Would You Be Concerned?

[rootsnwings]

AND, I will say that his vocabulary is right there with my 21 month old "talkative" girl (in my personal experience--remember I only have 2 late-talking boys to compare to)--but she is talking a LOT more than they were at this age and I'm not sure she knows (or SAYS) all the words your son can say at this point.

 

HTH! :)

[Renee in NC]

I'll dissent.:D

 

I wish I had *never* listened to the "don't worry boys talk later" advice I was given when my 4 older boys were young. Especially the "his brother talked later and look at him now" advice. The reality is that all 4 boys have some form of language processing issues now, probably dyslexia, and other things.

 

My current just turned 2yo doesn't talk much. He has an appointment with Early Intervention in two weeks. I will *not* wait on interventions for him to see if we can't take care of some of it young. Maybe he will actually learn to read at 5 or 6, instead of the 7-9 we have now (except the 9yo is just starting to read.)

[Halftime Hope]

I'll dissent.:D

 

I wish I had *never* listened to the "don't worry boys talk later" advice I was given when my 4 older boys were young. Especially the "his brother talked later and look at him now" advice. The reality is that all 4 boys have some form of language processing issues now, probably dyslexia, and other things.

 

My current just turned 2yo doesn't talk much. He has an appointment with Early Intervention in two weeks. I will *not* wait on interventions for him to see if we can't take care of some of it young. Maybe he will actually learn to read at 5 or 6, instead of the 7-9 we have now (except the 9yo is just starting to read.)

 

Waving 'atcha!

 

I hope everything goes well as you all get ready for the big move! Didya see my post above? Looks like we both have similar experiences. :glare:

[Pam Wilhelm]

Apparently, according to my Mom, I didn't start talking until I was 3 years old....and "haven't stopped since!" :D

 

My oldest didn't start doing much of any talking until her sister was born and beginning to talk...... the oldest was about 3 years old also. She is still a quiet sort of girl...but does fine with her school work, etc.

[Lisa in Jax]

When she was a baby, we had some concern about lack of oxygen at birth due to decelerations during labor and Group B Strep infection. So, when she got to be 15-18 months old and wasn't using "telegraphic speech," I was worried.

 

She used quite a few single words, but wasn't "talking" as much as I thought she should be, so we were stressed about it.

 

At 18 months, she said things like:

 

"Moah" (more)

"num" (milk)

Yes

No

mama/daddy

Dixie (the dog)

some food names

me go

up

down

please

thank you

etc.

 

One afternoon when she was about 19 months old, dd was sitting in her high chair in the kitchen with us, and dh said to me, "I'm going to the grocery store. Do you need anything?"

 

DD said, clear as day, "I want to go with you."

 

DH and I just stood there in stunned silence for a minute. ;-) She never stopped talking after that, and spoke clearly and distinctly from then on. I think that she just needed time to master speaking before she'd try sentences, etc. She's always been that way; until she can do something WELL, she's not going to even try.

 

Trust your instincts. If you think he's all right, can hear well, and is developing normally otherwise, it probably can't hurt to wait a while. If you have a gut feeling that something's wrong, by all means make an appointment to check it out. :)

 

Lisa

[AnitaMcC]

Trust your instincts. If you think he's all right, can hear well, and is developing normally otherwise, it probably can't hurt to wait a while. If you have a gut feeling that something's wrong, by all means make an appointment to check it out. :)

Lisa

 

 

To me the bolded is what counts. A mom just knows if something isn't quite right and should always go with your instincts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It absolutely can not hurt by having a child evaluated for anything.

It can hurt by doing nothing.

 

So my thoughts are... evaluate just in case.

 

My twins had no issues due to their delayed speech and because of that I probably wouldn't have worried as much about my youngest and probably wouldn't have pushed the issue with doctors even though my instincts said something was off... but I could't pin down what was off.

 

Thankfully the doctors did the newborne hearing tests at birth and Ds failed them. I wouldn't have known early on that anything was wrong and I would have delayed having him seen.

