2 Yr Old Barely Talking

I have the same "problem"! My daughter will be 2 in June and I feel like I'm the only one that can understand what she's saying...she does her own little language still. She's getting better with speaking clearly but I feel like she's behind. My mom says not to worry as long as the child is trying. I feel paranoid sometimes and asked the dr if maybe she had a hearing problem and wasn't correctly hearing the words and then couldn't repeat them right. the Dr said if she's getting some of the words right then that's not a problem. Different kids move at different paces. Don't worry...you're not alone.

If her doctor has ruled out any medical issues, you could try working with her at home to increase her vocab power. Just before my son started talking (or trying, anyway), he pointed at whatever he wanted. He did it so much we started calling his finger his "high-tech communication device". To combat all the pointing, we talked his ears off, naming everything he pointed to, and encouraging him to repeat it as often as he was willing. Offer narrations of what you're doing when you bathe or dress her, or even when you're out and about. It may feel strange at first, since at times you may think she's not paying attention, but she will absorb everything you say. I hope this helps.

My first son,who is almost 4 now, did not start talking til he was almost 28 months old. Now he won't shut up. I remember all my freinds children had at least a 50 word vocabulary by the age of 2. I too, was freaking out, but as my doctor said when they are ready to speak they will.
My second son will be 2 next month and says only 4 words-ball, nice, ma ma and da da. I am not concerned seeing as he understands when I ask him a question or tell him to do something. Before you know it your little one will be talking..Hang in there because it gets to be real fun when they start talking.

I think it doesn't hurt to get an evaluation. My son is in speech now and he is two. He had enough words but his articulation was awful and he was still drooling horribly. He had low muscle tone issues when he was younger and went to physical therapy so I thought maybe it was a tone issue and it was. So I am glad I brought it up to the ped and he qualified for services from the speech therapist and now he goes once a week. A muscle issue may, probably wouldn't, have resolved itself so I am glad I did it. The worst they will say is that she is on track and that if you don't see improvement to have it done again. Good luck!!

Question: Is your daughter an only child? Does she point a lot to get what she needs? Our son did that and he did not really talk till he was over 2 years old and our doctor told us that we may be causing the problem. Your son points and you get him what ever he wants. He knew what he wanted and he got it with speaking a word. It changed really quick when we stopped getting him every thing he wanted.

Just a thought...

J.,

Have you ruled out a hearing problem? you might ask to get her hearing tested if you are concerned.

My son just learned 'ba ba' and now EVERYTHING is baba. His sister's name is Bella, he calls her ba ba, tv is ba ba, shoes are ba ba.

I think more important than saying the words correctly is that she is trying to communicate. try to do a LOT of talking to her... tell her in very clear words what things are, and make a HUGE production of praising her if she makes an attempt to say it with at least the starting sound correct. get down to her level and over exaggerate your sounds, get out picture books and say the words of the pictures (i.e., 'truck', 'car', 'shoe', 'puppy', 'kitty', etc.). I am not sure, you don't say in your post, but sometimes if people are doing a lot of talking for them, they really don't have any need for communication... my friend's son at 3 was still walking around grunting and pointing at things... mom was not making him say words to get what he wanted... he would point, grunt, and she translated and gave him what he wanted.

I was concerned that my son still had not said 'mama' at 15 months... and wasn't doing very much in the way of talking...(though he was VERY expressive and communicating in his own way) but his vocabulary has recently exploded and he now says mama, daddy, mmmm good, peeps (peas), nana (banana), papa, cheese, gurr (yogurt), hot, brrrr (like as in cold), thank you, diaper, garbage, and has learned to cover his mouth and nose when he sneezes :)

I don't think you're being overly paranoid, and I don't believe there is necessarily anything 'wrong' with your daughter either. Try to work with her on words, and I bet she'll come around and make up for it with non-stop chatter and you'll look back at this time and hope for it back :)

DD didn't have a strong vocab until after 2, once she hit 3, she hasn't stopped; she's 4 now. We've watched some of the home movies we have of her and it actually surprises us how quickly unintelligible syllables became crisp words. If you are worried, call the ped first to get his/her view and take it from there.

If you're really worried, you can call Early Interventions Child and Family Connections. They will send a speech therapist to your house to do an evaluation and it's free. It doesn't sound like anything too concerning, but for peace of mind, you can "ask and expert!" Then you will have a definite answer, and she can even recommend some activities and strategies to use with your little one, even if she doesn't qualify for services.