2 Year old doesn't speak

[mariiinaa]

My son turns two in two weeks and he's still not talking. He understands everything that is said to him, and will respond with either gestures, pointing, or getting whatever it is he's asked. I'm starting to worry that his speech is very delayed and he's not showing any signs of interest in speaking.

We try to encourage words and speech and get him to repeat back, but he doesn't even seem to care in the slightest or attempt a babble back.

We've discussed with our health visitor and a speech therapist at our local family and well-being centre who wasn't worried until he turned 2 but it's approaching and i'm wondering is there anything else I can try before approaching them again regarding my sons speech?

TIA x

My son had a handful of words on his 2nd birthday, then the day after he just started speaking and it was nothing but progress ever since. He just needed more time.

Get referred to SALT, get his hearing checked and speak to your GP, but don't panic (I know it's hard!). Maybe he does need a bit of extra help, so it's good to get on waiting lists asap, or maybe he just needs a bit longer. I don't think my son recognized speaking as a useful skill, and that's why he didn't do it. Now he chats all day (2.5 years) and doesn't stop.

@sash887 I did a self referral at the instruction of our HV team- they even gave me the website and email. It was totally ignored until I kept calling and they eventually said I shouldnt have been told that (and seemed more concerned about who had told me than actually helping me!)

My dogs didn't start to talk until he was 4. Then suddenly he wouldn't stop! Kids develop at different rates - yours may just be a slow starter. But 2 years old is much too soon to start worrying.

Mine didn't speak before 2 either, but he was obviously taking it all in because once he did, it was all at once and his vocabulary now is very good!
If the understanding seems to be where it should be, I wouldn't stress. Although I would still ask for the referrals, just in case, as they can take so long!

I'd say that is pretty good for dogs!

I work in Speech and Language therapy and this is not uncommon at all.
Please try and take the pressure of trying to get your DS to speak, do not ask him to copy you or ask him to name things. Model what you would like him to say if he could speak. And keep your sentence short to a few key phrases.
So if you giving him a toy for example say here's your car, blue car.
Also give simple choices, blue car or red car and when he points to one say that's great, you want the blue car.
So model what you want him to say and give choices.
There are some wonderful early language strategies on the Leeds healthcare trust website. Try not to get too concerned just yeah it's worth getting on your local SLT waiting list because I'm sure there's quite a long wait time.

Does he make any sounds at all?

We use pecs to communicate with my older son who is non verbal. We use some signs but only limited ones.

My youngest 2years 2months has been referred to speech and the advice given so far is to use pecs again. Which we have been doing.

100% get the hearing checked. My DD was the same until 3. She could hear me and would respond when called etc but when I had her hearing checked her ears were completely blocked. The hearing consultant said it would have felt as if she was underwater: she could hear sounds but not clearly.

She finally splatted talking at 3 and a half. It was a really really lonely time, I feel for you.

Again this just highlights how every area is different. I think because I had previously been referred by HV they allowed me to self referred. I did email them asking for information on how to encourage speech and they sent me load of useful tips. So it was worth emailing.

We had this with our DD, now 4. DH was partially deaf as a baby until he had an op due to inner ear probs which can be hereditary. The only words she said were dog and dada until about 2 1/2.
We were referred to SALT when she was two, mainly due to DH previous issues, but by the time the appointment came around due to covid delays she made right fools of us and started speaking really well. They said to keep the appointment anyway.
She can now read at a year one level and has an amazing vocabulary. We have read to her daily since birth a lot (both teacher and love reading) and there should be a correlation with reading and vocabulary, which is also why we were a bit baffled she never spoke.
We prob made it worse by nagging at her to talk a lot. And we often preempted what she wanted so often she had no real need to talk. I don't think they are overly concerned if they understand what you are saying and can follow instructions.

My ds was like this. The health visitor had called when I had ds2 and asked me how ds1. DS was 21 months, and around that point, she referred for speech therapy. Luckily, at the time, the waiting lists weren't as long as they are now. My ds actually ended up in a full-time language unit placement for just under 3 years. He understood everything we said and could follow instructions etc, he was and is a bright boy. We made up our own sign language (well, he made gestures, and we learnt them to communicate). It was tough at times. He used to get very frustrated at times. However, he's 12 now, in high school, and is doing very well. I would say early intervention helps. Could you ask the speech therapist for exercises to do at home? We had pictures and things to do in between sessions (can't remember exactly what now).

@Sash887 that's great - I had a nursery nurse from the HV service call me every couple weeks to advise but she just said I was already doing everything I should and she wanted to sign us off. I had to ask to be referred and it still took some time to do so! I'm in an unhelpful area I believe.