rather than say ' where is the cat?' can you try things like 'who is that ?' Or 'what is that?' And point and wait for the answer.

Likewise ask open ended choices where he has to supply the answer 'would you like a plain biscuit or a chocolate one?' Or would you like a apple or banana?' (with no visual aids) should prompt an attempt at chocolate/banana etc .

It's worth getting him checked, but I wouldn't panic.

Average means average! It means that some people are above average, and some people are below average. It doesn't mean anyone is abnormal: you could be above or below average and still be normal.

Some kids are talking in fluent sentences by 1 (apparently), others take longer to get to that stage - that's life.

@Notsomerryandbright

Hm the more I'm typing the more worried I'm feeling. I don't really have any concerns about his hearing, we live near quite a busy road and if he hears an emergency vehicle in the distance he points out the window before its even registered with me it's coming. I have tested him before though, just out of curiosity, like quietly given him an instruction while not facing him and he's managed no problem. I think I'll speak to hv about it though, there's no harm in ruling it out. His newborn checks were totally normal.

He could still have hearing issues.

I know people are saying it's not normal but it is for some children. I know this is anecdotal but my nephew was like this too. He wasn't speaking properly till he was well over 3...more like 4 before he'd have a bit of a conversation. That was delayed yes but he's 8 now and speaks just like other 8 year olds. What I'm saying is that delays aren't always autism....sometimes they're just speech delays.

Apologies for trying to revive an old thread but the likeness to my own son is quite uncanny - how are you getting on @Notsomerryandbright ? 💐 X

No, its fine, useful I think for others to follow up on old threads!

So he does have words now, more than I can count and he picks new ones up all the time. He's coming up 3.5 but I'd say he is probably more like a young 2yo in terms of speech. It's not always very clear, he puts two words together now, sometimes three.

He started nursery in September, his teacher advised by the end of the first week that she was going to be applying for 1:1 funding as she thought he needed the extra support. By parents evening she requested a paediatric referral, so we're currently waiting on that. It was quite obvious she was thinking asd/adhd.

We did have his hearing tested, and he actually sat and let them do it so the audiologist was categorically able to say his hearing is absolutely fine.

So it's a bit of a mixed bag, he's happy though and making progress so I just try and focus on that x

That's not to say the only outcome is asd/adhd though!

Ds had some behaviours like flapping when excited that are normal for a 2yo but not so much for 3.5, he's completely in a world of his own sometimes also so there are other things besides speech that are coming to light as he gets older

@Notsomerryandbright I really appreciate you taking the time to come back to me, thank you so much. From everything you said about his gesturing/pointing, play and receptive language I am surprised the nursery are possibly looking into ASD/ADHD, what do you think they're picking up on aside from hand flapping and speech delay? (Obviously I've only read your descriptions on this thread so I'm not the best to comment on it but it doesn't seem like an open and shut case to me from what you've said?) How do you feel about it all anyway? I hope you're taking care of yourself. No matter what comes of all this it sounds to me like he is a very lovely, much-loved little boy who is going in the right direction in his own way. In your first post you said about how happy you were to hear his little voice (I recognise that sentiment all too well) and I'm glad you have more and more of that now x

Glue ear is very common and can cause speech delays. It isn’t always easy to spot for a parent.
Regarding understanding, if you line up a teddy and a doll and some play food (eg an apple, a pear and a bit of wooden toast)- if you say, please give dolly an apple? It is this kind of 2 step understanding that you could test.

@Usernamenotavailable101 I know I agree, it was quite hard to hear because I wasn't expecting that. I knew he was obviously delayed but I'm not sure I agree with him being on the spectrum. I just don't think it fits him, adhd he definitely ticks a few boxes for, although I think atm perhaps because his speech is so far behind his peers perhaps in a nursery setting it seems he's socially different too.

My gut instinct is that he's just delayed. He does get over excited and can be quite loud sometimes but that's just him.

I wrote a list of the teachers concerns and gave it to the gp, he looked at it and said well these are all 3yo boy things. I spent a long time really worrying over his development but honestly it isn't worth it, I wish I'd just spent more time enjoying him as he is! I know how it feels though when you'd give your right arm to have a little chat and have a window in to their thoughts that everyone else seems to have. Ds's behaviour was quite bad around 6mo ago before his speech really took off, he was so frustrated with everything and I think that may have motivated him to start using words a bit more in hindsight.

@Notsomerryandbright yes I understand, it's interesting what your Dr said, I'm sure a lot of it holds true - kids of this age are hyperactive and loud and have little quirks etc. Very hard to distinguish what needs intervention or not! From what I understand it's probably no bad thing if you go through an assessment process because if he doesn't need support then fine and if he does then also fine because the earlier you can get that help the better for him. There's quite a noticeable amount of progress between your initial post and what you updated yesterday, that's terrific, I'm sure it's onwards and upwards from here no matter what happens. All the best to you x

Hi I know this is bringing up an old thread AGAIN but have just been googling and come upon this thread. My son is the age yours was when you started this, 2.5. He is obsessed with the alphabet ATM. Only stayed talking lots around 2 years old and began with saying all his letter sounds, how he says the names and can say most words, sometimes says two word phrases like, "more water" "daddy help" "all gone" etc. He is also obsessed with numbers everywhere he goes. Currently waiting on a paediatrician which is taking foreveeeeer. Did you have any outcome for your LO?