2 year old not talking...

[belacmsage]

Hi. Hoping for some help with this one. My 2 year old DS will not talk. He will say a word once or twice and then never again. To communicate he babbles but mostly just whines about things. He will point to things that he wants sometime too. There is nothing wrong with his hearing and he understands what we are saying. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to stop whining and start talking? We have him set up to meet with a speech therapist next week but my sanity may not last that long. Thanks!  

[Virginia Mom]

Some kids just learn at their own pace.  With our DS, we use 'home made' sign language ...just three or four gestures ....for more, for hungry, for thirsty, stuff like that..........don't forget the reward/bribery system (it goes both ways, but it's whatever works for you).Also, I know you mentioned a speech therapist, but depending on where you live, there is a program called child find...check with your pediatrician for a referral.......one program is for 2-5 and another for 5 and up.......

[Peony]

Early Intervention goes up to children aged 3, after that it (in most states) it switches over form the school district for services. Having had 3 children that were slow to talk and now having them being 9,5, and 3, I would not hesitant to call and get all the help I could. My oldest two did not end up getting help until they were older and we are still dealing with significant articulation issues in my 5 year old. I praise you for seeking out help now! My 3 year old communicates at a 24 month level, he has been getting weekly speech therapy since 19 months. 

Whining may be all the communication your DS can do right now. He isn't doing it to be annoying although I certainly know it can be! A speech therapist who gets to know your child, will have the best suggestions for what you can do at home. Although, beware of ones that urge you to ignore the child until they speak. It isn't always that easy for them.

[marsupial-mom]

Originally Posted by belacmsage 

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get him to stop whining and start talking?

Yup!

When my son was younger he wasn't talking and so the people at Early Intervention gave some suggestions to get him to talk more. Now he talks up a storm. Here's what they said:

- Every morning and night go around the house saying good morning or good night to everything. Example "good morning toy blocks" "good night stairs" etc.

- Use a sippy cup with a straw to help develop the adult mouth shapes and swallow, which is necessary for many sounds

- Call friends and family and let him hear them talk to him through the phone. Have them ask him questions. Do the same thing with pretend phones and play together.

- Read aloud everyday. Point to pictures in the book and say the name for the thing you point to.

- Put his hands on your mouth as you say words so he can feel and see your mouth move to make the sounds.

- Play with bubbles. The blowing part is fun and exciting and encourages specific mouth shapes etc.

- Narrate your life. Talk to your kid constantly about anything.

- Limit screen time.

- Socialize with other kids his age and a little older who talk.

[MsDolphin]

I think some children use words later than others, especially boys.

My DS is 2 next week and only says about 12 words (sign and speak). He's been doing EI for about 6 months, I honestly don't think it's made a difference, but he enjoys the time with the gal.

I have 3 friends with boys 1 -  1.5 years older than my DS. Only one of them spoke words when they were 2. Now that they are all 3, they all speak. Although not very clear.

I think as long as they can communication and nothing is "wrong", ie hearing, mental development, etc, I think it's fine.

[~Adorkable~]

i have 20month twins, neither is talking at all yet (they have recently learned a handful of useful signs and love them) we have a EI evaluation in 2 weeks and i am counting the days. we also have a full hearing test next week. you may want to start with that. i have heard from a handful of moms that had late talkers and it was because  they kids had some fluid on the ears so what they were hearing was garbled, so what came out of them was garbled too! 

my kids "talk" soo soo much, its just not english at all, so i really do wonder if there is a hearing issue. they have all the inflection and intonation and body langue and everyone keeps saying how that is great and the words will follow right behind, but that has been happening for many months now. 

so i have decided that it is ok to be proactive and worry i bit and get help from professionals to rule out anything.

[treegardner]

At 2 DS was barely talking as well, but he understood so much and had very good nonverbal communication.

 

[belacmsage]

Thanks for the advice ladies. I will try some of it out and see if it works.

[luckiest]

DS sounds a lot like yours, Adorkable.  He's 21 months and since he was abut a year old, everyone has remarked on how vocal he is and has said he'll be speaking in sentences any day...but he only has a few words now, and he doesn't use them often.  It has made me wonder about hearing, and we're bringing it up at our ped appointment this week.  He babbles ALL day long, with intonation and inflection, with gestures and facial expressions.  He'll point at something and look from it to me, like he's telling me story about it, but all babble.  I've also noticed that he reuses the same unintelligible phrases over and over, and they must mean something to him, but I can't understand at all.

Also something to consider, I was reading recently about toddlers, and boys specifically, who are kinesthetic learners and take longer to develop language because they are so physically motivated.  They're usually high energy, spirited kids.  The example they gave was that they'd rather climb over the table to get the toy than ask for it.  That fits DS's behavior exactly - it's like he doesn't even consider that using words is an option.  

[~Adorkable~]

i am highly kinesthetic, so i really get that one!   i have a lot of training in NLP and i can already see, even without words how differently my kids are, he seems mostly kinesthetic, were she seems to tend towards the visual thinking, basing this on body language and eye movement, it will be interesting to se how this morphs and grows over time

[~Adorkable~]

had their hearing appointments today and can happy say that both tested out perfectly on the hearing side of things. while i would have liked a straight forward answer, i'm even happier to know they are so wonderfully healthy

[colleentara]

I know this is an old thread....but maybe someone could tell me the best route to get an early intervention appointment? Do I go through my doctor? I can't seem to find this online... Thank you!,

[~Adorkable~]

 you can google "   _____ county infant and toddler early intervention program " for your local area, it is usually thru the county school system, you can self refer once you find the right place

[~Adorkable~]

also just found this that is helpful

http://www.nectac.org/contact/ptccoord.asp

[Parker'smommy]

Ask your pediatrician. I have Kaiser, so we have a full speech pathology department and audiology departments. I needed a referral from my Pediatrician for the Speech pathology evaluation, but was able to self refer for the audiology ( hearing test) evaluation. If you can't see a private speech pathologist, or audiologist, your pediatrician will most likely have the contact information for your local Early Intervention. Some states and counties require a referral, and others don't. Good luck!

[sageowl]

My DS was basically non-verbal until about 2.5.  We started speech (through Early Intervention) just after his second birthday.  I didn't see much change for the first 6 months, but after that, there seemed to be steady progress over time, and then he really started to pick up steam.  I think part of it is becoming more confident, and part of it is just becoming more mature cognitively.

The sign language definitely helped fill the gap until he was able to talk better.  Reduced the frustration level big time!  (I taught him real ASL--you can get books at the library if you're interested in going this route).  It was nice to have SOME idea what he wanted.  Don't worry about signs interferring with learning to talk--they don't.  The kid will start to phase them out when speech becomes easier.

DS is almost three now, and still very hard to understand, but at least now he's attempting to speak, and picking up new words all the time.  We're going to start private speech therapy soon since we now have insurance that covers it.  EI is great, but I think he needs more time than he's getting.

[colleentara]

Thanks everyone! My oldest (now 4.5 ) was a late talker, but not this late.... My 2 year old only says 10 or so words (?) and not very well ... Seems to hear fine and comprehend. We do sign and he can do those too. I just want to make sure I act soon enough.