My Son Won't Talk

Maybe you need to take him to see a speech therapist for a eval, through early intervention.
C.

Stop worrying, he will! I have a 2 1/2 year old boy that is talking up a storm and even singing a bunch of songs,but he barely talked at 20 months. He will be fine. It's shocking how well little girls can talk in comparison! Hope this helps:)

Try signing with him. My son did not talk until he was 2 and 1/2 years old and now he will talk to anyone about anything and everything. Sometimes it is embarrassing! All his development was typical so we didn't push and I am so glad! We taught him sign language instead. He still remembers that he used sign language and is very proud of it and likes to use it with babies or tell us what other little ones are asking for when they sign. This time is so short. Soon you will be correcting him for mouthing off..hope not..but have patients.

I wouldn't worry, but it wouldn't hurt to contact Early Intervention. They can send a speech therapist for an evaluation and you can have services done in your home. Our son had 5 words at 24 months, when we had him evaluated. He qualified for speech therapy, occupational therapy for low muscle-tone, and ended up having previously undiagnosed tongue tie, among other things. He is now talking so much we can't get him to shut up! He's almost 3 1/2 and we're so proud of all he's accomplished. At the time, so many people told me "Oh, boys just talk later" or "So and so didn't talk til he was 3 and he's just fine now." But in retrospect, my mom just keeps telling me what a good thing I did to go with my gut and get him some help. His issues were not serious, for sure, but I had no idea how getting this help would change our lives for the better. It's worth looking into, for sure. Good luck!

Contact Early Intervention - they are wonderful. Your pediatrician can give you the info.

Trust your gut. My son didn't say anything until 26 months then talked in paragraphs. My daughter was a climber and non-talker. She had sensory integration issues, was so focused on getting sensory input, she had no energy left for speech. She is 8 and still can't talk in paragraphs but can do other amazing things thanks to Early intervention.

hi..

i am so glad you asked this question. my son just turned 20 months and only says 1 word. ba..for ball. I did have him evaluated just a couple of weeks ago from Early intervention and they just said he has a very slight delay. i feel so much better. be patient and dont hesitate to call early intervention. they are great and the visit is free! doesnt get any better than that.
good luck to you!
B.

Definitely have your child assessed through early intervention. Our son did this at 15 months because he wasn't saying anything. We found out he had a slight speech delay and he was prescribed speech therapy once a week for an hour. It made all the difference in the world! We were not trying to make him 'advanced' or 'gifted'; we just wanted him to be developmentally on par with his age range. ST and EI was just the 'boost' he needed to get him going.

Talk to your pediatrician and get a referral for EI.

My son did talk till his DTaP shot at 12 months took away half his words.. then 4th shot at 15 months took all away..
Dr did not seem worried.. yet. I was upset...
Finally at 23 months we got with Easter Seals and Early Intervention.. Do contact Early Intervention Or what ever Program your area has ask dr.. IF they have not refered you to get speech and they are not worried.. Get a new dr too! I dropped mine in a heart beat!!!!!!!!!!
My son has Major issues.. and our dr did not help things out.
My cuz's son did not talk.. but he is talking great now. He does not have autism like my son..
GET the help Early.. DONT WAIT!!!

My son had no words at 15m and 18m. Our ped suggested Early Intervetion and they said there is nothing physically wrong that is preventing him from talking, which was one of my biggest worries. As soon as he turned 2 he started talking like crazy and has been going strong for over a year now! It's true some kids take longer to develop, but having him evaluated gave me the peace of mind to let him go at his own pace and I'm glad I did. Early Intervention was great and free for the evaluation. I would highly recommend it!

T.

One of my daughters didn't talk much and when she did, you couldn't understand her. Turns out she needed tubes put in her ears because she had frequent ear infections (9 infections in 9 months). When she was 19 months old, we had tubes put in her ears. She started speaking more, but she was still difficult to understand.

When she was 3, I had her evaluated by the school district (free pre-K eval) and they enrolled her in the Early Childhood program, which included extensive speech therapy along with other things. What a difference a program makes! Now, she's a very talkative 8 year old. She's still in speech, but only once a week. Her tubes have long fallen out, and she's been ear infection free! The only thing we have to watch out for is ear wax build up (sorry if that is TMI). We use Debrox for that.

I would have him evaluated and also have his hearing tested. Good Luck!

My daughter was saying 80 words by 18 mths, but my son didn't really start talking until 21-22 mths. They are all so different, please don't worry. (Unless there are other signs of concerns, or the dr is concerned.) My son is great, and talkes up a storm (he will be 3 this mth.)

I can't say enough about Early Intervention! My son has been in the program for 5 weeks now and I see a great improvement in him! He has speech and occupational therapy 1 x each a week. Please don't hesitate to give them a call. The evaluation is free, so there is nothing to lose and everything to gain!

