What to Do if a 2-Year-Old Isn’t Talking
November 10, 2009 by Dr. Heather
Filed under Developmental Grab-Bag
Hi Dr Heather,
My 2 year old son isn’t talking yet. He socializes at daycare, we read books, and try to encourage him by pointing at objects and saying their name. He will ramble on in his own language & expect us to understand it & sometimes gets frustrated when we don’t. He communicates with us mainly with body language when he wants something, but he’s also so laid back, and almost feels like he doesn’t think he needs to speak. Every now & then he’ll come out with a word here & there & we acknowledge it with praise, and other times when we try to get him to say a word, he gets really frustrated. He understands what we say & he follows directions very well. Do you have any tips? We’re running out of ideas.
Thanks,
Carrie
Hi Carrie,
I often get this referral question in the clinic where I consult. Parents and clinicians frequently worry about slow-to-develop speech; luckily, there is often nothing “wrong”. In general, what we’re most concerned about at this age is COMPREHENSION. If a 1 or 2-year-old has good comprehension, then overall language skills are usually fine. Kids DO talk at much more variable rates, and it often has nothing to do with later speech and language proficiency. Our third child was the latest to develop speech, yet now at nearly 4 he has, by far, the best diction and vocabulary of all our kids at that age.
With that said, however, 2 is quite late, overall, for speech to emerge. I suggest having him evaluated by your local Early Intervention team; your pediatrician can usually guide you to a group with a good recommendation. Even if there’s nothing amiss, the evaluators often can give you some great suggestions on how to further encourage speech use by your little guy.
If he does qualify for speech and language therapy, definitely go for it. These services are usually provided by very well-trained and dedicated professionals who can make the sessions fun and exciting for little ones. The good therapists closely involve parents in the sessions too.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out!
Aloha,
Dr. Heather
The BabyShrink
I know this must be so hard for parents, having a late talker. I’m no professional, but of course I agree with Dr. Heather about getting your son checked out. Early Intervention teams do so much good for children who need them.
I do want to share however that I know two people who started talking well after their third birthdays. My girl friend was four before she started talking. (Both were taken to specialists, etc. by their parents.) Now, both are very intelligent college students with honors. In both cases, their parents say that the specialists ascertained that they had great comprehension and non-verbal communication.
Best of luck to you!
Our son was the same and didn’t really talk much until his 2nd birthday. He got ear tubes 3 days before his birthday and after that, he talked up a storm. Seriously, within a couple of weeks of the surgery, he was saying all kinds of words. The ENT said the pressure in his ears was so high that his hearing was like Charlie Brown’s teacher. Other than the ear infections leading to tubes, he was perfectly happy and healthy. My daughter got her ear tubes at 10 months and is talking like crazy at 18 months.
It’s definitely worth getting checked out, just in case. I’ve also known people whose kids didn’t utter a word until 2 1/2 and then they couldn’t stop talking after that. And all of my friends with boys have started talking way later than girls. Good luck!
My daughter just turned 5 and I have never once been referred to an SLP. Her ped never told me to get her screened. She mostly speaks in her made up language and with her PECs cards. I don’t think her doc believed me when I said there was a problem because my daughter decided to talk to her when we went in for a check-up.