My 2 Year Old Says About 15 Words, He Comprehends a Lot Cognitively

My BRILLIANT and SUPERIOR and FLAWLESS and SPECTACULAR and BEAUTIFUL and INTELLIGENT whew! had to brag-son is turning 2 the 19th, and he says basically no words. DON'T WORRY! My two closest friend's sons said almost nothing until they were 3! This is completely normal and nothing to be worried about. My son has even quit saying some words he used to say. He has a massive vocabulary and will point to anything in the house or out the car window I name, but refuses to talk and even sounds like he can't talk-you know, that alien pronunciation thing. He uses a humming noise for EVERYTHING and is pretty great at giving it different inflections. I am absolutely not worried about it. He's got like 30 cousins -almost none of the boys spoke well at 2. Have no fear.

Good work getting him socialized but again, DON'T WORRY, as he gets older, he'll be around other kids. You're doing a great job and he's not as fragile as you think! Lots of kids don't have siblings and have full happy lives. He's lucky to have a mom with time for him and a dad there as well. The fact that you are sensitive to his need to break out and socialize speaks volumes and you'll give him lots of good experiences as he gets older. The socializing will come.

OK-I just went back and read these other posts-and thank god I never knew these certain words by certain months thingies or I would have been freaking out. Speaking later than two-or "late development"-is completely common. I'm still not worried. You can probably MAKE him talk sooner with therapy, but again, most toddler boys I know don't talk much before 3.

1 mom found this helpful

My former boss once told me this story. His niece was worried about her little one who was behind in speech. She went to the dr. for an evaluation. The doctor said, "Aren't you a teacher?" When the mom said she was, the dr. told her to stop anticipating her child's needs! My daughter were together all the time, too. I could read her pretty well, but I tried to remember this story. When I used to try to "teach" language to my daughter, she would get this look on her face like I was killing all the fun. So I just tried to engage her as much as possible, ask questions with choices instead of yes or no, things like that.
Good luck.
Martha

Hi L., Don't stress out about the talking! My youngest was 3 before she said much at all. Then she just started talking in complete sentences...it's like she was saving up until she could blow us all away! She went from silent to Marathon Mouth in the blink of an eye. As long as he can follow at least 2 step directions and can understand your desires and basic rules he'll be fine. You might look into a part-time daycare (a couple of hours a day for a couple of days a week) to get him out with children his own age, but other than that my advice is to relax and enjoy...children grow up so fast!! Best wishes.

I would highly recommend getting your son familiar with your local libraries. Our county has a huge website with all their branches listed with all the different Story Time classes they have available. I am in the Philly suburbs and here the story time classes consist of both reading and singing, some instruments, etc.

I've also had my son in a music class which can be helpful.

I did find out that my son is autistic back in April when he turned 2 and had zero language and had been in physical therapy for low muscle tone. The best thing you can do for your child is to get them around other children as much as possible.

I wish you luck.

My son, who is 2 & 1/2, is in the same situation. We had him evaluated by Bancroft and he became eligible for speech therapy. His speech therapist comes once a week and basically plays with him. She started by getting him to say sounds....zoom, zoom for car etc. She also would not let him have something until he made an attempt to ask for it. For example, she would not open her bag of toys until he attempted to say "open". In NJ, therapy is run by the state until age 3 and then by the school system thereafter. I would suggest you talk to your pediatrician to get him evaluated. If he qualifies, I think it would be greatly beneficial. Good luck!

Definitely check out what your library has to offer for toddlers. I'll bet they have lots of stuff. This is kind of a tough age (esp. for an only--I have one. By the way, there's nothing wrong with having an only! It's great to be able to concentrate on one "perfect" kid! LOL) to find activities--they're too young for pre-school. The library is great. Also, as far as the books, keep reading to him...even if he's playing nearby or seems to loose interest. Kids pick up a lot of language skills just by listening to the words, cadence, voice inflection, etc.
If you feel the speech delay is significant, you can get him evaluated by Early Intervention and he may be entitled to speech therapy. Sometimes they can even come to your house! Check it out if you feel his delay warrants it. It will be no cost to you at all. Certainly couldn't hurt anything. Good luck and God Bless!

