2 year old not walking or talking could it still be okay?

[SNhaventaclue]

My 2 year old can't walk or talk. Babbles a bit and can crawl and cruise. Paediatrician has identified hypermobility and low muscle tone. We are waiting for referrals to various different specialists. Can anyone tell me it could still be okay? Starting to get really worried. Doctors don't seem to have a clue what could be the underlying cause.

There are always exceptions. My friend's dd didn't walk until she was 26months, and she never had any issues after that. (OTOH, she was verbal and quite advanced with things like jigsaws and other children's puzzles).
However , as I'm sure you are aware, that is very late not to be walking and is very late not to talking.
It is good that you have already seen a Paediatrician.
what did they say?
Which other specialists (physiotherapist; Speech and Language Therapist; audiologist; for genetic testing or blood tests etc?)

Doctors won't speculate out loud, even if they do have an inkling, but, it is really likely they don't know why your little one is delayed.

Remember though, that they will still be exactly the same person they are now, your lovely little one. Life will still be 'okay' whatever that means to you, even if it is a different journey from the one you were expecting.

My son did not walk until 26 months - he was also diagnosed with hypermobility and low muscle tone. He underwent extensive chromosomal tests and had an MRI scan but nothing came back. We saw a physio for a few months and eventually he took off, no further problems since then. I don't think he was speaking much at that stage but can't really remember.
I hope you have a similar outcome with your little one, I remember it as a very worrying time.

My son has hypermobility. This is related to some minor neurological damage according to his MRI. He didn’t walk or talk until 3! But now at 4.5 he doesn’t stop chatting. But he can be difficult to understand as he can’t voice some consonants. He gets good physio, SLT. Your paed should be able to arrange for genetic testing, bloods, MRI etc. In case there is a syndrome. If not and it’s just benign your child will be fine. I think the main think is whether cognitively our children are on track. If they are, it will work out eventually. One thing - at 2 if your child isn’t speaking please do use Makaton. It’s important to get the communication going

It's good that the cause is being investigated - is a genetic profile being done?

My youngest didn't walk until 20 months or talk until he was 8. He is hypermobile, which explained the walking and motor skills but he didn't get that diagnosis until a physio spotted it when he was 4. He was diagnosed with autism age 2 and suddenly nothing else mattered unless I made a real nuisance of myself. It was a severe torticollis on his 4th birthday and an enthusiastic locum paediatrician that got his physio referral.

He's 14, now. Never shuts up. Walks fine until we go uphill. Gets tired before I do though (50, also hypermobile, never been particularly athletic. I was a late talker, too)

Thanks for the replies. Yes genetics is one of the specialisms we have been referred to. Along with SALT, physio, neurology, orthotics... those are the ones I can remember. Is there anything I need to be aware of? I am thinking of things like support for their additional needs at nursery / school? I fear it could be a very long road to a diagnosis and of course they may never find anything.

Hi I can share my experiences. if you are sending your child to nursery, do ask them to request top up funding from the council. they may be reluctant to do it as the funding £ is low and application effort is high. however, it is a good idea to begin to have some "footprint" in the system. In our case we learnt that a child who gets funding at nursery is much more likely to get an EHC at school. My son will start school in 2 weeks time, and the EHC will help a lot in terms of getting extra TA time.

You may be eligible for portage, if that's running, at the moment.

@Lily27 thanks how do you get this? Do you need a specific diagnosis? It's hard at the moment because we don't know what if anything is the underlying cause. Does it work for a private nursery or just a state nursery?

Thanks @PickAChew what is this?

Apologies if I am sounding clueless I really don't know where to start with this stuff.

You don’t need a specific diagnosis. If the nursery feels that the lack of speech and walking means that they need to allocate more staff time for your child they can apply for extra funding. It’s called top up funding and the SEN and early years inclusion team in your local council should be able to guide you. My son went to a private nursery and they were able to get funding.

www.portage.org.uk/about/what-portage

Ds2 would have nothing to do with his portage worker, mind!