There may be nothing to worry about -- it could be that your son is a slow talker and is taking his time. However, if you are concerned, contact Early Intervention and have him evaluated. There is no cost to you and your family for the evaluation. He may or may not qualify for speech therapy, but you'll be given tips and suggestions on how to continue helping him on your own. If this is the path you want to take, don't delay! The EI program ends when your child turns 3, so get him involved as soon as possible. You have nothing to lose! I've had a great experience with EI, so if you want more info, feel free to send me a message.

Hi, I wanted to add that if your child acting normally and seems to understand you he is probably fine but speech therapy helps a lot (we saw improvement after a second session) and you will also learn from the therapist some techniques on how to encourage your child to talk more. Early Intervention works with most insurance plans. Good luck.

Hi B.,

My advice would to have him evaluated by Early Intervention. The evaluation is free and then you can decide based on there feedback whether he needs to have speech therapy or not. If he does, then you can either get speech therapy through early intervention or look into a speech therapist outside of this program. The early intervention program is good however, can cost up to $200 per month based on your annual income. However, if you go to an outside therapist, your medical insurance may pay for a portion of the costs. My daugher, currently 33 months old is in speech therapy and we decided to go to outside therapist due to Early Intervention not having an available therapist that could come to our home once a week. Her therapist actually pulls her out of daycare twice a week for therapy. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at ____@____.com luck and don't worry too much, many kids do not start really talking until they are between 2-3 years old. Another thing to think about, my older daughter was having chronic ear infections before the age of 2 and did not not talk much until she got eartubes.

Have a nice day!
A.

Hi B.-

We talked before & I thought I would comment on your post. My daughter, now 17 mos. also is not saying much. She is also still having feeding issues. I made an appointment with EI, and we are on track for therapists to come to our home. I wanted to say, they are very accomodating & helpful & I already feel more at ease that we've made the decision to have the evaluation done. A speech/feeding therapist & occupational therapist will be coming to our home for the evaluation & also she will be having a hearing test.
Only you can decide whats best for your child, but really if you have concerns or feel something just isn't right, then you should take advantage of this. By the way, if your son does need therapy and for some reason your insurance doesn't cover, they do have a very reasonable sliding fee scale to cover ALL the therapy.
Hope this helps, and let me know what happens.

He needs to be evaluated. In the next few months he should be putting two word sentences together and if he is only saying roughly 5 words he needs to evaluated by a speech therapist. My son has in been in speech since April so I am pretty familiar with this. My son goes to Pathways in Glenview..if that is near you.

I found this....
18-24 Months - the start of grammar
Somewhere between 18 and 24 months, most toddlers make the amazing discovery that words mean different things depending on how you put them together. This is the beginning of grammar. Instead of "milk!" they say "no milk!" or "more milk" or even "Suzy milk!" (which might mean "Look, Suzy is drinking milk, and I want some, too!"). Developmentalists call this "telegraphic speech."

Telegraphic speech shows that your child understands a lot about how language works. For example, he understands the difference between nouns and verbs, as well as the fact that sentences usually have at least one of each.

By 24 months, 9 out of 10 toddlers have started to make two-word sentences and usually have at least 25 to 50 different words in their vocabularies. As before, some very quiet children say next to nothing, but they still communicate effectively and show good understanding. By age two, most toddlers can follow a two-step command, such as "Go get a diaper and your shoes."

As long as your ped is okay with his progress I wouldn't fret. My brother didn't talk at all when he was two. The doctor blamed me, his older sister, for doing all the talking for him. His son didn't talk until he was almost three. I have a SIL and none of her three older children talked until they were almost three.

I read some research a few years ago that said late talkers aren't necessarily bad since many turn out to be very advanced in music and math. My brother double majored in college in math and computer science, has a photographic memory to some degree, and graduated summa cum laude.

Really if the ped says he's okay, then just be patient. Go get some Signing Time dvd's from the library and teach him some sign language to help the both of you communicate in the meantime. That's what I did with the little girl I babysit. I got tired of her screaming at me and so I taught her a little sign language. Things were much better after that.

You're son may actually be saying more than you realize. He may just be speaking in his own little "toddler language." We had this experience with our son. As new parents, it took us a little while to catch on that he was saying a few words. Sometimes it takes a little "decoding" but if you pay close attention you may notice a "ball" or "cat" here and there. Good luck!

My daughter just turned 2 a few weeks ago. She didn't have a big vocabulary either. Now all the sudden she is started to do sentences. Ever since she was about 1 all she ever said was Daddy,bye,hi, the very simple words. She babbeled alot. Now all the sudden right before her birthday she started putting 2 word sentences together. Now it is starting to expand and she is finally saying Mommy. All kids are different. I wouldn't start to worry until maybe the age of 3. From what my MIL told my DH didn't start talking to 3 1/2 and now you can never shut him up, lol!