My son was the same way...much more active and less verbal. (I have to laugh at the suggestions of library storytime..when I would take him there he was the one kid who wouldn't settle down..wanted to climb up on the stage..throw the pillows!) I too was worried about a language delay. Turned out I worried for nothing because all of the sudden he started to talk...and in full sentences. I want to say he was close to 3 yo when this happened. So my advice is to just keep doing the things that you are doing. The verbal WILL come.

My son was very similar at 2 years old, he was saying even less than 15 words, however my Dr. just thought he would be a late talker (I was the same way). But I was concerned and wanted to make sure nothing was wrong so we contacted Early Intervention and he qualifed, which didn't surprise me since he was talking so little. But he knew everything and my Dr said that a child's intelligence isn't about how much they say but how much they know. Once he started speech therapy his languauge just sky-rocketed. I definitely feel our speech therapist helped this process, but I now think my Dr was right and he was just a late talker. It can never hurt to contact Early Intervention, but keep in mind that just because he isn't saying too much now he's behind...he may just be a late talked. My son recognized all his letter by 2 1/2 and was spelling his name before then. He now talks non-stop and I can't believe that we were ever concerned about his speech. I would suggest contacting Early Intervention, b/c it's better to get it checked out now, but don't worry...you're not alone and in our case it turned out to not really be as big of an issue as I thought. When he was reevaluated at 3 years old...he was found to be way ahead of where he should of been at 3...so it worked out well.
Good luck!

L.,

Check the libraries in your area. Almost every library in delco has story and play times grouped by ages. Story time is an awesome way to introduce the love of books and reading + developing language skills. The story groups I have gone to are great, singing, stories and play time!

Just for peace of mind...I'd also check with Early Intervention. I took my 4 year old due to some articulation issues as he was about to enter preschool. You can find them through the state for a 2 year old. Once he turns 3, it's through the school district's intermediate unit.

Hi L.~

I am SOOOOOO with Amy J on this one. I, too, fretted about my son's development at about the same age as your son. My mom swears I talked at 10 months, and my son's father is brilliant, so I just figured my son would be telling stories by the time he was 2. Well he wasn't. In fact, he didn't say much at 2. Like your son, my son has always been super-physically active and capable, as I think is common for boys... to be very physical, and not so verbal. View that as a strength for your son. Also like your son, it was evident that my son understood a great deal, but just didn't develop his expressive language skills as early as I expected him to.

My son is now nearly four, and his preschool teacher and others tell me what a wonderful vocaulary he has, and he does. And not because I over-focused on getting him to talk or learn. We just went about our lives, doing the things we enjoyed. Give your son lots of experiences, talk to him all the time about what you're doing, what you're seeing (which I am sure you're already doint)... let him respond however he can, pointing, gesturing, or just let him take it all in, as I have no doubt he's doing. Before you know it, he will be talking your ear off.

It is natural to be concerned. And with all the information out there about the "milestones" kids should be reaching by whatever age, it is easy to get panic-y about development. If your son is active and participates in his world, if he clearly understands you and can respond to directives, he's fine. Enjoy him being who he is... your active, loving, PERFECTLY NORMAL little boy. (And I mean that in the most positive way!!!)

I'm a SAHM of a 2 yr old boy & a 9 month old boy. My two year old talks a lot. I don't know if this is just his personality or if its something I've done. I think a lot of it is personality. However, one of the things I've done that seems to have made a big difference is story telling. I tell him stories about everything we are doing or are going to do. Ex. Once upon a time a boy named Charlie & his brother sam woke up this morning. Then they had pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast they will get dressed, go in the car and go to the library.
I've found that this kind of story telling has 2 advantages. It preps him for what is happening next in our day & for some reason his is more willing to do something if I tell him about it in story format instead of just telling him to do it. And I believe it has increased his vocabulary. He now tells me stories about his day & things he would like to happen.

