Delayed speech 2-year-olds

Hi everyone,

I was talking with another twins mom recently who also has a pair that just turned two. I was saying that I was stressed about my boys' level of spoken speech and she says something like, 'yeah, my twins don't really use two words together and can only count to ten in english and spanish and say their alphabet in english and sign language'. I was like, 'really? that's terrible. My boys only have about 5 freaking words!' Talk about not getting it.

Anyway, my pediatrician isn't concerned and we're working with the boys on exercises and their receptive speech understanding is off the charts. So it's frustrating, but I'm not really worried. I just would like to see if there's anyone out there to commiserate with. It seems like anyone I talk to is concerned about their kids language and then I find out it's their 16-month old that isn't yet using complete sentences.

Sam has five spoken words - mommy, daddy, hi, bye, no and a few sign language words. His babble sounds like real conversation.
Alex has a few more - the above plus baby, ball, up, down, and back. He's responding really well to the speech program we're using at home and will occasionally repeat sounds back to us. His babble is more of repeating the words he knows over and over and then 'nonsense' syllables.

 

They will get it!! When my14 yr old was 2 he did not even say dada. He did not talk at all. I was so worried. We put him in speech therapy and had his hearing tested I seriously thought he was either deaf or born without vocal cords or autistic. Our pedi was not concerned either but I thought it was because he just didn't get the severity of the problem! BUT - Jared talked when he was ready to. Kids do things at different rates. Our speech therapist just told us to say things as we did them for example if I handed him a cup I would say cup and ask him to say cup. At first he did not but it got to where he would. As far as that other mom goes, I bet there are things that your kids did before hers and it is not that your kids don't get it, it is that they just don't vocalize what they get but they will. My son is 14 now and honestly the smartest of my boys (academically speaking, his attitude is a whole new story lol!!)

 

Both of my boys are speech delayed, too. At their 18 month check up the NP who was assessing them thought they should have had many more words than they had... I thought she was nuts but went down the path of early intervention to be sure and I'm really glad we did. They received in home speech services 2 times a week and they are now enrolled in pre school through our school district. Their receptive speech is also off the charts but their expressive is way delayed and it can be so frustrating (for everyone!) I hadn't really worry about their speech until that NP pointed out to me that they really should have been further along. I thought she was nuts because they were only 18 months and I figured they were going to "get it" at any time. The speech services has been a great experience for us. They're still not speaking at their age level but they've made tremendous progress. We are doing all that we can to help, which is huge when you see your kids struggling like that. If you're concerned at all, I would definitely get them evaluated- it doesn't hurt to look into it... Good luck!

 

My girls had no words until 25 and 27 months. I mean nothing, they didn't even really babble. But their receptive language was great and I never even had them evaluated. Late talking runs in my family. My second singleton didn't talk until 22 months, my father was over 2, my maternal uncle was 2.5. So at 25 and then at 27 months they started to talk (and one of them has never shut up for a minute since), and they progressed very rapidly. They are in second grade now, and are advanced in language skills. Some kids just like to have a lot to stay before they start talking.

 

Oh my goodness. It drove me up the wall when I talked about my 2.5 yo speech delayed kids and someone says 'oh I get it, mine don't speak in full sentences yet, still only 3 or 4 words'. Seriously? Mine didn't even put 2 words together at the time (they had maybe 30 words or so), and at that age all that is expected is speak 50 words, start using pronouns and speak in 2-3 words sentences. It's tough though because it just takes a few very speech advanced kids to make you feel awful, and oh my gosh, other moms bragging about what their kids say is the worst. Ugh.

Honestly in your case I would contact Early Intervention. It doesn't hurt to have them evaluated to know where they stand. They helped my kids a lot. Their pedi was worried at 18 months because they didn't have any word yet (it's kinda funny how pediatricians seem to have different opinions on speech too). So we contacted EI and they were both pretty badly delayed (about 8-10 months), but their understanding was pretty poor as well (we speak two languages so it wasn't really a surprise though). 1.5 year later they're 'only' 3 and 6 months behind. I continue private speech therapy with DD because she's the worst off. DS doesn't speak much but he can do 3-4 word sentences now (forget grammar haha). DD mostly does 2 words and her pronunciation is pretty bad, but at least she's very vocal and knows how to make her needs known.

I haven't really noticed the 'language' explosion everyone is talking about though. It's been pretty slow. Sometimes they surprise us with a couple new words or by putting one more word together, but it took a while to get here. I'm still worried about it but it doesn't seem to be a problem in school yet and I'm sure they'll catch up eventually... it doesn't help mommy guilt though.

 

My DS was about the same at 2. He only had about 10 words at the age of 2. His reception seemed okay, but he was easily frustrated since he couldn't communicate well. We had him evaluated twice by a speech therapist. We took a "wait and see" approach and worked on some exercises at home. The speech therapist dismissed him because he was gaining vocabulary at a regular pace (he just started late). He is over 2.5 now and talks a lot. He uses 3 word sentences on a regular basis (I did it, I want up). We saw the ped a few weeks ago, and she has no concerns about his development now. He is not on the same level as our DD, but he is making regular progress. GL!

 

:hush: that is my kids...have maybe 5 words at 2.5....I am not saying i am not concerned (they get speech 3 times a week) just saying I'm with u!! :wine:

 

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This was very comforting!!

:thanks: :thanks: :thanks:

This was very comforting!!

 

One of my boys has been getting speech therapy for about 6 months, and the other one we call the 'mouth of the south' They were born at 28 weeks, so I was always aware of the fact that we would have a good chance of dealing with some type of developmental challenges. My Andy doesn't stop talking, ever. He talks while awake, he talks in his sleep, he wakes up talking, he passes out at night talking. His speech is near perfect, he says sentences, he asks questions, he knows numbers, colors, he can name every Wiggle, every Disney character, he repeats everything we say, and on and on. I love him dearly, but some days I wish he had a mute button :hush:

My Will is the polar opposite. He really has had some speech challenges, but both our speech therapist and I really agree that as he gets older most of his lack of talking stems from personality. In addition to the concerns I had about Will's speech, both of my boys were having (and still have) feeding and mild sensory issues. I called our local early intervention folks and they hooked us up with some of the greatest people around. At 18 months, Will wasn't saying anything. No sounds, no ba's, no da's, nothing. And I was getting worried about his receptive abilities, too. Anytime I would ask him simple questions, break out picture books, label simple objects, just try to capture his attention, he would just give me this stone-faced look like nothing was registering. When early intervention came, they evaluated both boys and Will tested at 7 months for both receptive and expressive language. That broke my heart to know my baby was almost a year behind. Six months later, and the speech therapist is coming next week to re-evaluate Will because she thinks that even though he still needs encouragement, he is pretty close to the two-year old receptive and expressive speech level.

If you have concerns about your little ones, please don't hesitate to contact early intervention. Even if you think that this is just a phase, or just part of their personalities, it never hurts to have a second opinion. And though your babies might not be at the same level as you might consider most kids receiving speech therapy, you would be amazed at how much just a little advice and encouragement a speech therapist can provide. And if you consider early intervention, don't wait! EI is only available until age 3. Good luck!