he says words only when he wants to, like hi daddy bye daddy Yes No, and "I SAID", but when you ask him questions he responds with babbles is this normal for a 2 yr old or do i need to take him to a speach therapist? oh and BTW HI Everybody !!! lol

 

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Sounds like my son. He didn't have hardly any words at his two year checkup - the doctor wanted at least ten, he had four or five. (total sidetrack, there's a video on YouTube that I found the other day of him talking, he was about two and a half at the time, iirc - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HPEMmACOAw ) The doctor referred us to the Early Intervention program here (we're in Dallas, Texas) who evaluated him and assigned a speech therapist and a whatevershewas (speech pathologist?) therapist that came out to our house twice a week for an hour and a half, ish. We did that for a year, then at age three (when he'd progressed to around 20-25ish distinct words) he tested into the PPCD program through the school district (it's a program for children with any kind of delay or disability). It's a half day class five days a week at our local elementary school.

We're in Texas, which doesn't have a dedicated Pre-K program for everyone (you have to speak another language as your family's primary language, be active duty military, or be on food stamps/welfare, none of which we qualify for), so his teachers have kept him in PPCD this year so that he'll continue being in school until Kindergarten next year. He's pretty much caught up with all the rest of the kids his age, his vocabulary is HUGE (he won't ever shut up.. ), and he's only got a few problems aside from enunciation ('l' sounds, 'th' sounds, adding a 't' sound after a word that ends with an 'N', and another one or two that don't show up as often).

I'd say it's very much totally worth mentioning to your doctor at the very least. If you can get your child into any kind of program with or without other children, it'll help - and the earlier you catch a speech problem, the easier it is to fix from my understanding. My youngest sister was in speech therapy from age 5 until when she graduated from high school. :/

 

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Sounds like he's testing out his boundaries ..

 

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Zoe barely talked when she was 2. The pediatrician had us go the local AEA (Area Education Agency) and they did hearing tests. I highly recommend this as the first step. While Zoe didn't have any hearing problems, if your child does, that can VERY MUCH affect speech. Since Zoe's problem wasn't hearing, the Dr. suggested we wait 3 months and bring her in again. So at 27 months, she was talking away and had a HUGE vocabulary. So at 24 months she was a little slow developing her language skills but she caught up and exceeded very quickly.

Basically, I would get 'preliminary' testing done, ie; hearing, speech, etc. and then wait a few months to see if he catches up.

 

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Hi Hoggy!

Was your little one a preemie? I'd take that into account as well. It's always a good idea to get your pediatrician's opinion and get some hearing/speech testing done just to eliminate them as a source.

Most of the time, right when your toddler's development really starts to worry you, they'll have a growth spurt and their whole world changes. We went from really wishing Aime would talk to really wishing she would shut up

Silver

 

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They gave us a pamphlet on what the AVERAGE 2-year old will be able to express... The way I see it, if you're worried about it, there is no harm in getting your child assessed by someone who knows about these things. What's the worst that can happen, they tell you it's normal and to let him grow at his own pace?

I was a bit worried about mine too, then I figured she obviously understands every single word we're saying, and is probably trying to juggle 2 languages, figure out what words fit with which one. She's turning 2 in September and is really starting to take off in Spanish at least. Apparently Nana understands her in English, so good enough for me on that front too!

 

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I sure as heck wouldn't worry. In the same boat with my 2 year old. Been doing quite a bit of research and I won't start worrying until she's four. I know several parents who's children psoke gibberish until they were four, four and half and then started talking without speech therapy.


I think that people set the standard higher than it needs to be in this case a lot. My daughter comments her needs very well non verbally so why does she need to talk? (looking at it from her point of view)

 

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My youngest niece, Alyssa, spoke very little at age 2 and what she did say was not always understandable. The pediatrician did not seem alarmed and said she was well within the norm. Well when she turned 3 and was still not progressing my brother (at my Mom's insistence) took Alyssa to a hearing specialist. It was uncovered that she had profound hearing loss in both ears. She wears hearing aids and is now 9 years old. She had years of speech therapy and she has 'caught up'.

Always best to err on the side of caution especially where something like hearing or vision is concerned. Truly...


~Murron~

 

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