 

Ds had one ear infection at 6 weeks old. After that he didn't show any problems other than just not passing his hearing tests. By 6 months he was showing even less ability to hear and making very little vocal sounds. He was still seeing his ENT every month but other than failed hearing tests no one truly knew how bad it was getting. He could hear... but like he was under water so loud noises he responded to and when you were talking to him... he was responding to facial expressions, not voice. Dh and I didn't know that though. We thought he was hearing our voices.

 

We didn't connect that he was also delayed with gross motor skills when at 10 months old he didn't sit up without using his arms to brace himself because he didn't have any balance and coordination. We just figured he was fine. He scooted around on his butt so we figured that was how he was "crawling".

 

If his ENT went with his "usual" pattern, Ds would not have had surgery before 18 months old (since he didn't have anymore ear infections other than the first). But because something in ENT's gut said not to delay... Ds had his surgery at 10 months old. The ENT said that the inner ear fluid had crystalized and some spots hardened and if he had delayed two more months Ds inner ear would have calcified and he would have been deaf.

Edited February 6, 2011 by AnitaMcC

[LostSurprise]

If he's struggling, I would consider some kind of appropriate intervention. Testing. Teaching sign. Etc.

 

If he's not struggling, he just doesn't want to, then I would respond by creating situations where talking benefits him. That's one thing I learned with my late talker (he struggled with understandable speech and we did sign), if a child doesn't have a reason to talk--often they don't. If we expect some kind of response from them they quickly learn to do the thing which will get them a cookie, or a hug, or a cool toy off the shelf. Internal motivation is a powerful factor.

[Lovedtodeath]

I'll dissent.:D

 

I wish I had *never* listened to the "don't worry boys talk later" advice I was given when my 4 older boys were young. Especially the "his brother talked later and look at him now" advice. The reality is that all 4 boys have some form of language processing issues now, probably dyslexia, and other things.

 

My current just turned 2yo doesn't talk much. He has an appointment with Early Intervention in two weeks. I will *not* wait on interventions for him to see if we can't take care of some of it young. Maybe he will actually learn to read at 5 or 6, instead of the 7-9 we have now (except the 9yo is just starting to read.)

Do you really think that speech therapy would have helped your other boys?

[CalicoKat]

I am posting this question at the request of DH. In fact, his exact request was "Well, could you ask that homeschool forum with the zillion other moms on it?"(:lol:)

 

DS will be 20 months (!) next week and DH is concerned that he's hardly talking at all. Well, he talks when he wants, just not in understandable English. He'll say words once or twice, in a very deliberate manner (as if to prove that he *can* say them) and then refuse to use the word again. If we insist that he uses words to ask for something (like a drink) he'll either decide it is not worth it and walk away or use "this" and point to it. He does have a (very slowly) growing list of words and phrases that get used on a daily basis.

 

I'm convinced that DS simply doesn't see a need to talk yet. He was much the same way with crawling - he crawled a few feet at 5 months and then absolutely refused to even get on his hands and knees for more than a second until he was almost ten months old. When he did crawl you could almost see the conscious decision "I think I want to investigate over there instead of staying where mommy put me" and so he did.

 

When talking to my grandmother she told me that her youngest was the same way. He refused to use more than a dozen or so words and phrases until he was almost three and then overnight he went from not speaking to saying things like "Can I have a drink of water?" "Where is dad?" "I need to go potty" etc.

 

Other than the talking thing he is developmentally fine and ahead in some areas. Sometimes he is downright scary with his smartness. He's been able to pick out both my mom's cell and home number out of mine, and DH's, contact lists since he was 13 months old, and will alternate calling them until he gets his grandma. He really loves helping me cook and bake - last week I was making the bed and came out to find that he had pulled a chair up to the counter and pulled down a mixing bowl, had un-baby proofed the cabinets and gotten out the sugar, flour, and chocolate chips, and he had stuck them all in the mixing bowl with a spoon.

