2 year old speech delay

[Threeandahalf]

My 2 year old dd (2 this week) has very poor speech. She has learnt to say mummy this week.

She can say lots of words and phrases but the actual speech is poor; it's hard to tell what she is saying unless you know her well. Eg dow die is 'go outside' and 'nooo non' is 'shoes on'. Da wow wow is 'bus' (round and round). Conversely she can say things like bubble, daddy, mummy, football, Bluey, Peppa very clearly. At this age I could have conversations with my older child.
Has anyone had similar?

I'm not an expert but from my understanding, as long as children this age can connect sounds to meanings (however abstract these connections might be to people outside of their family) then it's a positive sign and indicative that they don't have a significant speech issue. Do you think, because she has an older sibling, that she needs to talk less? Perhaps the older one translates or understands her clearly? My cousin was the youngest of 3 and didn't start speaking properly until well after 2 and is now an adult and fine.

I'm a teacher of the deaf. Please ask your GP for a referral for a hearing test. I have known lots of children speak like this because they're not clearly hearing the initial sounds of words.

There are lots of reasons for speech delay and you need to investigate. Has she had her 2 year check with the HV? What did they say?

Has she had recurrent ear infections? Has she had a hearing check recently? I'd speak to your GP to get her hearing checked initially, as someone else suggested.

This was us 6 years ago.
Ask for a referral for speech therapy, to begin with it's just modelling the correct words back to her so you could start now if you've not already. Our NHS therapist was absolutely wonderful. Health visitor was also amazing at getting things in place quickly for us.
Ds is 8 now, still struggles with a couple of sounds but is a smart, cheeky wee boy who won't stop chatting, and I love to hear it!

Thanks for the posts and ideas. That's helpful

I should say that she has had a hearing test in the past fortnight, but that although she did have glue ear, they said this wasn't affecting her hearing. So it's not hearing related.

I first rang the HV and SALT team when she was 1.5. They said there will be no referral until she is at least 2.5. She hasn't had her 2 year review yet.

Slightly different as my DD is non-verbal but I was also raising concerns since she was 1.5 and told similar eg wait and see, no referrals to SALT till 3, wait for 2 year review etc. She passed her hearing test and we were also told her speech delay is not hearing related.

The only advice I have is if you can afford it, try and get an assessment and ongoing direct therapy with a private speech and language therapist.

As even when you do get referred to SALT, you may be waiting several months to be seen. My DD is now four and the NHS offered no direct therapy at all. So we have a private therapist involved.

The demand is so high that even some private therapists have waiting lists or are full, so you may have to keep trying if you do look.

You're going to have to be pushy by the sounds of it. There's no reason why they can't refer before 2.5. I'd contact the HV and say you have concerns about her development and you need her 2 year check carried out ASAP. We were told they don't refer for speech or development delays before 2, so I made sure we'd been seen at audiology before this to rule out hearing as the cause. Then I requested the 2 year check was carried out as a priority due to concerns. The HV then referred to SALT and the Communication Paediatrician.

Be prepared to do lots of chasing and quoting their own policies RE early intervention at them.

OP did they give you an audiogram? Are they putting you on the waiting list for grommets?

I'm afraid if she has glue ear it will be impacting her hearing. Glue ear blocks the area behind the ear drum with mucus so the drum can't move as much and sound waves can't move through as easily.

They did a test where they played sounds and animals appeared when she looked etc. They then checked her ears , it says on the letter 'Impedance audiometry'. It says there are no hearing issues when using both ears together, and that they will recall her for a second hearing test in four months time.

Good idea to chase the HV for the two year check.

Sounds pretty identical to my ds, everything started with a D! So we didn't start SALT until he was nearly 3. He was diagnosed with a speech delay and a speech sound disorder, so hearing everything correctly but using the D sound to start a lot of his words. We were signed off the summer he turned 6 and you'd never know now apart from an occasional fail with the TH sound, but I'm never sure if that's just being lazy. Keeping chasing SALT, use sign language to help, it won't delay anything but it helps ease frustration.
My ds is very articulate most of the time, so it's no indication of future issues just sometimes their brains are still sorting out the wiring.

Thanks, we have started using some signs with her but she won't engage with them herself other than please and thank you - I think because she thinks she is saying all the right words!

The thing is OP in her brain she is saying the right words! There's a disconnect between what they believe they are saying and how the sound comes out. So start throwing signs in and then it might give you a clue when she's not being clear enough for you. 😁.

Impedance audiometry is to check if anything is impeding the middle ear i.e glue ear.

Saying there's no hearing issues when using both ears together suggests one ear is working better than the other.

Glue ear tends to get worse over winter when children get more blocked up with colds.

Keep going with the signing. Speak and sign at the same time. And do call audiology back in 3 months time and push for another appointment. In our area at least they say 4 months but it's usually double that.

Thank you, that's really helpful. They said none of this should be affecting her speech but regardless, her speech isn't where I'd expect it to be !

I'm surprised they said that because any kind of block to hearing could affect speech.

Having said that she is still very young. Keep going with the signing and also modelling the correct word so if she says da wow wow say yes that's right, the bus.

You could also try some kind of minimal pairs exercises to see for yourself if she can hear the difference. It would need to be words she knows though. Like you could show a picture of a man and of a pan and see if she can indicate which one you're saying.

Glue ear comes and goes, so she might well have been struggling to hear clearly at some points in her life, which will definitely affect her speech development.
It’s also worth having her sight tested as that can impact speech development.
However, even if she has speech sound difficulties/a speech sound disorder then she is too little to work on it just yet. I would still get her into the system for Speech therapy as soon as you can, because you might have to wait a good while to be seen.
In the meantime I would do lots of activities which involve listening to different sounds. Books which need you to make sound effects - e.g. animal noises, different voices; songs which involve different sounds e.g. old macdonald; songs which involve clapping or tapping along; listening to loud and quiet sounds; noticing environmental sounds e.g. rain, birds, aeroplanes when you are walking
All of this will get her used to listening to different sounds, which will be helpful if she needs to do some speech work later on.

Mine didn't start really talking until 2, she's 2.5 now and absolutely full of it - she might just be taking her time

You can find charts of the sounds you’d expect to see at different ages online https://childdevelopment.com.au/resources/child-development-charts/speech-sounds-developmental-chart/

Sounds like she’s clear with words with sounds at the front of the mouth, which is developmentally normal for her age, but if it sticks around could also be a sign that ear infections are playing a role and she’s going by what she can see people doing with their mouths.

So probably nothing to worry about at all but as others have said waiting lists are so awful that it may be worth raising just in case you do want input in another year’s time when the other sounds should be appearing more consistently.