The range for speech is so broad that I would not worry just yet. First ask your pediatrician/family doc then go from there. Just so you know according to my mom I did not say much until I was around 3 and then I said a complete sentence and as she says I have not shut my mouth since =)! My neighbor boy also did not say a whole lot until he was around 3 or so. As long as he says some words and he seems to be growing and active he should be fine. However just remember that you are his best advocate and if you want to make sure, then make sure. Good Luck!
PS I too was a special education teacher, now stay at home mom, and I have found that our kids do not have to be baby Einsteins....let them be kids!

My son didn't talk until he was 2. He is now 19 and in college. I think he is midly dyslexic, but didn't have him tested until college, and they ruled that out. (I really don't think the lady testing him had a clue.) He still has trouble expressing himself sometimes, but it's not a real problem except he gets a little frustrated. Your son at 5 words is saying more than my son was at that age. Meanwhile, my 14 year old, who is severely dyslexic started talking at 11 months. (And hasn't shut up since!)

Anyway, I would say that your son is probably fine. Kids all do things at their own speed. I would just watch out for dyslexia symptoms as he gets closer to school age. You can research this on the Bright solutions for dyslexia website. They have a list of symptoms to watch for, and late talking is one of them. I always thought my older son was a late bloomer, and we even pulled him out of school to homeschool him starting for first grade because he wasn't catching on to the reading and math in kindergarten. After struggling through dyslexia with my younger son, I now think my older one is mildly dyslexic, although he's doing fine in college.

A two year old at 42! You are a brave woman! Best wishes to you and your sweet boy.

It's normal at their ages. My son used to be the very silent little tot until He was nearly 3 years old. Now he talks nonstop all day long! His Sunday School teachers were impressed by how much he has improved in few months from silent to a babbler. Tots just take their time and they will decide when they want to start talking. I did feel the same way as you, I was concerned, but now I know there's nothing to worry about. If you are frustrated, start with baby signs for eat, drink, pee, poop, more, stuffed/done, shoes, etc. These basic signs are great. I am a deaf mother to two kids, so I use sign languages to communicate with my kids. :) Hope that helps.

Hi,
I didn't read all of your responces, but I just wanted to tell you that my son at about 18-20 months barely talked at all. (I have a special ed. back ground so I was all over finding out what the matter was) The first thing I did was take him to a speech pathologist, who recommended his hearing be evaluated. Even though kids respond when you talk to them doesn't mean there isn't a hearing issue. Well long story short, after the speech eval. hearing tests, ENT visits, it turned out his adnoids were blocking 90% of his nasal passage, interfering with his hearing (on the surface he heard fine) and his speech. At 26 months he had his adnoid removed and now at 4, I can't get him to stop talking. Really about 2 weeks after the surgery he was taking in complete sentences. So really it could be that he is just more active than verbal at this stage. I would just go with your gut instinct and if you feel like something is wrong talk to your Dr. about what you can do next.
Good Luck!
K.

hi B., ok i am not a specialist, just a mom who went throught the same thing. now depending on where you live there is a program that you can ask you pediatrician about called 1st steps. they are a program that will help you get your child where he needs to be. my daughter was 2 and 2 months when i found out about this program. my in-laws and mother kept telling my that she should be talking more and she wasn't.i shrugged it off thinking she will talk more soon, and she never did. when i had my son she was 2yrs. old, and when i took my son to his 2 month check up i asked the pediatrician about her. and he said by age 2 they are to be saying 50 or more words! i about fainted, she wasn't saying half of that. so he gave me the number for 1st steps, we live in cedar lake, in and i believe they work w/ ppl that live in lake and porter county indiana.
send me a email and i will tell you more, don't worry there is plenty of help out there, and pls. don't blame your self, its not your fault. that is what i learned.
____@____.com
i hope to hear from you, i can tell you everything that 1st steps had done for us.

At 22 months I had my son evaluated by Early Intervention 0-3. He was behind in expressive language. He understood everything, but didn't babble much, said very few words, and wasn't progressing in language in general. He wouldn't/couldn't label things, but my Dr. wasn't concerned - She said children develop at their own pace. I was still concerned and went ahead with the evaluation. He was lagging in expressive language and qualified for speech services. They came to our house about 5 times..then we moved. We were in the process of switching thearapists (b/c of moving) and my son just started talking. He went from a handful of words to talking in 2 or 3 word combinations. We ended up not continuing b/c he started doing so well. HOWEVER..the thearapsit gave me some great tips that helped. I saw how she interacted with him and I tried to model the same.

I think it is worth the evaluation..it was free and gave me piece of mind. Here's a link to their offices..you'd need to call the one in your county. Good Luck!

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?module=12&office...=

I wouldn't panic or think something is wrong..each child develops differently.

My son was at the end of the timeline for everything and is fine. He caught up once he made up his mind to.

