26 Month Old Is Hardly Speaking....

Dear N.,

I know exactly what you and your husband are going through. I have been going through it since my children were around 12 months of age. I recommend you taking him to DEC Developemental Evaluation Center. Call them and explain what is going on with him. They can help. If you have any further questions feel free to email me at ____@____.com.

thanks and good luck,
K.

1 mom found this helpful

Children I tell ya........They are the only thing on this planet that have us up, down turned around and on an emotional roller coaster all for their well being. I don't have any first had advice for you I have a 4year old daughter and girls seem to pick up speach a little quicker than boys. But I can share with you two of my closet friends and their battle with this same situatuin. One is my sister, she tried everything and her son only communicated with grunts until he was almost three. It may have been a number of things but I can tell you now he is 5 and has a better vocabulary than I do....lol On the other hand my best friend had the same issue and through treatment found out that their son was autistic. Just be rest assured that if you are doing everthing you can: working with him daily with words and sounds and continue to have evaluations done. There will be an end to this road. The one thing I have learned about children is that it never ends, One problem comes and goes and another one starts. There will always be something you battle with for your children and that is just a fact of motherhood. All the sweat and tears make us as strong as we are, and thats why the word MOM is one of the most respected, strong, and joyfull words.
I will be praying for you and your son.

Hi N.,

I can see you've gotten lots of responses about you son's speech issues. They are very good responses. The best thing you have done is get his hearing checked and his speech evaluated and are now working with a speech therapist. The speech therapist knows what she's doing - work with her, including doing all the home program stuff, even if it is hard sometimes. He might not want to do it, but like brushing his teeth, it has to be done. If you allow the home program to slide, he'll fight you even more.

Just a question - is there only one language being spoken at home? If you are bilingual, this could be part of the problem. Your therapist could address that issue.

Good luck with everything!

When my sister in law took her son in for a check up they told her that his pacifer is inhibiting him from speaking. They told her to not give it to him unless he is crying for it. Not sure if your little boy sucks on one, but thought I would let you know what they told her.

S.

My 18 month old is also making up her own language and totally disinterested in repeating. I know she is a little younger than your son, but I wanted to let you know that my much younger brother also did the same thing. He had his own words for lots and lots of things and never really cared what the real words were. Then one day out of the blue he started speaking in complete sentences! So hang in there I am sure he's fine!

This sounds very similar to what I went through with my second daughter. Her older sister (by exactly 2 years) was actually anticipating her wants and needs before she asked out loud. She felt no need to speak. It wasn't until her older sister began taking advantage of her lack of speech that our little started talking. She floored me one day when she said, very clearly at nearly three years old "That's mine, I didn't give it to her, Mama!" It literally put me on the floor, in shock. Before that moment I was convinced that she was autistic or had something seriously wrong with her that the doctors didn't see. Now she is a perfectly healthy, happy and gifted child. My advice would be to suggest to your son that he must not want things he isn't asking for, if (and only if) you see that perhaps you are not requiring him to speak up for what he wants and needs. On the other hand, if your son has had frequent ear infections (as is the case with my niece) then he may not have the same amount of "listening time" as a child his age. Ear infections in babies can cause a muffled sound and my niece spoke late and mumbles, but she is about to go to Kindergarten where they will help her with her speech. However, her doctor did suggest she get tubes in her ears even though she was older than most children who get tubes in their ears. It has been a huge benefit to the clarity of her speech. I do wish you and your son the best. I am a Ufwuf, Gants and Ama, to 3 beautiful little girls and wouldn't change it for the world.

