2 Year Old Not Talking

Hi E.,
I'm not a professional yet but I have taken a few courses on child development and just as a general rule, at two years of age children should be talking in two word sentences, simple things such as "More juice", "want cookie" etc.
Have you had his ears/eyes checked to rule out any hearing/vision problems? Your pediatrician could recommend a speech/hearing specialist to conduct a thorough assessment of your son's development.
I'm sorry if I'm not offering any new or economic options, but just to be on the safe side it might be worth having his audition checked.
Good luck and God bless.

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You might try simple sign language. The Baby Einstein video on that is pretty good. Both my kids try to mimic the words and signs.
I'm not sure what your experience with ECI was, but they offer services on a sliding pay scale, so it should be affordable. We had good experiences with the Denton County group. Is it possible to go to a different group?
Boys often talk late. If his vocabulary hasn't expanded by the time he's 2 1/2, you might check back with the pediatrician.

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You might ask your docter the next time you go, but my cousin little boy was about 2-2 1/2 before he started talking and now he doesnt shut up..haha. What I would do (my cousin did) was when they want something and point at it, tell them what it is and make them atleast try to say it before you give it to them. but deffently ask your dr about it. good luck!

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I would suggest that you go to your school district or local elementary school and see what they can offer/suggest. Some districts have programs for At Risk Pre-K kiddos....I think it's called PPCD?

I would also suggest going to a teachers' supply store like Teachers' Tools or the Learning Store and get the activity books for Pre K. Start with basics.

Good luck!

I have a cousin who's son had the same problem. Alot of times children get lazy when their parents or other caretakers do all of the talking for them. It is always good to ask lots of questions. If they do not answer, keep asking what they think or say "what" "I can't hear what you said". My daughter is 2 and very intelligent. I ask her lots of questions and always expect an answer. She loves to be told she is so smart after talking. Giving lots of praise always works. Children have to learn to speak through trial and error. We cannot communicate for them, it just holds them back. Tell the nanny to ask your son lots of questions. DO you read to him? Read books and ask questions. Like, "What is this animal?" "What color is that?" They love to be involved.

Good Luck and God Bless,
B. B.

Hi E., sorry to hear about your situation! I had a son who is speech delayed. The think about speech delay is unless you know WHY the child is delayed, it is hard to treat yourself. There are many different reasons why a child is delayed and they have very different therapies. It could be a motor planning issue, it could be a recall/retrieval, apraxia, etc.

I do understand the financial issues here....trust me! I would recommend you try ECI again and see if you can request another therapist or speak up with what you are unhappy about.

Until you know why your son is a late talker....I think it would be really, really hard to treat yourself. Most speech people, have Masters Degrees in therapy.

Good luck!

Take away sippy cups. I teach preschool and I have learned that little trick from much more seasoned teachers. Several of my boys in the class were slow to speak but once we took the sippy cup away, they started communicating. I am talking about taking it away all together and letting your child drink from a regular cup all of the time. Even if you are not one to let your child carry a sippy around all of the time, it still makes a difference. Try it, who knows!

It doesn't help everyone so I highly recommend looking into the therapy within the local school district. Call the school closest to you and speak with the counselor. They do the application and start testing the children.

E., contact your public school that is close to you. they have programs to help and it is free. I do daycare and had a little boy who did the samething, mom and dad thought for ever that he was doing what mom did when she was little turned out that when he went into preschool they also told them just as I had mentioned his speech problem, his sister is doing the same thing now and the Dr said get her tested and get started. What ever Elem school you are close to contact them and tell them you want to find out about the speech therapy that the ISD offers K.

Hi Easter,

I have an in-home day care. I have a 2 yr old little girl that says every word she hears. She will carry on a small conversation with me. I think it really helps that I am able to teacher her instead of putting her into a day care center. We do allot of flash cards for objects, colors, numbers, and abc's. She sings along with allot of children's songs.
I don't want to sound like I am boosting about my daughter. I just wanted to offer you my in-home day care and see if you are interested. He could come for the whole week or just a few days. He would get interaction with other kids his age and learn from them as well. It's amazing how children mimic each other. We have allot of fun and I do allot of the same thing as day care centers, but with more one on one attention and patience. I have worked with children for many years, and feel this is my gifting. I am CPR and first aid certified and am listed with the state to provide in home care. Let me know if you are interested. You can reach me at ###-###-#### or email me at ____@____.com

Thanks,
M.

Ester I have 4 kids, and my 31 month old son just now started to talk. They all start at different times. I was worried because my 20 month old daughter started talking before he did...just remember that all kids develope differently and I do not think that your son has anything wrong with him. Some children just need more time.

Hi E.!

Please, don't worry. I had the same problem with my son. The only difference - I spoke to him Russian and my husband English. My husband was worrying all the time. But my pediatrician was saying: "Wait till he turns 3! Speech therapist will not help you anyway until your child will turn 3!" And magic happened. He started talking at 2.5 years! So, just love your child and believe in him!
All the best,
T.

