Talking - Saint Meinrad,IN

I wouldnt worry a whole lot right now. My youngest son was the same way at that age. Every time I gave him a cookie (or whatever it is you are giving him) I would pronounce the word to him clearly and would squat down eye level with him so he could watch my lips. With a little time and patience he started to talk more and more. When he went to preschool he went to speech classes for half the year and did very well. Now he is ten and has a vocabulary bigger then mine!!!

My son did the same thing,I don't honestly think it is anything serious but you may want to discuss it with your pediatrician. My son is now 5 and while he does talk in full sentences, he cannot properly verbalize some words and many of his letters come out with a D sound and he gets easily frustrated when we cannot understand him. I am relatively new in the area and he has an appointment with a new peditrician soon.

i would have him evaluated for first steps or early intervention of some sort. my daughter was only using single words at that when she turned two, and her ped had her evaluated. with a therapist she progressed, and is doing so much better w/ her speech. by 2&3 yo a child should be using 2-3 word phrases. your son just may need a little bit of help w/ his speech development.

As was said earlier, kids develope differently then others. Also they cant learn to talk and walk at the same time. I have a degree in early child development, and learned that if a child is learning something physical, like running, or jumping then language slows down, and when they learning new words, the physical part slows down. My own two year old, she turned 2 in august, started talking at 9 months, by 18 months was saying 2-3 words together. She did crawl until 10 months and was almost 18 months before she walked. I know she is ahead of kids her age verbally, but not quite up to were they are physically. On a plus side, my son was the same way, and everyone is now on the same page, verbally, and physically, though my son is no athelet, but either one of his parents are either. lol I hope this helps you. Remember your doctor is the best to evaluate if you are very very concerned. But if he is doing things like jumping off of the furniture, or running really fast, or climbing really well, or all of them, then know he will catch when he is ready. Good Luck!

If your are concerned I would talk to his ped. But my daughter was that way and when she turned 3 it was like she had been talking all her life. All kids develop differently so he might not be ready yet.

A.
My son will also be 3 in March of 07. He also has a few words and they are not very clear words. I have had him evaluated twice for speech therapy but barely didn't qualify due to completely understanding and still communicating (he does baby signing and has sounds for things like moo for milk and appo for tractor,etc.). The therapist and my doctor both seem not too concerned yet.

The therapist did recommend seeing an ENT just to make sure there is nothing physical wrong. And, she said that at age 3 there should be a huge jump in speaking, so if he still isn't saying much at 3, then it will become an issue.

So, if it makes you feel better to explore avenues, the school system has to provide free services to children no matter what the age is. Call the school speech pathologist and they will help you contact the early childhood education speech pathologist. It will cost you nothing and they can at least tell you what you can be doing to help him or not to worry if there isn't any reason to.

Has he started preschool yet? My eldest son spoke very little, but I decided to send him to preschool anyway at age 3.
He had an entire vocabulary within 2 weeks of being in preschool. It seemed like this vocabulary came out of no where. But I know that he had learned all the words necessary to communicate, but just didn't use them until forced to do so in preschool. I hope this happens for your son.
It is hard as a mother, but you can try to encourage him to use his words with little incentives.
Hope this helps.
Hugs,
G.

just give him time. my grandson (I'm a 34 yr old grandma!!) is 2 & just now started saying words. I think boys are a little slower sometimes than girls as far as developing & I think if a child has older siblings they catch on faster. I don't think he will be a slow learner, give him a couple months & you probly won't be able to shut him up! I have a 19 1/2 mth old daughter & she talks a lot more than he does but I notice since he's been going to daycare a couple days a week, he has been talking a lot more.

Please don't forget that kids develop at diffeerent rates... My friends daughter didn't say a word until they put her in day care and my daughter wasn't saying much until preschool. I'm sure your little one will have a language explosion!!! You'll think back to the days when they weren't talking and ask yourself why you were in such a rush to listen to all they babble on about!!!LOL!! I'm sure everything will be fine but I would mention it to your doc!! Just to make them aware you have concerns!!

A., give him some time. Some children talk earlier and some other later. Do not make comparisons with other children in any stage. Every child reaches milestones at different pace. If you see, of course it takes longer and longer, I would talk to his pediatrician, but before that I would give him more time and make more playing time with letters, sounds, and songs. Talk to him with any excuse, when you are cleaning the house, going shopping, taking a bath, etc. ("Look!!, mommy is reading a green book"; "Is your cracker tasty?...Whow..is round and round...!")
In my case, my son had a delay because English is our second language, my husband and I speak English, Spanish and French though, so our son took some time to learn English, and we gave him a lot of time even though, the doctor told us he needed a speech specialist....we declined to do that at that point. Now he talks like a little sweet parrot and he is bilingual (writing and speaking).

It takes patience and perseverance.
Good Luck and I hope this helps..

Alejandra

A.--if this is something that you are worried about I would talk to your ped about getting a physical therapist to evaluate your son. I have a close friend who had her daughter evaluated and she learned A LOT. Then they are able to do things that help the child develop. Just a suggestion.

Don't worry. My son developed slow, I still think he is. But his preschool teachers say he is in the norm but is having some difficulty. But is due to ADHD and not being able to concentrate on one thing. He is going through psych testing for it. He has a twin sister and she is far more advanced than he is. They are both 5 now. But your doctor during his check ups should ask you about his milestones. Mine asked things like if he can speak in a sentance of 3 words yet. Jump on one foot, walk on his tip toes, etc. If he doesn't ask these questions. You may want to look up any books you can find that give you the information of what he should be able to do at what age.