My son is 28 months old, and has the same problems. The only difference is, he is VERY vocal at times, but when he's around more than one or two people, or strangers, he just clams up. He is VERY intelligent, and can operate complex programs on his computer, like Paint, Notebook, opening actual web pages and playing music samples, etc. He is such a brilliant boy, and shocks me sometimes! Once, he actually recognized WORDS, instead of pictures, on the tv, and pointed, and screamed..."MOM! BOB-BOB!!!"...translation: spongebob squarepants is coming up next. He also recognizes numbers, and even understands phrases I had no idea he could even comprehend. He is very active, and always into something...eager to learn how it works. He likes to learn by doing, not by seeing or hearing. He does have a bad habit of pointing and saying "Dis!"(this!), instead of actually saying what he wants, until I ask specific questions, where the answer is not, as I had hoped, the name of the object, but simply "Yes", when I say the right thing. Given everything else, I am highly confidant his lack of vocabulary is perfectly normal, and probably some sort of personality quirk. I would say, just coming from personal experience, just let him grow at his own pace. I refuse to take my son to a therapist, because they are meant to fix problems...and I don't see him as having a problem. As far as I recall, I was a very quiet child myself, rarely talking, and always with my nose in a book or some craft. When I reached 3rd grade, I was evaluated for the Academically Gifted classes, and was found to have a reading level and vocabulary at college level. As a mom, you should be able to detect if there are any real problems. Just use your best judgement, and I'm sure everything will be fine. Just be sure to be there for him, and be supportive when he finally makes progress. Of course, if he just clams up until he's 8, you know you have a problem.
Good luck with your son.

I know it's hard but try not to worry about it. My oldest son had a vocabulary of THREE words at age 3. He's been in speech therapy since the age of 2 1/2. He was 4 before he started talking a lot. Now at 5 1/2, he's still in therapy for pronuncation, but he never shuts up now! lol I'm sure it'll kick in soon and the therapy will help a lot. Good luck!

My son is 21 months old and refuses to speak. I contribute it alot to his paci. He is going through out County's Early Intervention program. Their great. They tested him, did the evaluation and now doing his therapy at our house. They come to us. They will also go to daycare as well.

Lots of kids don't speak until they're older and are just fine, your son could be one of these. I would continue to see the speech therapist, once they work with your son awhile, they may be able to say what's going on. Progress probably will be slow, but he is young, and by the time he gets to school should be doing fine. Definitely stay on top of this, but try not to worry too much! Oh, and just keep talking to him! Read to him, sing to him, but don't force it on him.

I don't want to excessively alarm you, but there could be some real problems. not that there always are some children just don't talk until they want to, and that could very likely be the case, I mean you cannot make him talk, but you might want to take him to a doctor and have him tested for autism and similar conditions. There is probably nothing like that going on, but it would be good to rule that out. You might also want to schedule him with the speech therapist one or two times per week so he can get reinforcement at home, but the therapist can really hone in on what the problem may be and help him develop his speech.

My sister son was the same way. Have you checked into autism? There are so many forms of it now that this could be just a mild disorder. Anyway it might be worth checking into.

I know exactly what your going through. My daughter is 3 yrs old and hardly talks. It is so embarissing, because people will ask her things and she just looks at them like there crazy. I know there is nothing wrong with her because she understands every word I tell her. I have tried getting her to repeat what I say, but she just ignores me. Even though it seems like she is ignoring me one day out the blue she will say the words I try to teach her. I even bought her the leap pad learning system, but she wont let me help her with it. She has to play with it by herself. She also did not start walking until she was 14 months old, but when she did start to walk she didnt go through the period when kids fall down. It was like she already knew how to walk. So I think she just soaks everything in until she is ready to express them. Hope this helps.

Hi N., It appears you are doing everything you can to help your son's vocabulary develop. My first thought was to get his hearing tested, but you have already done that. (I am an educator of students who are deaf/hard-of-hearing). I wonder if he has had several ear infections throughout his young life that would cause the delay. If so, his language development may seem slow, but as long as the doctor is treating the ear infections religiously, language will develop (repetitive severe ear infections are linked to hearing loss).

