Struggling with my sons speech delay

[boymum45]

My ds is 2.7 and only has 2 words. All day everyday he just whinges and hand leads me everywhere and asks to be picked up and carried to where he wants to go and I still don’t know what he wants!! He takes me into the kitchen but everything I offer him he doesn’t want. It’s so hard and I just don’t know how to help him and understand what he wants. I get so frustrated as he just cries and whinges constantly and I don’t know what for. Anyone else been through this? Please tell me he will talk soon. He’s had his hearing checked, he’s on the wait list for salt and I’ve tried makaton with no success. He’s constantly talking it’s just jibberish

That sounds so hard for you! Has your HV been able to offer any support (guessing no!)

The fact he's talking/ babbling and trying to communicate is a really good sign. Have you tried using visuals so that maybe he can point to what he wants? Like visuals of drink/ snack/ nappy etc. real photos of real things in your house often work best.

No health visitor no help, just gave me the usual things to try which I’ve been doing for the past year.
I actually tried the other day with visuals. I got pictures of food and drink etc. and he just ripped them up 🤦🏻‍♀️ he’s good at pointing but not choosing. I’ll ask him to point to what he wants to watch on tv but he doesn’t and every time I put something on he doesn’t want to watch he screams and then I have to go on to the next and next until I get lucky

Sounds like my son.

I understand OP, it's shit.

@Picklesthegreat it’s so hard isn’t it. I wish I knew why and how to help

We're starting speech and language this month (he's 2 years and 5 months old).

It was found he has a rare genetic condition that does cause speech and language delays so we know why it's happen just not totally sure how to help.

We had a rubbish HV too so I approached the doctors who referred me to paediatrician (my son has other problems too but worth a try).

Was he an early walker? A good climber ? Is he very physical?

And does he have older siblings ?

No he doesn’t have older siblings and he didn’t walk until he was 19 months, he was also born 5 weeks premature. He is generally behind with everything

ok . If he’s babbling and making speech patterns that’s a really good thing.
my 3 boys didn’t really talk until they were 3 ish. It’s frustrating isn’t it. The good thing is that even though he isn’t actually talking yet he will have been absorbing a lot, so when he does actually begin talking he will be putting words together fairly quickly . He is still quite young to be worried I think.

Teach him baby sign language. Every time you communicate with him repeat the words and the sign.

Limit options - so offer pink or orange juice.

Some of his frustration is typical toddler not knowing what they want and overwhelmed with choices and on top communication frustration.

That is tough. My boy didnt talk until he was 3 so I do understand. Tips we got from Speech Therapy that might help
a) Comprehension/understanding comes first. You need to work on this before working on him talking. So narrate EVERYTHING you do in the house and start small then expand e.g. Mummy is peeling a potato. Mummy is peeling a BIG potato. Mummy is peeling a big BROWN potato. etc. And dont expect anything in return from him, no pressure on him to talk. Play games and do the same. Follow his lead and narrate what he is doing e.g. "Red car". "You are pushing the red car" etc.
b) Use the words you want him to use, give him a script he can mimic. So, instead of saying "do you want a drink?" say "I want a drink please". (If you know thats what hes looking for....)
Then, quietly consider his behaviour, sleep routines, sensory needs. Hand leading is sometimes present with Autustic kids-like my boy- and if that is the case Occupational Therapy for Sensory Integration might really help him. It did my son.
Good luck. Its really tough watching your children be frustrated like that.

My son was similar. He is 5 and has so many words and random phrases like 'wait a minute' - as wow look what I can see

@MistyFrequencies thank you for the tips to try. When your boy started talking at 3 was it slow and steady or a language explosion as they say?

My 2 yo had a handful of words, had an extra hearing test (had 2 at birth - this one was fine again too), but nearing 3 he suddenly leapt into talking. It was an explosion like a few new words everyday for weeks, then stringing them together, but then new ones we didn't know he knew would slip in casually too (correctly in context), and not be repeated for ages.

He could count to 20 before he could string 2 words together though, we counted a lot while walking. I think that's good practice, and easier for them as 1 streetlamp/car/banana is always 1, for example. Gets them practising syllables without having the stress of remembering meanings. 1 is always 1.

We were given conflicting advice about narrating as per @MistyFrequencies . I was first told to narrate everything, then 6 months later was told of course he wouldn't learn with my constant chatter, I needed to slow it down and just use 1 or 2 words (car, red car). I don't know what helped in the end, maybe just time. He was walking at 8 months though. He still now at 4.5 has a few issues with hard letters (r, s, y), but he's understood fine.

I love seeing his development still. He's learned this week, 'just joking.' As in 'I want some water... just joking.... I want some water.. just joking' over and over...

My son is still non verbal at 4.5 (autistic).

Vocalise the demands he is making of you, like "come mummy"

When you're playing use the same expression like "this is so fun"

Keep trying with pictures, make a book of his favourite things and model it when you're getting them for him

Mine was exactly the same but he’s now 4 and never ever stops talking !
and it’s all proper words and everyone can tell what he’s saying so just hang on in there, it’ll get better !

@boymum45 it was scripts at first. Hes autistic so started with echolalia; repeating exactly what we had said. Then slowly with help from SLT we shaped that into meaningful speech. He is 4 now and doing really well, able to communicate all needs and most wants.