J.S. asks from Costa Mesa, CA on March 23, 2011
2 Year Olds Verbal Skills
Hi everyone. I am new here! So i hope I am doing this correctly.
I know you all aren't dr's, but I was hoping to get other mom's opinions about my 2 year olds verbal skills.
She says a few 2-4 word sentences, and says about 80-100 words.
The doctor said she's doing great. During that dr''s appointment my girl was cranky and I really couldn't talk to him in detail. Even though she says 80-100 words, they aren't full words. Like instead of bike, she will say bi. She doesn't do this with all of her words, but a lot of them. Baby is bay, bath is ba, night night is ni, house is how, and so on. But other words she says very clear....milk, go, now, cat, dog, dad, mamma, yeah, okay, no, and so on.
Is that pretty average for speech? I know all kids are different, but does anything jump out at you that sounds off or that you would worry about?
This might just be me completely freaking out, I don't know.
Thank you.
So What Happened?™
Oh my gosh, thank you! To answer a few questions she just turned 2 this month. The last 2 months she has had a word explosion, but thats when I noticed the dropping off at the end of her words. I have had her hearing checked and it came back fine, which I was happy about, and when she does drop off her words I repeat it the correct way. She usually just continues to repeat them her way. We read a lot together. I think I focused my worry on this in paticular because I was in speech therapy as a child, so maybe I just stress about it more then other things? She understands everything we tell her, and can follow directions. She's great with all her other milestones, and is very active. I appreciate all the suggestions too, and I will continue to work with her when she repeats me. I really do thank you all for responding. It's sort of like a weight is lifted off my shoulders that i'm not alone. I hope I was right when I assumed sending you all flowers was a good thing?
Featured Answers
S.M. answers from Washington DC on March 23, 2011
Is she a young two or an older two? I think that it sounds normal.She has vocabulary and uses it appropriately - her articulation is the problem and that will come with age. My newly three year old is still very hard to understand, but she talks non-stop. The doctor wants to watch her but says tha tas long as 50% is understandable, we are still okay. We will be reevaluating when she is closer to 3 and a half. Kids ARE different. My older child spoke like an adult at 18 months - full sentences and very clear with a huge vocabulary. Keep a dialog open on tis issue with the doctor, but I wouldnt' worry too much. It if more of an issue if you feel it is impeding her social interactions.
4 moms found this helpful
M.D. answers from Dallas on March 23, 2011
Nothing to worry about. A lot of children drop letters or replace them with other ones. This is totally age appropriate. My son is in preschool for speech delay, which he has just blossom in the past year. He was always at the bottom of the scale at the doctor's office, but my doctor wasn't too concern, she knew I was. On his assessment it did say he's age appropriate for most of his speech problems. What she is doing is very much age appropriate like i said. One thing that you can do, is repeat the word back after she says it. You have nothing to worry about.
3 moms found this helpful
More Answers
S.M. answers from Washington DC on March 23, 2011
Is she a young two or an older two? I think that it sounds normal.She has vocabulary and uses it appropriately - her articulation is the problem and that will come with age. My newly three year old is still very hard to understand, but she talks non-stop. The doctor wants to watch her but says tha tas long as 50% is understandable, we are still okay. We will be reevaluating when she is closer to 3 and a half. Kids ARE different. My older child spoke like an adult at 18 months - full sentences and very clear with a huge vocabulary. Keep a dialog open on tis issue with the doctor, but I wouldnt' worry too much. It if more of an issue if you feel it is impeding her social interactions.
4 moms found this helpful
C.R. answers from Kansas City on March 23, 2011
She sounds like she is right on track to me! She speaks more words than my 3 1/2 year old. My little just started speech therapy, so hopefully she will start talking better soon!
3 moms found this helpful
M.D. answers from Dallas on March 23, 2011
Nothing to worry about. A lot of children drop letters or replace them with other ones. This is totally age appropriate. My son is in preschool for speech delay, which he has just blossom in the past year. He was always at the bottom of the scale at the doctor's office, but my doctor wasn't too concern, she knew I was. On his assessment it did say he's age appropriate for most of his speech problems. What she is doing is very much age appropriate like i said. One thing that you can do, is repeat the word back after she says it. You have nothing to worry about.
3 moms found this helpful
A.J. answers from Williamsport on March 23, 2011
She sounds sharp to me. My first daughter was a very early advanced talker. She was saying complex sentences at 18 months. My son didn't say a word until 2 1/2. (he's now 3 and an awesome talker-I did not pay attention to advice to get any therapy knowing lots of boys who were at least that late). My 20 month old daughter says no full words either, but understands things perfectly. She only says, "Tah koo" for thank you and "maaa maaa" for Batman. Kids really do talk at all different times. If you aren't sensing any lack of comprehension for her level, I would not fret!
3 moms found this helpful
M.R. answers from Columbus on March 23, 2011
She sounds like she is right in the typical range. At two, you should not expect for her speech to be without errors or substitutions, and she is even a little ahead with sentences of more than two words.
Since it seems like she mostly drops the ends of words, the only thing I would suggest is that you have her hearing screened, especially if she has a history of ear infections. If she has fluid in her ears, she might not hear as well as she needs to so that she gets the longer words.
If her ears are fine, and she keeps adding more words, but her articulation does not improve over the next year, have an evaluation with a speech therapist, most articulation issues are easy fixes early.
If you are very worried, call ECI in your area, and have an evaluation, but also get a private speech evaluation too. ECI is there to make sure that she is functional, and she could fly through that without qualifying, but still need help from therapy.
As long as the content and intent of her language is typical, and she is using langague conversationally, you have little to worry about here.
M.
3 moms found this helpful
J.N. answers from Salt Lake City on March 23, 2011
This sounds completely, 100% normal for a two year old. That's a good sized vocabulary, and she's stringing words together. It doesn't matter that she doesn't say them right yet. By the time she's 3, she should be pretty intelligible to most people, but at 2 its common that only mom and close family (who are with her a lot) understand her. Just make sure you use the correct words when speaking to her, but don't try to correct her when she speaks, it'll make her self-conscious and she won't talk as much.
3 moms found this helpful
J.L. answers from San Diego on March 23, 2011
Hi Cheryl don't freak out, it sounds like she is so excited that she is not completing her words. I have a 2 year old in my daycare and her pediatrician said that by 2 years they should have a focabulary of 200 words, so her mom was feeling bad as well, I told her not to worry, and just work with her to use her words, and don't give into crying, or tantrums to get what she wants because if that works there's no need for words. Letting them point to get what they wat will hinder them as well, i did that with my first child, but as soon as a more experienced mom pointed that out to me I stopped. J.
3 moms found this helpful
S.G. answers from Dallas on March 23, 2011
Is absolutely normal. When our 2 yr old says an incomplete word, I just squat down in front of her so she can see/mimic my lips and break the word down then have her put it together. Example: she loves to use her pooter; so I squat and say " com-pu-ter" now she says the entire word. "mama computer please". The same goes for her having difficulty with the play, she was saying pay - so i broke it down for her to annunciate the P then the L, now she saying play. No worries your daughter is doing fine. Continue to break down the words and help her pronounce what she can't.
3 moms found this helpful
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