Hanen It takes Two to Talk - is it effective for a non verbal child?

[LadyDowagerHatt]

My DD is 22 months and has no real words (she says dada and sh for shoe and does babble). She is also not walking yet - we are thinking hypermobility as her ankles don't seem strong enough to support her but she has got the right idea and is making progress. We are awaiting a paed appointment next month, I have self referred to SALT and I am awaiting a hearing check for her. Every HCP who has seen her so far seems to think she is fine socially (I guess they are looking for signs of autism/ASD) and her fine motor skills are ok.

Anyway I am now becoming increasingly worried about the fact she doesn't have any words and am thinking what I can do to help her. I came across the Hanen book but didn't know if it was more suitable for delayed speech once they have a few words. Can anyone advise - I just want to get an idea before I spend £40 on a book?!

DS2 who is developmental typical is 24 months and apart from a few word like sounds, yea, naa, dee doesn't talk. He was seen at his HV check recently and no worries at all. He walked at 10 months and climbs like a mountain goat and we feel all his energy goes on physical stuff so we don't worry about his speech. He does sign lots of words and with the pointing communicates very well so I would look at simple signing and speak to your HV as you are worried. His speech does seem to be about to explode as he repeats sounds and does all the animal noises thing.

Unless your DD has problems other than hyper mobility speech sounds to be developing normally. If you feel happier doing something positive there's nothing wrong with that, but better to give her plenty of experiences and talk to her all the time, which I'm sure you do anyway.

Thanks Rjae, that is good to know the HV wasn't concerned. Maybe I am over thinking and worrying too much. We have tried signing, she is not signing back and prefers to just shout when she wants something! She doesn't point either but not sure how much to worry about that.

I have More Than Words book which is from the same company. I've used it before my dd was dx and found it extremely useful. Lots of activities, pictures, songs and the best thing is that it has 3/4 different stages of where a child is, so from non verbal to verbal so you can work from where your child is.

I've heard the It takes two is also very good and similar.

I haven't personally read the Hanen books but have heard good things about them. If you don't want to spend so much on the books then you may want to try the Cerebra lending library.

I haven't seen them either. But private slt is £40 for half an hour and presume you could resell on eBay? £40 for a book is nuts until you think of it like that.