Speech - when should I be worried

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My ds is 2, he will be 2 and a half next month and is speech delayed. All he can say is oh no, gone and no. He's at nursery 2 days a week and he's on waiting list for salt but I just feel like he's never going to talk! Any reassurance would be greatly appreciated

We were very similar, I badgered SALT but they won't start proper regular therapy sessions till he's 3. But you're on the list so that's good. We had a speech delay and a speech sound disorder. The delay levelled off and we were signed off from SALT the year he turned six. So don't worry it can all work out fine. You would never know now but we had a solid few years where I was the only one who understood 90% and everyone else had to get their ear in so to speak. Look at using baby sign or makaton with him (Mr Tumble is useful). This may help take the edge of communication as his cognition improves he can still let you know what he wants. Say the word and do the sign at the appropriate time. He'll likely pick it up quickly. It was a life saver for us. Good luck.

Has he had a hearing test?

To reassure you though... DD was like that at 2. Had five words. SALT didn't really take it seriously until she at school as there was progress.

Shes 11 now, at Secondary school. Her speech is no different from her friends... when she choses too. (She had speech delay and still has selective mutism, and dyslexia). But she is extremely happy and doing well.

Whilst waiting for SALT.

Do you have a quiet house.
Do you spend lots of time talking to/with him.
Repeating single words clearly.
Other things to build muscle tone like blowing bubbles through a straw into a drink.

Dd2 was the same at 2.5 and I was concerned - more so because dd1 had been a very early talker. SALT saw her but only monitored at this stage - referred for hearing test (which I knew wasn't the problem in our case). At about 3.5 she suddenly talking as if she always had been. By the time she started school her extensive vocabulary was being commented on by teachers so it's definitely too soon to worry.

I’m told I didn’t speak at all until I was 2. I’m now a practising court lawyer and a big commercial firm so my language skills turned out ok in the end! Obviously you’re right to get a referral and maybe your son will need intervention - but there’s definitely no need to panic at this stage.

I don't think it's too much of a worry at present, as most children suddenly take off with speech once a few words are mastered.

However do make sure you have plenty of talk time - give a running commentary of what you are doing, eg say you are baking, get everything out and as you go say here's the flour, here's the sugar, what's this one? And leave a pause for a reply. What do we need to put the ingredients in? Leave a pause for a reply. What do we weigh the ingredients out with? (pause for his reply) 'yes the scales, lets get them down' And leave a pause each time and see if he can answer. Even if it's a barely discernable babble or attempt at the word, don't correct him but say the word /words you're asking for in a sentence 'yes that's right, we need the mixing bowl to put the ingredients in', but if you keep going then he'll soon pick up the new words as you ask him for them.

An easy one is chocolate - offer a biscuit (unseen, so cannot point) and ask 'do you want a plain biscuit or a chocolate one?' and I guarantee you'll get an attempt at the word 'chocolate' which obviously can be improved on with practise - I've had this work on a just 10 month baby with no words whatsoever 'cockolat'. Ditto 'do you want banana or apple? - always ask unseen so he cannot point and has to attempt a word.

Hi

This was my child at that age.

In all honestly, SALT didn't do much for him tbh, and he very rarely sees them.

We done a lot of work at home and nursery also did.

Things that helped us;
Singing nursery rhymes - you'll be sick to death of your own voice but it works.

Recreating a word 3 times in different sentences;
Jack look at that big bus
Wow the bus is going fast
That's a blue bus

As pp asking questions and waiting for an attempt.

Playing with cars etc say brum brum etc

What are nursery doing for him?

I would recommend taking a look at the speech delay app Pippin. It has a speech course which gives you games and speech therapy technique to try each week. I wish it existed when my son was 2 because it would have saved me so much time!

pippinspeech.com/

My son is almost 5 now. At 2.5 he was assessed as having the speech of a 1 year old. I then made it my mission to read everything I could on speech delay and speech therapy. Every day we tried speech games and books as well as changing our daily routines to encourage language. He was assessed again at age 3 and was considered almost caught up with his peers although towards the lower end of the speech range. I believe this was due to all the work myself and my son did at home. The key is to make the games fun to keep their interest.

We are still under SALT due to some speech sound errors but they are hoping to sign him off in August.

hi
im sharing my story with similar topics/questions like yours

my son almost didnt react to his name till 2.5
started talking at 3

understanding was there but not always cause he was abit lazy to do tasks and stuff
started talking with using only half of the word or just first letter of the word
ive been worry sick even went to depressive state of mind when start searching for answers in internet (all those stupid red flags,milestones and other bs)

skip to nowadays
hes english way better then mine
He is 4 year old going to school next year
thats all

My now nearly four year old was similar at that age. I consulted with a speech and language therapist, Ent consultant and had her hearing tested. It wasn’t until my younger child was diagnosed with a tongue tie at 4 weeks and reading into it I realised that might be an issue for my daughter. We went to a specialist and never looked back 😊
Also to add I know two children with such large tonsils that one barely talked and one didn’t eat solids until they were removed.

My now 5 year old had about 10 words at 2.5 but didn't use them very often.
Hearing test showed glue ear, he had temporary hearing aids for 6 months (too young for grommets on the NHS in our area apparently).
That helped some, but he got a S&L referral at age 3. Didn't actually get any 1:1 SaLT sessions until age 5 (blame COVID). He now has rather quirky speech but lots and lots of it!
We did lots of games involving "Ready Steady Go" (after a few goes of a fun thing you say "Ready Steady" and wait for them to say 'go' before you do the fun thing), also missing out words from favourite songs/books to see if they join in. There's a pack of cards called 'Toddler Talk' with lots of activities you can try, or a book called 'It Takes Two to Talk' which is very good (but very expensive).

Hearing test asap. DS was deaf as a post with glue ear.