Until what age is it normal to not be able to say their name

catonmylap

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:11 am

We can't get ds to say his name. Trying in Hebrew & English--no luck.

Until what age is it normal? He's 2 1/2 now.

His speech is coming in slow, but it is developing. We are still waiting for his hearing test appointment...to get moving on it, but I think he will be fine..

Ruchel

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:18 am

Do you mean he doesn't say it, or he doesn't say it "well"?

My dd still doesn't say it right. We've had Mati, Pati, Patil, Matil, Batil.. not even thinking of the way she pronounces her whole given name "Mina Toba" LOL

Thinking of it, it IS weird bc she speaks very well for age apart from that...

catonmylap

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:21 am

He doesn't say it at all.

He says other kids names. And he says Mommy and Abba (though it's usually Baba).

Ruchel

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:23 am

Like if you ask him what is his name he doesnt answer?

catonmylap

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:32 am

Ruchel wrote:

Like if you ask him what is his name he doesnt answer?

He just doesn't answer, Hebrew or English...no matter which language you ask him in. He just ignores the question.

Ruchel

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:34 am

What does the ped say?
Around here there is a yearly test for the general "level" of development and I remember saying your name is part of that (I can't remember if it's for 2 years or 3 years but I can check).

catonmylap

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 8:36 am

Ruchel wrote:

You only go to the ped when the child is sick, so we haven't been in a long time! He has a tipat chalav appointment next week, so I guess we'll see what they say.

yOungM0mmy

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 9:16 am

My 22 month old just started speaking about 6 weeks ago, didnt say a word before then, but his name, even tho he mispronounces it, is now part of his vocabulary. He doesnt say it spontaneously, as in M likes whatever, he says I instead, but if you point to him and say who is this, he answers.
Does your child respond to it? Is it a difficult name to say? Does he have other problems with comprehension? I would think that a semi-verbal 2 1/2 year old should be able to say his name, or some version of it...

Ronit

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 9:24 am

My son started at 2 yrs. He doesn't say it very clear, but it sounds like his name.

He started from one day to the next, & untill then he totally ignored everytime we tried.... I also was thinking like you that it's wierd because he is talking so much otherwise.

Seraph

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 9:54 am

My son didnt say his name for a WHILE after he started talking, because its not the easiest name to pronounce.
At one point, when he was already saying a TON, he started saying "Eeyalel" for Uriel, and now, as of 2 months ago, says Oo Wee El.

Your son's name isnt the easiest either to pronounce...

Atali

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 9:58 am

How hard is his name to say?

My DS1 didn't start attempting to say his name until about 2.5, but he has a long name (Shneur Zalman). He eventually started calling himself "Zalmy" but then switched back to Shneur Zalman when he could say it.

DS2 said his own name much earlier (for sure by two), but didn't attempt to say SZ's name until he was about three. Instead he called him "brother", as in "Brother, can I have some juice" LOL

. Now he just calls him Shneur.

ShakleeMom

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 10:05 am

It depends on how hard the name is! If it's dada or mama or tata, he'll say his name probably by a year old LOL but if it's Shlomo Eliezer, I'd say age 18 months.

Atali

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 10:09 am

ShakleeMom wrote:

It depends on how hard the name is! If it's dada or mama or tata, he'll say his name probably by a year old LOL but if it's Shlomo Eliezer, I'd say age 18 months.

I highly doubt most 18-month-olds can say Shlomo Eliezer. I would think a kid would need to be at least two to say that.

NotInNJMommy

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 10:13 am

DS said "Sanel" for quiet a while (for Nesanel)....did he answer the question...hmmm....eventually, but closer to 3 I think.

DD is just over 2. She doesn't answer the question of "what's your name". She can say her name, kind of.."DaOra" instead of Devorah, and she can say her brother's name if I make her take the time to say it, but usually she just calls him "LaLa". She's lazy about her speech, and I usually have to force her to go the extra inch bc she's used to being understood with her half-effort of talking....but I know she CAN make the sounds and say the words--in her way.

Marion

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 12:25 pm

Both my kids can say DS#2's name. Neither can pronounce DS#1's. DS#2 we use only his first name; DS#1 we use both. DS#1 CAN say his middle name though, if we prompt him.

DovDov

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 12:34 pm

Where's his speech development at generally?

I know with my kids, saying their own name came very late inthe process -- well after saying everyone else's name and when they were up to vocabs at 200-300 words, after two-three word sentences, and after using "I" and "me" for quite a while.

My kids talk early, so they would have been saying their name by 2.5, but not until after reaching all those other verbal milestones. If he's progressing verbally, then I really wouldn't worry about the name so much.

(He does answer to his name, right? It's just that if you ask "What's your name" or "Who are you" he ignores you...right? My youngest first ignored that kind of question, and then he insisted his name was DS1's name before he was able to say his own name and as I said, it felt weird because he was already talking in 2-3 word sentences and answering "I don't know" to questions, talking about himself as "I" or "me" all the time.)

Rodent

Tue, Sep 01 2009, 4:33 pm

DS#1 will be 3 in October and does not say his name. I think he has said it a couple of times as something along the lines of mahn-well but not consistently and not in a while. He also doesn't answer when people ask his name. When I point at a picture and ask who it is he says "you" (because when we point to a picture of him we say "that's you!"). He recognises his name and knows his brothers' names (if we ask him to give something to them by name he knows who to give it to etc) but he doesn't pronounce them himself. He calls Amram "baby" and he calls Zevulun "Guy" (we used to call the kids big guy and little guy, Immanuel started calling Zevulun 'il guy and then shortened it to Guy).

DS#2 is 22 months (almost) and has a vocab of around 5 words only (no, noh (nose), wow, moh (more), maybe a couple of others that aren't coming to mind). He's nowhere near saying his name. He does respond to it (but not always).

Both boys did recently fail hearing tests, middle ear blocked at the time. They are supposedly clear now (fill in dr that we don't trust so need to take them back). #1's hearing does seem better though he snores terribly so his adenoids may be preventing his ears from draining properly all the time. He also had a tongue tie that was affecting speech that we had corrected. He does have a speech delay in general but is improving and will continue speech therapy once he turns 3. DS#2's hearing is of concern to me, not only because of lack of speech and not responding consistently (have to tap him sometimes but he may just be engrossed) but he is creating a lot of gestures to communicate rather than picking up words (eg. if he is hungry he will grab my hand and pretend he is picking something up and putting it into his mouth, if I don't respond to that he tries biting). They will have the hearing retested at the end of next month if their ears are unblocked.

So being that there are others issues at play, their ages are probably not reflective of what most kids should be able to say at that point.