If your child wasn't talking (no words) at 2 years old

[dogmum00]

When did they start talking and is there anything you did specifically that helped?

DD had five words at 2. They did regular hearing tests until she was 5, had a few bits of SALT... always just come back in 6 months as there had been some improvement.

Within a week of starting school the teacher had referred her to the school SALT instead as it was apparently 'severe speech delay', coupled with selective mutism.

The good news is now at 11 she can talk completely normally... when she wants to. (She mostly considers talking unnecessary). But Primary school was hard. It affected stuff like her reading (she's also dyslexic).

If you can get early intervention... get it. I regret not being more pushy. The nursery labelled me an over anxious Mother. The school told me I definitely wasn't.

No words at 2. Slowly came after. Diagnosed with language disorder at 4…

DS had no words at all at 24 months. He used to point and clap, or grizzle if he was cross but refused to say mama or dada, or anything else.

At 25 months he said key and pointed at my car key. Then there were new words literally every day, and he was chatting away in while sentences within about 6 months.

Definitely get a hearing test as soon as possible. We asked for DS1 to be referred to SALT and the GP said to do a hearing test. We firmly believed his hearing was fine but actually he had glue ear and most likely had had intermittent hearing loss for at least a year.

DS did see a speech therapist and with lots of work was speaking clearly enough to be understood by most people at 6years (he is now studying 4 A levels at grammar school!)

Every child is different and whilst for some they might catch up by themselves for others they might need extra help. Much better to get help and not need it than wait.

www.hacw.nhs.uk/childrens-speech-and-language-resources/

www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/livewell/care-and-support-for-children/early-years-and-childcare/info-for-providers/eyc-practice-information/communication-and-language.aspx#ParentsSection

Well worth googling your own area as well

My DS2 had hardly any words at 2yo. He had a hearing test and it turned out he needed grommets. He's now 12yo and doing really well at school.

My Ds barely said a work at 2 year birthday. He’s now 2.4 years and speaks clearly in full long sentences.
He basically seemed to have missed the whole say ‘dada’ for a year, and just went from nothing to lots.
He walked very early, so I guess was physically able before decided to talk.

He just said ‘ Mummy, I have a plan, you promise to count to 10, then I will hide again and you find me. ‘
then ‘ oh no, mummy, the cat is stuck, the cat is stuck from opening the fridge for snacks as he’s got no fingers. I help him’

Also. I’m not in the uk, here, they don’t check speech at all at 2 year check as they say it’s super common to not speak at 2. It’s only checked at 3 years’.

Only one of mine said any words by 2 but we didn't have any concerns about them-no reason to get hearing tested or anything like that as it was obvious they could hear fine. They made 'conversational' noises but just no words. And came on really quickly when they did start to speak without any special interventions, by 2 and a half or so anyway. Obviously worth checking out if you do have concerns though

This was us. Now aged 3 he won't shut up and repeats everything!

Hey, I am in a similar situation with my 22month old. She only babbles baba, mama, dada and has just recently started saying “ta” when I hand her something and when she hands it back. She was on the later side for walking too but now walks although not “confidently”. How is your child now?

Mine who spoke no more than that at 22 months has just got a First from Oxford ;-) Obviously do follow up if you're concerned, but there may well be nothing to be concerned about...

No a child but a sibling. They were 3 when they talked. Very intelligent and doing well now. I think you can self refer to speak amd language in a lot of places.