My 2 1/2 Year Old Son Understand Everything I Say Yet Has a Hard Time with Words

I think that it sounds like a good time to get him some early intervention speech assistance. Usually your local regional service or "search and serve" school in your district can direct you. It will just help him at a young age to develop some of the speech that is challenging him. It doesn't mean that he is delayed in intellect, he just might need some help with the speech. It can't hurt to investigate your options. Plus, he might have fun learning some of the sounds.

My daughter's son is younger and he wasn't speaking at all, but cognitively understanding everything. She taught him some basic sign so that he could communicate what he couldn't get out verbally. It reduced his frustration.

Best wishes.
J. K-V
www.AisForAutism.net

My son behaved just like yours when he was two. He pointed to everything he wanted and babbled. His pediatrition asked me if he had trouble with talking and I said yes, and the doctor referred me to a neurologist. Evan was diagnosed with high functioning autism. I didn't despair, but I contacted Tri-Counties Regional Centers in our area where we live, and after about 5 psycological tests, my son was referred to a special school where he attends pre-school, and summer school. A bus picks him up and brings him home everyday. My son has improved quite a lot since he has been attending this school. Evan still wears diapers, and that is ok. Tri-Counties will pay for diapers. Eventually, Evan will become potty-trained, when he is ready. Evan also gets SSI from the Social Security office. This helps us a lot. Evan is now 4 years old, and diagnosed at 2. Evan will be attending summer school again this year, and pre-school again next school year. Evan now is able to say many words, but he doesn't say sentences yet. I am 44 years old.

I hope that you will seek and get the help that you need with your son.

Mrs. T. L.

Hi Lyn,
I'm a Speech Language Pathologist. By age 2, a child should have the following sounds: /p,m, h,n,w,b,k,g,t,d,ng/ and others should be developing. They should be 50-75% intelligible (understood by you and others), should have approximately 50 words that they use, understand 500 or more words, make simple sentences like, "mommy go outside" "what's that?", use descriptive words like, hungry, big, hot, recognize pictures in a book and listen to simple stories.

If you are at all concerned that he is not at that level, I would recommend calling a local speech pathologist and getting an evaluation. If there is a problem ,EARLY INTERVENION IS KEY!!!!! I cannot stress this enough!

Being blingual WILL NOT cause a speech/language delay! So, keep on talking to him in both languages!!

I'm not sure where you live, but I have a speech therapy clinic in Huntington Beach. www.slpsinc.com or call ###-###-#### if you'd like to schedule an appointment.

You should contact your local Regional Center for FREE assessment and help. As another mom said, Early Intervention is key. My daughter didn't even say "mama" until she was 2 1/2 y/o. Regional Center helped us get her into speech therapy. Now she's 5 and doesn't stop talking. LOL.

I looked up the information for you:

The San Diego Regional Center serves the counties of Imperial and San Diego.
Carlos Flores, Executive Director
4355 Ruffin Road, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92123-1648
Telephone:###-###-####
Fax: ###-###-####
Web site: www.sdrc.org

Call them today.
M.

I wouldn't worry yet. All children develop different areas at different speeds, and boys tend to lag behind. And if he is understanding and not becoming frustrated (onviously with the "come on" thing he has figured out how to effectively communicate with you, which is great) I wouldn't worry about it. If anything, have his ears checked because often when kids babble it means they aren't hearing words correctly. But in my experience kids with developmental disorders have other signs such as increased frustration, lack of understanding, or lack of desire to interact with others in addition to speech problems, which it doesn't sound like he has.

To help him increase his vocabulary and improve pronunciation there are some really simple things you can do at home. When he points at something, say it for him. And repeat it in a way that encourages him to repeat you. When he uses single words to communicate expand them for him (for example he says "mama" and gestures to be picked up, you say "you want mama to hold you") into sentences- start with short, simple sentences. When he says somthing jumbled (that you understand, and you probably understand some of it that others would miss) repeat it slowly and properly. Resist the urge to repeat things in the way he says them (like my daughter calls bandaids "bean beans" and as hard as it is for me to do because it's cute, I don't repeat it).

I don't agree that being bilingual is contributing. If a child is raised bilingual they often have higher speech function than other children. However, if the second language was introduced later this sould cause some delay as the brain rearranges to compartmentalize the two languages. Either way, being bilingual and learning it at such an early age is such a great idea I wouldn't feel bad or discontinue it. However, you could make it more consistant by making sure he always hears the same language from the same person (ie mom always speaks English and dad always speaks other language, or whatever works best for you). This makes it easier for the child to know when to speak what so they don't have to stop and think about it.

Be patient, though. Go over the benchmarks listed in the post by the speech therapist, and if he has met all/most of them don't worry. It could also be that he just doesn't slow down enough to worry about what he is saying or how. But if you're concerned mention it to your pediatrician at the next checkup.

My son had the same problem and now has a speech delay. You can call children's hospital North county. It is in oceanside. They do speech assessments for free.
Audiology, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology

Rady Children's North County Center
4120 Waring Road
Oceanside, CA 92056
###-###-####
They are great and will help you out. They will also offer you classes and other services to help your son.
I hope it works out.

Hi Lyn:
All toddlers,go at their own speed.Some will pick up speech faster than others.Your correct,the fact your bilingual,could have him a little confused.What I have discovered,is that the longer adults converse with them in baby talk (babble),the longer it takes for them to catch on to proper english.It's so cute, and entertaining when our children begin to communicate with us.We parents,have been made fun of for centuries,by entertainers,who get laughs mimicing our goochie goos,and boo boo boos,Then we begin aping their mispronounciations. "Do you want a Bahbo? Do you want some gwapes? My son use to sound like Elmer fudd for years. He had trouble with certain letters.like Q. We took him to a pond,and mocked the ducks.(Quack quack quack we said) He repeated us loud in the crowd! #uck #uck #uck !!! It was so darn embarrasing!! Everyone was (Quacking) up,and we had to leave,as he was being encouraged by his audience to continue!When your son takes your hand and points,thats your (cue)Thats when you say the word discribing the object,and repeat it so he may learn it.Try to refrain from using baby words,and have patients in teaching him how to form his mouth to say a letter or word.Hes still very young,and hes just discovering some of the benifits of being able to speak to you.Hes where he should be at 2 1/2 The name of the game, is not to compare him to other 2 1/2 year olds. He is his own special little individual,who wants to go at his own speed,and as his mommie,your there to make sure,he feels free to do just that.The very best to you Lyn

Your son sounds completely normal to me. Speech develops differently in every child. And the bi-lingual part is probably delaying the speech too which is also common. Is he very physically active? A lot of kids who are very physically active (ie: early walkers) tend to have later speech. My friend's son is 2 1/2 and he is at a similar level as your son speech wise, but he was walking before 1yr and is very active. I wouldn't worry too much, just continue to encourage him to 'use his words' the more he practices the better.

Hi Lyn, it sounds like he may have a delay in speech, I would make an appointment wit his Ped, and see what he says, in the mean time, when he points at something he wants tell him use your words. A delay in speech has nothing to do with his intelegence, so don't worry there, my brother had the smae problem and what his doctor discoverd that under his toung that little piece of this skin was to close to the tip of his toung so he was not able to move his toung in order to freely talk the way he should have, so the doctor clipped, it and after the healing which at a young age was fast, his speech improved. J.