Two year old not communicating, only labelling

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My 2.5 yr old son says many words, but not clearly most of the time. He points out at pictures, aeroplane, things at home and names it constantly, but not clearly. He does look at us when he labels the objects. My concern is he is not using those words functionally yet. Like he knows car, he would say 'ca' for car, while saying car he will point at car and look at us and says ca. But when he wants a car toy, that is out of his reach, he never uses the word to ask for it, instead he drags us to the place and points to it. Now he knows about 180 words, but he is not using it functionally. He is not even calling me mumma, but when asked where is mother, he taps on my shoulder. Anyone has similar experience with your little ones? How is your kid doing now?

It sounds fine to me but if you're concerned then mention it to your HV. It might help him come along if you model the speech that he's currently lacking, so if he is just pointing to the toy car you can say "You want the toy car. Here is the toy car!" so he knows what words go into that interaction.

OP I have a 2.11 year old who has a speech and language delay. He has problems with receptive language aswell as expressive. As he started to say his first words they were all labels similar to your son at 2.5.. And then came the tantrums (he knew what he wanted yet wouldn't ask) I had got some ABA training on requesting. Which basically said to not give him anything unless he requested it or at least tried. For e.g ds wants a drink. Gets water bottle, hands it to me, I ignore him, ds points, I make myself busy so he thinks I can't see him pointing, he whines and I say what's wrong ds1? i point to the bottle Open? Ds1: open! And so it goes on like this all day. It was no coincidence his first word to communicate and not label was "sweet" . Now he can ask for quite a few things. He just needed to understand he wouldn't get things "for free" as the consultant put it. Once he figured it out he would request, or at least try his best. Also when he drags you, before you go with him say "come", "should I COME"? Even if he says nothing he will one day say come. And then when he points to the item try to prompt requesting. If he's labelling, u will know what words he can sat and you can be a bit firmer with his toy car as he can say it. Then work your way through almost everything that interests him (motivation is key) and then everyday items/things.

HTH

DD was similar. about 200 labels (mainly nouns) at 2.5. but only used to label (she e.g. know the words for various food and was able to label correctly when asked but was completely unable to use these words to communicate her needs and wants).

she is 12 now. Speech and language has improved but still classed as severely delayed and we have dx of autism and severe learning difficulties too.

do you have other concerns? is his receptive language otherwise ok? anything else that stands out developmentally?

some children are just slower than others and some have underlying SN. I would run bit via HV or GP if you are worried

also, get his hearing checked.

My DD was also like this. She is autistic (Dx at 4) but no LD so far (she is now 5.5) and doing well at school (reading and writing well, has friends, etc.).

Worth following up but very hard to say whether it's actually a problem or not when they are so little! Pointing at things he wants is a good sign I think (DD was pretty late to communicate her needs in any way, including by pointing).

Thank you fellow mommies for writing your experience. He is on the waiting list for ASD assessment. He vocab list has nouns only and only very few verbs like jump and walk. I am still struggling to make him ask for his needs. His speech is very unintelligible for his age. He would only one syllable in a word, even his father doesn't understand most of the time. Unfortunately, we are on the waiting list on Salt, portage and assessment. My bad.

And his receptive language is not good.

Look up the "Chirp" and "Walkie Talke" Speech and Language Therapy channels on YouTube (there are probably others) - might give you some ideas on things to try while you are waiting (how to use toys like marble runs etc. to engage his attention and develop his language). As Mum2prince said the key I think is to use things he is naturally interested in to develop his language. Model how he would ask for things so he has examples for how he could get what he wants (so if he pulls you to the cup for a drink that's good, because he is communicating, but day "drink" as you give it to him (and maybe hold it back a minute to say if he will say it), and then once he can say "drink" try to expand to "want drink", and on from there. You have to keep it super-simple to begin with and build up a little bit at a time. And focus on things he's motivated by and finds naturally fun and exciting so he wants to do it!

Waiting list isn't necessarily bad for your DS as they probably wouldn't diagnose until he's older anyway, but obviously I know it's really hard for you living with the uncertainty.

There are also lots of good books if you think he is autistic: e.g. how to raise a happy autistic child by Jessie Hewitson (a mum), Autism & Asperger Syndrome in Children by Dr Luke Beardon (an academic but very accessible nice book). The Nurturing Neurodiversity YouTube channel and Facebook group is also really good for emotional support while you wait.

How is ur kid doing now? I have sae situations with my 3.year old girl