One of the big things I have suggested to parents to help vocabulary build is to talk to their child about everything. It may feel a little weird at first, if you are not already doing this, but everything from "We are driving the car. We are stopped at a red light. The light turned green; now we can go again. See the billboard. It is square and painted yellow and red. It says...." to "It's time for dinner. Let's make chicken. First we have to wash the chicken..." You get the idea. Turn everything into conversation. Ask your son questions that are more than "yes" or "no" and reward for responses (a cheerio or a block to start building with when he utters anything at first). Definitely practice the speech therapists ideas at home, even if it seems to not be working. At such a young age, tangible rewards may work to motivate your son- it does not have to be candy or stickers every time.

Language building is a HUGE task and it does take time. Feel reassured that you are a great mom and doing what you can to help your son. Your awareness that there might be a problem to tackle deserves a huge pat on the back. Know too, that some children just seem to develop a little slower than others. I bet by age 4 he will be talking your head off and then you will be asking him to be quiet. :)

My daughter wasn't speaking hardly at all either and when she did it was blabber. Her hearing was fine but the speech therpist said she was going to let her take speech classes. So she started taking speech classes and also started preschool at the school she would be going to for kindergarten and she talks like crazy. She says full sentences and learning so much. But since your child is only 2 I would just wait and see. Some children just don't talk much until they are 3 or 4. If the speech therpist didn't say anything about him needed classes then I wouldn't worry about it. In a year if he's still not talking well then I would go back to the speech therpist.

Hi -
I had a similar experience with my daughter who is now 16 and uses big words constantly!
She barely spoke at 2, but had excellent receptive vocabulary. Sounds like your child does too. We worked with her on saying a few important words like please, yes, no, more, bye bye, etc... and let the rest go. She caught up just fine. Really.
She holds her own in grown up circles for a while now!
A.

My brother's daughter didn't speak very much at all until she was almost 3. Yes we were very concerned and did the things that you are talking that you are doing. If the hearing is ok and he is making sounds I would think that he is just fine like they told you. When my neice did start talking we didn't get the cute momma, daddy, words. She started talking full statements. I guess she was just tring to take it all in until she could put it together. Keep up the good work and keep talking to him. He will be talking non stop one day soon.
Thanks
M.

As long as his hearing is fine, I wouldn't be too worried. Each child progressives at his/her own pace. And remember, boys are usually slower. My son had his own language for a long time. He finally started building his vocabulary around 2 1/2. He's 3 now and he still uses "pretend" words. Not very many, but a few. So, don't worry. As long as your son understands you and can communicate what he wants, I think he'll be fine.

My son is about the same age and I was so worried that he was never going to communicate. Of course I felt that way about everything. As mothers we worry. Nobody will every change that. My ped told me that as long as he understands and is making some effort, he will be fine. What I do is anytime he wants something I attempt to make him say it, especially when I know he knows the word. If he doesn't or says it wrong I just use the right word, without making him feel bad. I work, so my son is in daycare. As much as I hate to leave him there, I think being around other children helps as well. He uses phrases now, but he just needed to take his time about it. If you feel comfortable, you could try a mom's morning out program a couple days a week. Or some kind of mommy and me class. You would be surprised what the social interaction can do. Good Luck!

Every child learns @ his or her own pace. My daughter is 26 months old and has the same problem. Mostly because she is so stubborn and has a very aggressive manner about her.Everyday she'll surprise me with a new word or sentence. but sometimes wont use the words consistenly, I do alot of repeating and I also call everything around her by it's proper name ( no baby talk ) also her speech thearpist said to set down with her for 10 minutes a day with three items and when she learns the name of the three move on to three more items, and it seems to be working. why just yesterday she knocked on the door and said daddy I got toys. I didnt have a clue she knew what toys was.

My oldest, now four, was the same way. I put him in preschool earlier this year and he has gotten a lot better. My problem with him was he didn't speak and if he did you didn't understand a word he was saying. I did have him checked out(at 18 months) but he was only a few months behind. Now, his speech is clearer and he has started being animated in story telling and telling me about his day. I think he was just not ready to talk yet.

Now, my second who will be two next month, will not be quiet. He talks and talks and talks and he is very clear and tells me stories. What a difference!

They learn at their own pace and when they do start talking you just want them to be quiet sometimes!!!!