My two year old boy doesn't seem to talk much... am I just over reacting? He will talk with us sometimes but I notice when he is around other kids he just gets really quiet. When he does talk his speech seems to be a little less developed than other kids his age. Should I take him to a speech pathologist, or is it too early to worry?
I had 2 other children with speech delay, so had our 3rd born on the waiting list at 18mths old. I think at the age of 2 they should be saying 20 clear words. That is what we were told anyway. My son is now 2yrs 9mths and we have been attending speech on a fortnightly basis for 6mths.
Getting him in early has helped him a lot more than my other children who were seen at a later age. There is no harm in getting an assessment done if you think there may be an issue
Children can find it hard to talk/interact appropriately within their peer group at this age. My DS is a motormouth and hardly stops to breath but in a group of children he is as quiet as a mouse.
Around the age of 2 (sometimes earlier, sometimes later) there is often a language explosion when they go from a few words to a whole heap within a short space of time.
It is suggested they should have around 20 words by 2, but more important than that is that they show that they understand what you are saying to them.
We've been seeing a Speech Pathologist since Brendan was 11 months... it started with feeding issues and is now due to a significant speech delay.
When he talk to you is it just babble or is he using 2-3 word sentences? Also whats his understanding like? If you ask him to do something can he do it?
It is definately worth starting these things early, to get on top of it now before it does become an issue in the furture. Where I am the Speech Therapy is organised through our CHN, so maybe thats a good place for you to start too.
Don't panic, just book a Maternal and Child Health Nurse appointment, and see what they think. It won't hurt to book bub in for a speech therapy appointment if the nurse thinks you need it, if bub suddenly starts chatting like a pro then you can always cancel it.
One of my friends gave me a DVD called Talking Time which I have found really good. It was developed by speech pathologists and tries to get kids making sounds before words. I think you can buy them online, but I have never seen them in the stores.
I would book him in to the Child nurse and also get his hearing checked as well.
My DS has a speech delay and had to have grommets put in when he was 3. He now attends a language development centre for kindy to help with his delays.
You could find he is just slow in talking and soon starts to talk more but it's all worth getting checked out sooner rather than later.
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My 2 year old doesn't speak much
Don't panic, just book a Maternal and Child Health Nurse appointment, and see what they think. It won't hurt to book bub in for a speech therapy appointment if the nurse thinks you need it, if bub suddenly starts chatting like a pro then you can always cancel it.
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