I do a site www.4pakids.com and have posted tons of events for kids in pa. The library free story times are great, and also St. Marys hospital does a free mommy and me mini preschool for his age, it's so cute, my daughter loved it, they also have free cooking classes from time to time.My husand is obsessed with music and my daughter was an early talker and now I know why, therapists say kids music helps promote speaking and singing, so make some kid mix c.d.s for the car and for dance music parties at home, I can always mail you one of the 100's my husband makes, he uses all of the songs from her favorite shows and incorporates our songs that are repetitive on there too.

J.

Talk to the pediatrician and get a speech evaluation asap. Sometimes takes weeks/months to get one done. Sounds like my son but he spoke even less words, he started speech at 2 and will be having speech classes for many years to come.

My son who is almost 4 now was the same way (my 2 daughter who are much older, talked early). He only would say a few words until his 3rd birthday, then right at his birthday he started talking in full sentences non-stop. As long as you see progress in him, like he can start to pick out colors and he keeps saying the words that he is now saying, I wouldn't worry. Soon you be saying that he never stops talking. Good luck and enjoy.

In addition to agreeing with Early Intervention evaluation and library programs I wanted to just share that both of my kids didn't really start talking until just after they turned two. I dicussed my concerns with the pediatrician. She felt since they understood simple directions, used facial expressions and gestures, recognized/responded to their names and other words that there was probably nothing to worry about. She agreed to set up an evaluation at age 2 1/2 if they hadn't shown any progression/additions to their vocabulary. That wasn't necessary as they soon "got on track".

Have you tried having him do "real world" activities with you? I remember my SIL used to "read" the grocery store ad with my niece as she was writing her list. She would say she needed help finding some items and my niece would point to what she was asked to find (apple, milk, cookies, carrots, etc). Look for ways to incorporate language learning into your day without relying solely on books. Perhaps you will find something that catches his interest.

I would contact early intervention as well. My son was about 16 months when I called them and he was only saying a handful of words. He was supposed to be saying more than 20 by 18 months and more than 50 by 2 years. HE qualified and they found he was forming some sounds incorrectly causing him to just not speak much, and they did some exercises and his language took off like you wouldn't believe. He was still not speaking 20 words at 18 months, but by 20 months he was starting to talk in sentances and he turned two on sunday and is now speaking in 7 to 8 word sentances and has well over 100 words in his vocab. Obviously he graduated from EI and that was when he was about 21 months old. I am so glad I called. I am sure eventually he would learned it and figured out on his own how to do it correctly but it is so much better now that he can talk. He is happier and loves to tell stories now. I would definitely get an evaluation. It can only help! Blessings,

My son is 23 months old and speaks LESS than 15 words. I contacted birth to three and they evaluated him. He had a 55% deficit in speech so now he has a speech therapist come over 2ce a month. On the first visit he added the word "pop". While I agree with everyone that your child could be a late developer, there is sometimes a physical reason they are not speaking. After a couple visits, my therapist realized my son is not using it tongue correctly. He doesn't lift it (like to lip his upper lip for instance). There are a lot of letters we need to use our tongue for so we are now working to get him to use his tongue by encouraging him to make faces, lick PB off the roof of his mouth, stimulation with toothbrush, etc. I am just trying to say that an evaluation is worth the time. You might find he isn't as bad as you think, or you might find that your child qualifies and some work will help him get back to "normal". One of the keys my therapist mentioned was to encourage use of words that your child knows. Make him/her use those words (don't give in). So if your child knows drink make him/her say it before you give it to them. Then PRAISE for the use. My son has to either say a word or do an appropriate sign. It is hard for me not to give in but he needs to know that communication is expected. Good luck and I hope this helps.