Question About Receptive Language in Toddler

Sounds pretty normal to me.

At 2 years old we had our DS undergo a speech eval. His receptive language seemed strong, but because he had little vocabulary, fewer than 1 doz utterances, we were uncertain if his receptive language was really our construct, or if he was having speech problems. In other words, could it be that he was bringing his shoes, because we always get our shoes after putting socks on (pattern recognition), rather than because he understood the words bring your shoes?

He qualified for both speech and play therapy, and has been having 1 hour weekly sessions in each for the past 3 months. We've seen some noticeable changes. He is now interested in naming things, recognizes certain letters, knows their names and sounds, and is mimicking exclamations, ("Oh NO!") etc. The therapy has also increased his ability to focus on a task, and his overall patience and compliance.

Your kid might well be right where he ought to be, speak with your ped and see if he/she shares your concerns and recommends a speech eval.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

First, he sounds very normal.

In order for a child to understand a question such as "Do you love Daddy?" the child needs to have a primitive understanding of love. At that age, I really don't believe they do...they understand affection, and having their needs met, and they DO love you, unconditionally, but they do not understand that feeling within themselves.

Really, the same goes with pain. A child might cry when he is hurt, but it takes awhile for the brain to make those connections that here is why it hurts, here is exactly WHERE it hurts, etc.

I recommend that you get a speech/language evaluation done by a speech therapist. Speech therapists don't just deal with expressive issues. They deal with receptive issues as well. If you look into this now, you'll have the appointment after he turns 24 months, which is an excellent time to assess where he stands.

I will say that "Do you love Dada?" is pretty nebulous. Concrete things are eaiser for him to understand right now.

Go ahead and get an eval done.

Dawn

So so normal! I had these same fears when my oldest was around that age. When she would ignore me, I used to think 'what if she's autistic?'...and would always think the worst.

But guess what? She's was just fine lol. She didn't really talk much until after 2 years old and now at 30 months she no longer ignores me (or if she does it's because she's being naughty lol) and can answer the questions you mentioned. Not only that but now she asks ME questions...ALL the time lol. She was not able to do this at 23 months. (In fact at 23 months she had about 20 words and understood most of what I said...but definitely not all).

Just keep talking to your son, keep asking questions...and I bet VERY soon, he will start responding more and more. It really is crazy how fast it happens!

Wish I could've told myself 6 months ago not to worry about it so much...that everything would be just fine! (But we're mommy's, that's what we do!)

My second just turned 1 and has no words yet and it's soo much easier this time around to be in the 'he'll do it when he's ready' mindset.

Best of luck to you!