I would, however, take advantage of the free evaluation. At the least, you have nothing to lose and the free tips would be nice. At the most, you may find something small that is impeding his development and will allow him access to community benefits (in this economy..take advantage). I will give you three examples to think about. Either way, you know your child and the most important thing is to listen to your instinct.

One, my son was slow to reach the milestones. By two years of age he had caught up and exceeded. We had him screened at Preschool just to follow up with our own concerns. They found he had problems hearing and failed the test twice. He ears were fine..he had enlarged adenoids (sp) and tonsils that were interfering with speech, etc. He is perfect now that it has been adressed.

Two, my niece was not talking by age two or three and "they" assummed she was hearing impaired. After a few ENT's they found she had such bad earwax that all sound was blocked and that was why she was not talking and could not hear. Once they addressed this she needed help catching up, but she is fine!

Third, another niece had odd behavior regarding looking at things. They assumed it was her personality and she was never screened. In KINDERGARTEN (long time to wait) her teacher FIRMLY (thanks to all you teachers) followed up and long story short, my niece had ambioplia. The nerve in eye was not working and by the time they found it, it was about to shut down permanently. She is in treatment now and we are hopeful.

So, don't panic, but listen to your gut. It is much easier to catch it early then later. Good luck.

My first child (girl) had an incredible vocabulary from early on, three years later, my son came along and when he did start talking, my daughter would have to translate because no one understood him, except her. (In retrospect, it also probably didn't help that she did A LOT of the talking for him!) He understood us and what he lacked in his speech, he made up for in excellent large and small motor skills. He was very active, always climbing always disassembling and reassembling. Constant motion! He had his own language of mimicking sounds (i.e. "wed vroooom vroooomm"... meant "red car") and switching consonants around ("wed mangon"...translated "red wagon"). My doctor was unconcerned because he said that, especially busy boys and girls, their speech can be delayed because they are more focused and interested in developing their other skills, however, if it continued, he wanted him to be evaluated after three years old. We knew that his cognitive speech wasn't a factor, it was the ability to form the sounds to create the words.

We contacted our school district and inquired about preschool evaluations (which were free through our school district to ages 3 years and older). Through the evaluation, they concurred that my son needed speech and he qualified for speech for about 4 years. Consequently, in all of the years that he attended speech, for every 10 boys, there was one girl who qualified for speech. Several of the boys who were in speech with my son, way back when, are very involved in school activities now - still in constant motion!

If he is alert, active, knows his name, and is happy and socializes (as well as a 20 month old socializes), I wouldn't worry about it. What ends up happening is that you compare your son to others and you start to wonder if he has a deficit in certain areas of his life. You'll start convincing yourself that something is wrong with him, when in fact, he is developing slower in some areas, but surpassing kids in others. It was so hard to not compare my daughter's speech to my son's because there was quite a difference. However, at two years old, I saw my son disassemble an office chair (he was too quiet and disappeared!) and reassembled it. He loved disassembling his stroller too. He still has that wonderful mechanical aptitude. And... at 10 years old he is a good student and a very good speaker and communicator.

Have patience, continue to talk to him, play word games ("Where is the yellow duck?" "Red car?") I'm sure you are doing this now. I bet you're doing great! This delay is not a reflection on you.

If your trusted and respected doctor is not worried, then take a step back and marvel at all the other areas where he excels. They grow up fast! Good luck.

I agree very strongly with Tracy's response. Talk to your ped and if there is ANY reason for concern, call Early Intervention. Illinois has one of the best Early Intervention programs in the country and research is showing the enormous impact it can have. My nephew is almost 4 and speaks very little. He was diagnosed borderline autistic, is in a program and is making remarkable gains. Based on your comments, it doesn't sound like your child is anywhere near this serious, but the programs can not hurt, the evaluation is free, and if there is help to be had, take it! Good luck.

I'd suggest talking with your pediatrician about it. He/she can direct you toward Early Intervention and/or the appropriate services, if needed.

I will tell you based on my own experience that my daughter talked and sang on schedule, but the QUALITY of her interactions were WAY off. I wish I'd focused less on the amount of words she was saying and more on the context in which she used them.

Good luck!

My son went through the same thing. Being a nurse myself, I was worried. I had him evaluated through early intervention, and am so glad I did. He received speech and is doing so much better now, and talking up a storm.

I see you have a lot of responses but wanted to let you know that at 24 months my son was not talking up to the standards expected by his doctor. A wonderful woman at his childcare facility kept me from freaking out by relaying a similar story about her son who was now a very intelligent and successful adult with no speech issues. I am glad I relaxed as now my 3.5 year son is a very bright chatter box. Children learn at different paces. Trust yourself.

My grandson is 3 and he did the same thing.we were worried and he started saying everything at 2 and a half.hes just fine!