2 yr old doesnt talk- not a word

MiracleMama

Sun, Jan 02 2011, 2:44 pm

CutiePatutie wrote:

Attention all you speech therapists out there- I need your advice. My child is almost two years old and does not say one word. He communicates very well through hand motions and pointing and 90% of the time I know what he wants, at least I think I do. He has never had any ear infections or fluid...and is the oldest child. Is this something that I should worried about? I do not live in a place that provides free speech therapy and dont really have the $ right now for it. Is there anything I can do at home, on my own, to help him speech. All advice is very much appreciated.

It could be nothing but I would strongly recommend seeing a very good ENT. They can do a test - I know I will probably spell it wrong - tympanogram? Something like that. But it checks for movement of the ear drum. My son was saying next to nothing at age 2 and we were told it's because boys are slower, multiple languages in the home will slow language development, etc. Well he had something called silent otitis. His ears were completely filled with gelatinous goop. He had maybe one ear infection ever and the ped never saw any fluid, because it was not where it could be seen with a regular ear exam. When we tested his hearing the loss was significant. We did tubes, the fluid was removed, and voila!
This may not have anything to do with your case, but I mention it because you never know - it might.

gryp

Sun, Jan 02 2011, 2:55 pm

OP: Ask your parents and inlaws when you and siblings started talking.

In my family (11 of us), we were all early walkers and late talkers. We didn't talk until 2.5 yrs old.

My oldest had very few words until he started school at 3+ years old. But he had other issues as well- sensory, lack of comprehension, and more. My second was speaking full sentences by 17 months and my third by 15 months. My fourth son is 2.5 and has just started speaking. He can easily say 7 word sentences but his speech is very unclear- nobody understands him except us. My 14 month old says a handful of words but they all sound the same.

Bottom line, if there are no other issues presenting, I wouldn't be worried. There is a large range of "normal." I would definitely be asking my doctor and see if he thinks there's cause for concern and follow his advice.

If there is no real problem behind the speech-delay, I'd be reading him stories, labeling objects, and talking in full sentences to him. Maybe flash cards too. If you really want to jumpstart him, putting speech-less kids in a day program with speech-full kids seems to do the trick almost every time.

amother

Sun, Jan 02 2011, 3:18 pm

I did not read this whole thread. My 2.5 year old is not talking. He has a problem called dyspraxia or apraxia. which is a neurological muscle weakness. He could say vowels but no constants. He is going to speach therapy. I have a sibling who had dyspraxia as a young kid and now as an adult you would never know. My son understands very well I would recommend to get you child's ears checked and tif that is not the problem get an assessment with a speech therapist. At least then you know where you are holding.

amother

Sun, Jan 02 2011, 3:36 pm

My youngest dd did not speak at all at age 2, though her receptive language was fine; she understood everything we said. She qualified for and received EI but by age 3, when she aged out of it, only spoke about 5 words.

Since then she's been attending a special needs preschool. At age 4, she speaks in sentences of 10 words or more, can count to 15 without help, and knows the alphabet (she loves to spell family member's names). She's just starting to recognize which words start with which letters. Since she attends public school, she doesn't learn aleph bais there, but she started learning it on her own at home 2 months ago and can recognize at least half of the letters. She loves to play with her older siblings, and has a repertoire of knock knock jokes like most kids her age.

So she's b"h progressing beautifully. But I don't think she'd be accomplishing so much if I hadn't gotten her the extra help she needed.

amother

Sun, Jan 02 2011, 3:42 pm

as long as he is communicating with hand gestures or pointing AND babbling some sounds even if thy arent words, AND can hear and understand you:
then you can relax. he may just be a late talker.
my son didnt talk until 2 3/4. he spoke a few words at 2 1/4, like ya and no and bye bye.
now he's 3 1/2 and speaks fully, though not as clearly as I would like. he just couldnt pronounce sounds as early as everyone else. and it took longer for him to learn the right way to make his mouth say sounds. and while many 3 yr olds can say splash and street, clearly. he says spash and treet.
he's within the normal range for his age though, and I'm not worried.