 

He has plenty of exposure to language. DH and I make a real effort to talk to him a lot - explaining what we're doing, pointing out objects and naming them, and reading to him (lots and lots, he loves books!). He also shows an excellent understanding of words and can follow complex, multi-task directions. I'm not concerned (like I said, I think it is just a matter of he'll speak when he decides that he wants too), but DH is and I'm pretty sure it is because this was the big milestone that he was looking forward to. DH never had any experience (at all) with young kids before DS was born, so even still he is less than fluent in "Baby" and "Toddler" speak and I think he feels left out sometimes because of that. I think he also gets concerned because I am quite crunchy, and by default that has forced him to become crunchy (when before he was probably as far from crunchy as you could get). We get a lot crap/judgmental comments from well meaning neighbors/church members/ and family and I think at some deep level he comes back and wonders "Are we screwing our kid up by doing x instead of y? Is that why he's not talking as much as [enter the handful of 18-22 month old kids that he knows with a larger vocabulary than DS]?"

 

So... long post (sorry) to simply ask: would you be concerned?

 

For reference, in case anyone is wondering, he'll say these words and phrases on a daily basis:

 

Mama

Daddy/Papa Dada

Ummma (grandma)

Ampa (grandpa)

Nick (my brother, but he holds the i out for several seconds and usually adds the ending sound as an afterthought)

Meow

My Meow (in reference to both his favorite stuffed animal and a picture of the kitty that he has deemed his)

Tales (Veggie Tales)

Love you

Ta-dah! (used for any/all reasons he deems celebratory)

Ball

Yeah

 

Words and phrases he uses at least a few times a week:

Eww, bum!

My up (wants up, usually to get at something)

No

Tory (story)

Hi!

This

There is (typically while playing hide and seek or peek-a-boo)

 

Words that he's said a couple of times and then refuses to say again:

Shoe

Balloon

Drink

Bath

Out

Done

train

milk

nurse

bye-bye

bed

truck

No I wouldn't be worried. He's speaking alot and trying out alot of things.

 

My 24 month old isn't saying much and we're worried. Our little guy has less than 10 words and according to the therapist it's considered at 37% delay in speech. There has to be at least a 30% delay to qualify for speech therapy.

 

Your little guy is doing great!

 

I bolded the words on your list that my little guy can say -- that's it!

[Renee in NC]

Do you really think that speech therapy would have helped your other boys?

 

Absolutely! A speech therapist was the one able to get my now 9yo blending sounds at all. Early speech therapy would have allowed their phonemic awareness deficits and vocabulary to be remediated younger. They are both diagnosed mixed expressive-receptive delayed, so I can't imagine that it *wouldn't* have helped.

[gingersmom]

There is no shame in going for a speech evaluation. It does not mean you are a bad parent or your child is not smart. At 20 months you can get a free evaluation through early intervention.

 

For every child that is a "late talker" there are hundreds who are not and who would have benefited greatly from speech therapy at 20 months.

Edited February 6, 2011 by gingersmom

[kalanamak]

I

 

I'm convinced that DS simply doesn't see a need to talk yet. He was much the same way with crawling - he crawled a few feet at 5 months and then absolutely refused to even get on his hands and knees for more than a second until he was almost ten months old.

 

This reminds me of my son, then 2, who could clearly read off the letters and numbers of license plates....only on Jeeps.

 

He didn't say Mama until his was nearly 3. Elephant, alligator, igaunadon, yes, Mama, no.

 

Kiddo regularly had "firsts" at his GM house, which we visited every 6 months. I couldn't have planned a better last 4 years of my mother's life, than a series of baby firsts for an old, old, OLD mother of many.

[Lovedtodeath]

Absolutely! A speech therapist was the one able to get my now 9yo blending sounds at all. Early speech therapy would have allowed their phonemic awareness deficits and vocabulary to be remediated younger. They are both diagnosed mixed expressive-receptive delayed, so I can't imagine that it *wouldn't* have helped.

Thanks for explaining!

[Ann.without.an.e]

Sounds alot like my DS, who is 21 months old. He has some really deep thinking going on in his little brain and he blows us away sometimes with how he puts things together. He will say something in perfect context and then not repeat again. He isn't a verbally focused child. His brother was talking full sentences at a remarkably young age. I see that in every way he is just "wired" different than his older brother. I am not going to worry about my DS for now. He is progressing in his own way. My pediatrician was not concerned either. I have 4 and they are all so different. There are no molds with children.