Hello,
I have twins boy and girl. Watching the developement is very interesting. I think your little boy sounds perfectly normal. Girls develope langauge skills faster than boys do. Boys usually can build and take things apart & develope their mathematic skills first. It's just normal brain developement. He will learn to talk more and more, it just doesn't happen as fast as we'd like it to. It will come a little by little over time. Enroll into a mothers day out program or something so he can be around other kids his age and be able to be social with his peers. Just like a couple of days a week or something. Give him time. Read to him a lot. He will talk before he starts kindergarten. Unless of some medical issue. Otherwise he sounds like a normal 2 year old boy.

Hi E.,
My advice is to do a little behavior therapy with him to get him to see that talking gets him rewards. try withholding things from him until he makes a sound for them and then give them to him. Also, you can use edibles for this if he has some favorite treats. ie- if he imitates your "m" sound he can have an m&m. He needs to see that communication is essential for getting what he wants/needs to motivate him to try to communicate. I do floor time/behavior therapy with kids with autism and so work on speech a lot and this kind of program works well with typical kids also. Feel free to write back if you would like more information!
T.

Hello E., i too know what you are going through, i have a two year old son as well, who is going through the sme thing, he was only saying his brother's name, mommmy, and daddy, and Mcdonald's. I took my son to a doctor who found that he has an abnormalty on the left side of his brain that causes his speech to be limited, and prescribed medication for him. Now I don't know that this is your case, but I hope and pray that you find the right help for your son. Call the medical support, i.e. C.C.M.S., they can assist you in a speech therapist, and they are certified.
Just don't give up hope, there are many programs out there available but get those Sesame Street videos, watch Dora with him. And maybe it could be that he is shy.

Hi E., Just my opinion but I'm surprised the hospital said he needed therapy so early. Lots of little boys, especially first children, are slow to talk. My son had said a few more words by the age of 25 mos but by no means repeated alot or talked alot. Now, at 3.5 he talks all the time (at home, he is shy in public sometimes). He is definitely introverted around large groups so your son may be introverted and not feel the need. Some kids really aren't interested. I do know that you need to be careful to ensure he has a need to talk (i.e don't give him everything he needs without him needing to ask for it in some way). It just seems a little early to be too worried but thats just my opinion. Good luck!

I would call the public school system. You may have to navigate a little but I think most of them have a very early childhpood intervention speech program. It is free. It may start at age 3. What does your pediatricain say? Also, some of the local colleges ,for some reason UNT comes to mind, may have a speech program and may need students and may not charge much.. Also, contact Scottish Rite hospital and ask if they have anything. Good luck

I will not have much new to add except that I have a 3.5 year old daughter who was also not talking at 2 years old and everyone told me not to worry. She'll talk when she's ready. I've seen a few people say that here. But I want to encourage you to listen to your heart on this. If you are worried then seek help because the earlier you get help the better for the child. And if it turns out you didn't really need it, then no harm done. But if it turns out to be a real problem, you've intervened early and that's so important for those kiddos with a problem. My daughter by the way has a real problem that will probably require speech therapy throughout her elementary school years and if I hadn't started speech therapy when I did, she probably wouldn't be talking now. Nobody could tell us for sure when we first started whether there was a problem or not. It's just difficult to tell sometimes. We worked with ECI from the time she was 18 months - 3 years and then at 3 yrs. she started preschool and speech therapy through the school district -- all free. She's made alot of progress but still is very difficult to understand. In fact, I ask my 2 year old to interpret all the time.

I know you talked about not liking ECI, and I wasn't thrilled with it either. But it was something until my daugher turned 3. But I will tell what a ped neurologist told me. He said that being around kids his own age that are talking is probably as good as anything at this age. Perhaps you could try to get him into a mothers day out or something like that so he can socialize more. In fact, at 24 months my daughter had no words and at 26 months she started mothers day out. About 6 weeks later we heard her first word.

Good luck to you.

Your local school district will provide pre-school with speech therapy if he qualifies. Call the special education dept and ask to have him tested. They have programs starting at 2 or 3 year old, I think. Don't fret too much. My daughter did not talk until she was about 2 years 4 months, and now I cant get her to stop. She never said words. She started talking in sentences.

Ester, You may want to ask your pediatrician or whoever diagnosed him at Presby Plano about getting speech for your son, without the insurance coverage. If you live in Plano they do provide ECI at some of their public preschools (don't know if these are the same people you had a bad experience with). As far as home activites--reading to your baby, playing children's music for him, playing peek-a-boo or anything that will increase eye-contact and interaction with you can help promote communication. Good luck.

My son is behind speaking-wise as well. We are doing ECI (for feeding problems) and so far, so good. We found out that my son loves the computer so we show him pictures on the computer and he has started identifying more.
We also sing a lot to him which seems to have helped some.
Good luck