Toddler and talking

[Cluelessfirstimer]

DS is 2 on 1st July.

He doesn't talk loads. Says about 10-15 words that he knows the meaning of (mum dad gone bye etc) says all animal noises, house noises like the hoover. Will point to a body part I say like where are your eyes ears nose hands feet etc.

He understands absolutely everything. Go get your shoes, go get that toy, bath time (goes up the stairs etc)

He doesn't talk much at nursery mind! They say he's playful but isn't interested in talking while there. Will say yes and no etc but thats it. They mentioned to DP when he picked him up that he may need extra help with his talking which he may but what really confused me is they mentioned autism

Whilst I am in no way an expert in this it took me by surpise because he doesn't seem to have any of the signs from reading. Always responses to name, pretend plays, eye contact etc. I'm aware there is more to it than that but nothing stood out

When DP asked why they thought this nursery said "because he doesn't talk much"

Just the talking? I didn't think his talking was a big deal. He talks! Just doesn't say loads. I messaged our HV who just said they will see him at his review and didn't seem concerned.

Nursery have got my head in a spin now. Should I be doing more for him at home? We read loads and play and practice words.

Are they kidding ?? His speech sounds great for his age! My son turned two a few weeks ago and before then would barely say more than mum and dad, in these few weeks his speech has exploded and he's talking lots. Your son's speech sounds amazing.

It’s not amazing, he does sound behind, but as his understanding is good and he is talking a little bit, it’s likely he can catch up. Any other signs OP? What’s his joint attention like, does he bring you toys and point to things to show you?

I certainly wouldn’t say his speech is “amazing” for his age but it does sound completely normal, there is a huge range at this age and this level of speech is at the lower end but still absolutely fine

Thanks hun for commenting. My head is literally spinning. I've showed them videos of him talking when picking him up and I've told them what he can say and they said "it doesn't sound a lot for his age"
It's massively thrown me!

As a FTM I'm not an expert in these things but I thought his speech was fine. I've been there at pick up and some of the others his age do seem to say a lot more but that's just part and parcel of all kids being different I thought.

Had no concerns until this at all

Always pointing at things and grabbing my hand to come look at it with him yeah.

We spent a good 10 minutes inspecting a flower yesterday

And yeah he brings me toys or interesting things he has picked up or found

In that case I wouldn’t worry about autism but would get in touch with the health visitor for some language support.

I have three boys, boys speech is notoriously 'behind'. I also tutor SEN children. Your son doesn't even come close (with what you're describing) to autism. Personally, I think your son's speech IS amazing. Many toddlers his age aren't saying anything at all which is also completely normal.

Going to autism purely from "not a lot of words" is frankly a bit of a leap! Yes he's behind the average, but still within the realms of normal - I've heard of loads of kids who didn't speak until after their 2nd birthday.

By 2 my son had around 20 words. Two months later he was using 7-9 word sentences and had completely caught up

Speech therapy waiting lists are long, so it can't hurt to contact your HV/GP and go on the list asap, but based on your description you're not even close to needing to worry.

I think it could be due to him only saying yes or no at nursery, they haven't heard him say anything else?

I would take any help that you can, waiting lists are long and you don't want to get a pint when you believe he does need it and start the wait then. Get his name in the system.

lots of the things you describe would be flags for autism if they WEREN'T happening, especially the pointing and grabbing your hand to take you to see something.

When mine were that age (20 years ago) I remember that the standard was that they looked for 50 words at age 2.
That seems liek a lot, but every single sound that is used consistantly counted as a word, even if only Mum understood it.

So if they alwyas say Ga when they mean drink, then that is a word. So all your animal sounds count.

Also, he is showing all the correct stages of language development. So when a child is slow at speech the first questions are - does he understand, does he follow instructions, etc, all of which he is doing.

he sounds very normal, and I think you will find he speech starts to explode over the next few months.

There's still quite a bit of time for the language to come on before there is reason to be concerned but it is probably the time to be a bit more targeted in focusing on language

My daughter had 3 words at 9months and by 20 months she still had 3 words but they were different. She only ever had a working vocab of 3 words as she lost an old word when she gained a new word. She even lost muma and dada. This was more of a concern than the lack of words. She was assessed by the HV team and scored ok on the 12-18 month assessment and 0 on the 18-24 month assessment which out her at slightly behind but some of the questions were very gendered asking if she would play pretend with a doll. At the time she had no interest in dolls and didn't have one. She would play pretend with her tools and workbench so I think she should have scored a few points rather than 0. We were given exercise to reinforce the old words when she was learning new words. She had no reliable childcare from 21 -24 months when our nursery closed and we moved house which limited her growth but we did get her to about 10 words at 2 when she started a new nursery. Her communication skills were otherwise brilliant and she could follow instructions and getting everything she needed from his with pointing and gestures. By 26 months she was using 2 and 3 word sentences and communicating with words not pointing.
We have just done her ready for school questionnaire and even without the mark scheme I can see that it's going to come back at no concerns in any of the areas and she is at the bottom of the age bracket for this assessment too!

Thank you all so much for taking the time to comment. We did the animal sounds song at breakfast this morning and he did nearly every one correctly (He doesn't say dog for example but when the song said the dog goes he said woof etc) including "twit twoo" for Owl which is a new one!

I've never counted animal sounds as a word he can say so thats really interesting.

As i say his understanding is great. He said "more" to some strawberry at breakfast this morning and i said no more its all gone to which he responded "gone" then let out a heavy sigh which i found hilarious!

Ive just gotten into a head spin at them jumping immediately to autism. It seems wild to me. I have seen him at pick up running cars along the floor at nursery going "broom broom" so they have seen him do sounds and pretend play etc he just doesn't talk much while there.

Again THANK YOU all so much. I will of course discuss with the HV at his review and talk to nursery next week but you have all helped me calm down a bit about it! If he needs extra help of course we will jump at it and do all we can. My main confusion was them jumping in with this with, from what DP said how they said, it not much clarification or much reasoning.

and broom-broom is another 'word'.

Write them all down. You will be surprised how many there are.

he sounds right on track x

Just thought I would update.

I'm not joking that bang on his 2nd birthday his speech exploded... I lost track of keeping track of his words.

We had his 2 year review on Friday and the HV said no concerns at all. He's doing amazingly.

He still isn't speaking much at nursery and the health visitor said this is common - he seems quite shy and it seems a confidence thing rather than anything else

Thank you all for your replies again xx

Sorry just to correct he was 2 last Thursday. I dont know why I said 1st July...!?! I'm in a constant state of exhaustion haha