little boy 2.5 and only has 10 words???

[Mel A]

OK so my little boy is 2.5 and he isn't getting new words.
The words he has are

Ta
Car
Cheese
Shoes
Popcorn
Mum
More
No
Roar
Tea

He can put three of these words together eg. mum cheese ta. However there hasn't been a new word since Feb. We have seen the Ear, nose and Throat specialist and she wants to monitor his hearing because there is a little bit of congestion there, but not enough that it should stop him form talking.

Now that all his friends have it the parrot stage and are gettingwords by the week i'm starting to get a little worried

any recomendations experiences out there would be great to hear about.....

[feeb]

DS1 is nearly 3 now BUT until about a month or so ago he has been really slow with talking.

Last April we were assessed at a developmenetal clinic because he was not walking or talking, he started walking a week or so before appt at 21 months, with his speech they put us on a wait list which they finally called us 1 year later for appt and we have so far had 1 appt as other been cancelled due to sickeness.
I also did get a helath care plan from GP and see a private speech for 5 subsidised sessions. Which helped give me ways to encourage more words.

He has suddenly come on in leaps and bounds with many many more words and is putting words together now.

Good luck

[MrsFabuloso]

To me, 10 words sounds to be not alot, though I must admit that my children never shut up. But being an early childhood teacher, I do have a fair bit of experience with children of this age.

This is some info I have collated on speech/language development at 2-3yrs, from when I was working-

General Milestones: Language Development in Toddlers (2-3yrs):

Receptive language (listening):
Can follow 2 instructions using on, under or behind (“stand behind the door”)
Respond to "what?" and "where?" questions (eg-"where's your shoe?“)
Enjoy listening to stories
Point to common objects when they are named (2 year olds)
Name objects based on their description
Knows most parts of the body
String known words together to form short phrases (2-4 word sentences)
Follow instructions that involve an object and action (e.g. roll ball, sit on chair)
Understands 3 prepositions (in, on, under, up, down, out)

Expressive Language (talking):
Recount events that happened throughout the day in simple language
Begin to use adverbs and adjectives (e.g. fast, high, big, soft, etc.)
Use more than fifty words such as "no", "gone", "mine", "teddy“
Listen to stories and name common pictures
Speech used more often than gestures
Talk to themselves or their toys during play
Use some pronouns instead of names (e.g. “me", “mine“)
Begins to put 2 words together (e.g. “mummy car”, “teddy eat” gone”)
Uses a variety of communicative intents (requesting, commenting, protesting, etc)
Answers yes / no questions


How do I know if my child has a language problem?

Does your child have difficulty following instructions. Do you need to repeat instructions often?
Does your child have difficulty constructing sentences or putting words together?
Does your child often start and stop their sentences as they try to get their words out?
Does your child use incorrect grammar no matter how many times you repeat or model the correct sentence?
Is your child taking a long time to develop language or learn new words or phrases?
Does your child communicate in short sentences?
Does not use objects to play.
Does your child understand names of common objects?

I hope this helps. Remember this is just a general guide. Children develope at different paces. Just because you child might bnot have met all of these milestones, doesn't mean there is any issue, it just means he might be taking his time in perfecting his skills. Sometimes a child won't begin to use a skill until the are totally confident in their ability to do so very well.

[~StarBright~]

A friend of mines little boy was slow to start talking too, and then one day almost over night when he was nearly three he just went from hardly talking to hardly shutting up!! lol She was a little bit worried too, as my son who was younger, had a bigger vocab than her son at the time. She said she was close to looking into booking appts and getting things checked, but held off as he showed no other signs of being behind in any other ways, he could hear, he could understand things, he just wasnt ready to be talking so much. She did say it was a releif once he did start talking alot more!

I think some kids just take their time with things. But if your really worried about any other aspects of his development, then maybe its worth looking into som eappts, even if its turns out you dont need them and you can cancel them later on!!

[Traveller]

at 2.5 years my eldest had less than 10 words, and could not string any together to make a sentence. We took him to a chiropractor (about his knees, not his speech) but they did something to his neck and he started talking that day with heaps of new words and sentences within a week. They explained it as the nerves that control speech were being constricted because of a part of his neck being out of alignment, and getting the alignment right again freed the nerves to fire as they were intended to. He still had some speech therapy to help him catch up but now aged 6 he is completely normal speech wise.

Anyway my point is, try a chiropractor and see if they can help, in conjunction with keeping an eye on his hearing and perhaps some speech therapy. We also found it helpful to use sign language both to aid communication and to increase his understanding of the consequence of speech and it's outcome. Good luck

[Gigi]

we had a similar experience to STarbright, very little before three years old, as soon as she hit three, the floodgates opened! her comprehension had been ok, it was the making the sounds that held her back. she's 4.5 now, and is more verbal than some of her peers at kindy, so it's turning out fine.

but when she was 2.5yrs, i was feeling like you, feeling like she would never "turn the corner".

it's hard, whenever you're round other kids, it's so hard not to compare their development.

we saw a speech therapist for 18 months and did a weekly Gymbaroo session to help the speech.

[BeautifulMadness]

i went thru the same with my eldest DS...i was worried he wasnt saying enough words etc but he is now 4 and half and wont keep quiet

my 2nd DS who is 2 yrs 2 months, says

Spider
Choo choo (train)
Skye
Mama (grandma)
Dadda
Mumma
Wow
Yay


But he will get there in his own time and he understand me perfectly....Each kid is different and leanrs at different rates i think if you just keep talking to him and getting him to repeat the words

[SunnyRain]

My very own experience. I only grunted for things until the day before my third birthday when my mum came down stairs and found me on the phone to my Nan telling her all about my big birthday party the next day.

I always knew about this, but never thought much about it until my son was a little bit delayed with talking. I asked my mum "weren't you worried about me?" and she said "no, because I knew you understood everything."

So I've been using that with my son and he does learn new words and phrases every day, and I know he understands everything so I'm trying not to worry. However, I did get his hearing tested just to make sure it wasn't something medical.

So it's up to you. Do you feel he is OK? Do you think he understands everything and do you think he needs help. Don't worry too much how he compares, but watch him for clues.

By the way. Just so you know, I'm not learning impaired in any way, shape or form.


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