Helping a Toddler Whose Vocabulary Hasn't Caught up with What He's Feeling

My child is autistic and is severely speech delayed..... however, we find (as does most research on the subject) that signing helps promote speech and communication. It DOES NOT delay it! Signing provides a multi-sensory approach to communication that allows a child another avenue to expressing their wants and needs when maybe the words fail them, their articulation is faulty, or they are just being shy or frustrated. The sign for "help" is particularly wonderful because it communicates a general need and the motion of hitting the palm of one hand with the closed fist of the other hand can in itself relieve some frustration.

Good luck to you.

"Show me" is what I did with my daughter too. I remember when she was that age, she would say "show me" to mean many things--pick me up, give me that, put me down, etc. She knew it was a statement that got results. You could also try showing him some sign language for common things, like milk, diaper, sleep, eat, outside.

my vote is for breathing control....& teaching patience.

My issue with sign language is that eventually your child still has to learn the patience to speak. Why delay that process? All testing parameters are based on speech, not sign. Peace.....

First, don't worry all kids develop at a different pace. Second, just pay attention. My oldest son didnt speak to communicate until he was about 3. He could say his abc's and #'s through 20 but didn't say mom or dad until he was three. But this is where you need to pay attention. What I believed at first to be random noises he was making I realized he was making the sound effects/ music from movies to express his feeling. Once I figured that out, we were able to communicate on his level. After he turned 3 I was able to get him professional help through the school system. Helping him was not in my skill set. But don't worry yet! He's young! Once he gets in school everything will change. BTW it all worked out with my son. He's 5 and gets to go into a regular kindergarten class because he has now caught up communication wise. He reads at a 8yr old level and understands things well beyond his years. Just be patient and pay attention, he's talking to you. You just need to listen.

Sign language, breathing techniques and teach him to show you. I taught my daughters some yoga breaths to help them calm down.

I agree with the sign language! I started with my 2 year old when she was a baby, and have already started signing to my 3 month old. My 2 year old (2years 4 months) has as many words as many of the first graders I have worked with. Now she may just be a chatty cathy, but I think it is because she was able to understand the principles of communication at a young age. I actually write about baby sign language for an online paper.

Learn and teach a few signs for things he might want eat, drink, play, potty, etc. Even though these are words he probably already knows, when he gets upset he may have trouble with the words. We have had many times where our daughter has had a total meltdown over something she could have easily told us about and it would have been fixed. But two year olds (or almost two year olds) have fits (who knew?) and it makes it difficult for them to communicate at those times. Anyway because of the signs we knew what she wanted and were able to calm her down by telling her we knew she wanted ____ if she could calm down and ask for it properly she would get it. The hardest is when she is just upset and signing "more" More what? haha

ADDED: Sign Language does NOT delay speech development!!!! It's the exact opposite. It teaches children to communicate when they are not able to voice the words. They actually learn words quicker and have a better understand of how language and communication work. I have done extensive research on the subject and my own two year old is proof. That child never stops talking!!! She still signs, but it has almost completely been replaced with vocalizations. It's so cute when she does both at once. She also uses the signs at times where I can't hear/understand her. Sometimes she'll say something that I won't quite undersand and she'll throw out the sign for it and I'll get it instantly. Or the other weekend at church she signed something to me instead of saying it, becuase she was being quite. It was adorable.

If you can see that he is getting frustrated I would just reassure him that it's okay and encourage him to relax and ask him lots of questions about whatever the situation may be. Let him know you are really trying to understand him. This will help him feel more secure and relaxed. Offer him as many words as you can to help him describe what he's thinking and feeling in a particular situation.

E., I was/still am going through this with my 20 month old son. Like your's he has a large vocabulary, but mine isn't a great communicator. He gets very impatient if I don't know what he's talking about right away and immediately throws a tantrum instead of trying to communicate! However, just in the last couple of weeks, his talking and communication have exploded and things are getting so much easier. I would just constantly talk to him and model the right words to use along with pointing (which he was doing anyway). I would also say "Show me." if I couldn't understand what he was saying. He is finally starting to grab my hand and take me to the thing that he wants, before he wouldn't really get what I was saying, but I kept at it. I just remember this stage with my daughter and how one day she just started talking and talking and that how things are going with my son. It is frustrating and you feel bad when you don't understand, but things will get easier. Oh, I was going to do the sign language thing because I think it is great, but honestly, I wasn't good at keeping up with it and doing it consistently. I tried it with my daughter and she never really got into doing it, but I know lots of people have had success with it. Good luck!

How about trying to teach him some sign language?