Did your non-verbal two-year-old eventually develop normal speech?

[Wonderinggg]

Has anyone had a child who was essentially non-verbal at 2 and also wasn’t much of a babbler as a baby, but still went on to develop normal speech?

My son is 2 and has no meaningful words yet. He understands a lot, follows instructions, points to communicate, has good eye contact, responds to his name, plays well with other children, shows joint attention, and a consultant paediatrician felt he does not show signs suggestive of autism.

One thing that worries me is that he wasn’t really doing the typical reciprocal babbling at 10–12 months. He would copy some sounds, but never seemed to go through a strong babbling stage.

We’re under speech and language therapy and have had a neurological assessment which was reassuring, but I’m finding it hard not to worry about his future speech.

I’d love to hear from parents whose children were late talkers, especially if they weren’t babbling much as babies. When did speech eventually emerge, and how are they doing now?

Thank you.

Slight difference here as we are a bilingual household but DD at 2 was still on a handful of single words. By 3 was speaking in sentences in 2 languages and by 4 was reading in 2 languages. At 8 her vocabulary in English is above average for her age. She is a bit behind in her second language as we live in Scotland so her schooling is in English.

My ds sounds similar to yours op. He was very late to speak and when he did it was very difficult to understand him. He had speech therapy for years and even into his teens still struggled with R and L sounds. He is grown up now, diagnosed dyslexic, and a lovely, kind, very clever young man with a good job and his own home.

Yes, absolutely mine did. DD had four words very briefly at 1, lost them again in a couple of months, then six words at 3 which she could only use descriptively (she couldn’t seem to understand how to ask for things) and she was hard to understand. She understood what we said though. Her speech was over a year behind but her understanding was over a year ahead.

At 3 1/2 ish she had a few bad nights of sleep, then came out with dozens of words. Then some more bad night and full sentences.

DD is like that though. Everything always develops in a burst after a few bad night and meltdowns.

She is autistic, which is relevant.

Yes mine wasn’t talking, wasn’t a baby babbler particularly then probably at about 2.5 went from 0 to full sentences and polysyllabic words, names of dinosaurs, etc in about 6 weeks. It was like he didn’t see the point in pointing at something and saying eg “dog” just for the sake of it, but was waiting until he could say enough it was actually worth the effort!

Yes, he suddenly started talking when he was just over 2 years old. He struggled with quite a few sounds, it was another 3 years before he could say his name properly! But he just started talking and talking and talking, I remember when he was about 6 asking him if he was ever just quiet and he answered 'no, even when you tell me to shut up I'm still going bla bla bla in my head'.

He is now an adult, highly eloquent and fluent in several languages, although he is dyslexic.

OP I hope you’re feeling reassured by now - lots and lots of replies! I’ll add mine anyway though - DS; a handful of words at 2, no proper sentences (and I mean 3-4 words, nothing complex) til 3ish, no one could understand a bloody thing he said til nearly starting school. I remember dithering over whether to refer him to SALT in the spring before he started school (July baby so he was still 3, coming up to 4). By the time he got to school aged just 4 he could just about make himself understood but his speech was very babyish still…took a couple more years but he caught right up and now never. stops. talking. He talks at me ALL day given half a chance, I don’t even know when the child draws breath 🤣 and now I think back fondly to the days when he didn’t say anything 😅

DD said nothing at 2. Obviously understood but didn't speak. Suddenly started talking at 2.5 and hasn't shut up since (plays scrum half- say no more). DS spoke much earlier but is now a man of few words ;-)

Amazing! Go DS 🥳

My niece was the same. Didn't say a word then one day started chatting away. She was about 3.

yes dis is autistic, he didn’t do the babbling but seemed to understand what we were saying. He had 3 or 4 words until he was nearly 4 , then he started to do a lot of repeating sounds (echolalia) so you could kind of talk to him but he wasn’t really engaged in the conversation.
he gradually improved over time now he talks constantly about his special

Our DS was premmie. At 2 he had lots of individual words and about 3 phrases. He'd been able to say 'get door' since he was crawling, 'go out' and 'feed me' not long after. He was tiny and walking was a hard won skill. Once he'd mastered that he went on to talking very swiftly. Never stopped chattering since.

DD2 didn't really speak until she was 2. And then her pronunciation was awful, only DD1, DH and I could understand her. Her understanding was good though, as was her vocabulary and grammar and complexity of sentences from about two and a half. She had speech therapy from 3 to 4 and things sorted out after that. She's just done her A levels and throughout school has been viewed as bright, sociable and capable. She's very creative and arty and has always been a joy and a wonder to me.

Not a single word until 2, and very difficult to understand. Didn’t hold them back academically but had SALT and extra help from school. Still some words aren’t pronounced correctly but talks for England now. Probably Autistic or ADHD as well