2 Year Old Not Talking

Hi E.,
I'm not a professional yet but I have taken a few courses on child development and just as a general rule, at two years of age children should be talking in two word sentences, simple things such as "More juice", "want cookie" etc.
Have you had his ears/eyes checked to rule out any hearing/vision problems? Your pediatrician could recommend a speech/hearing specialist to conduct a thorough assessment of your son's development.
I'm sorry if I'm not offering any new or economic options, but just to be on the safe side it might be worth having his audition checked.
Good luck and God bless.

Hi E.,

I am sorry to hear about your son. My son is almost 21 months old and only says "go go" for go. He has never said mama, etc. I have some input from my own experiences in this area with my son.

As for the cost of speech therapy, I believe Easter Seals charges $66 per 30 minute session for speech therapy (they may also decrease that rateif insurance doesn't cover as I was told a discounted rate for other evaluations that my insurance did not cover). We had our son evaluated by Jennifer at Easter Seals and I was very impressed with her and the speech therapy program. My son is currently attending speech therapy twice a week at Baylor-Our Children's House due to the close proximity to our house.

Also, as for at home activities, we are doing the following things with our son (as was recommended by his speech therapist):

1. When talking with your son, tell him "Mommy says boat (or whatever word you want him to say)." then say "(your son's name) says boat" and wait to see if he will make a "b" sound or try to say the word. It is supposed to be easier for kids this age to hear their name and know you want them to say something then to say now you say... because children may not know pronouns yet.

2. Put objects up to your own mouth and pronounce the name of it in a slow exaggerated manner with your child watching your mouth. Then repeat the word over again. Such as, our therapist told me to get farm animals and hold one at a time up to my mouth and say, "T (your son's name) wants elephant", then try to get him to say it or some sound for it. When it comes time for another animal, hold it up and say, "T wants more" emphasizing and holding the m on the word more.

3. If your child becomes frustrated, don't push the issue, but do get him to calm down and not associate screaming/crying as a means to get what he wants. So when my son starts screaming because I am not giving him what he wants, I calming explain he needs to calm down and then I will get it for him. When he calms down I hand him the object.

4. Our Speech therapist recommended our son learn basic baby sign language in the interim to help reduce his frustration and aid in language development. Luckily for us, we already had started this learning technique. There are baby sign language videos out there, such as the "Signing Smart Series".

5. We also have been told to put together a photo album or other type of picture book of common objects, label the objects and ask our son to point to a certain object and when he does for us to name it slowly and ask him to repeat it as discussed above.

6. Expose your son to other children around his age that are talking. We had an in home nanny for our son until recently and he was not exposed to other children daily. Since we have started taking him to places where children frequent (church nursery, small group child care, play groups, etc.) he has started taking notice of these children's speech skills and at least hears and observes their behavior. My son is now attempting to imitate these children's speech.

I hope my input helps you.

Good luck,
S.

I'm afraid for a reasonable, affordable price for 2 yrs old -- ECI might be the option for now. Have you talked to a director there to explain your concerns; request a different therapist?? I've looked into alternative speech therapy and found other options to be sooo expensive. But after all my research, a friend told me about Plano ISD Early Childhood School that offers free speech therapy preschool starting at 3 yrs old -- for those who qualify (after an assessment). My son turns 3 next week so it worked out just right in time for us -- we just got him qualified so he'll be attending 5 days week there! It's a definite blessing to find this program when we did because we could not afford private therapy ... and I know that ECI qualification stops once they reach 3 yrs old. Anyway, just wanted to tell you about that Plano ISD program, if you need it by the time he turns 3. It wouldn't hurt to at least set up an assessment a litle bit before his 3rd birthday to see where he stands - the assessment is free. And if he qualifies as delayed, then the preschool is free. www.pisd.edu - click on Early Childhood.

You might ask your docter the next time you go, but my cousin little boy was about 2-2 1/2 before he started talking and now he doesnt shut up..haha. What I would do (my cousin did) was when they want something and point at it, tell them what it is and make them atleast try to say it before you give it to them. but deffently ask your dr about it. good luck!

You might try simple sign language. The Baby Einstein video on that is pretty good. Both my kids try to mimic the words and signs.
I'm not sure what your experience with ECI was, but they offer services on a sliding pay scale, so it should be affordable. We had good experiences with the Denton County group. Is it possible to go to a different group?
Boys often talk late. If his vocabulary hasn't expanded by the time he's 2 1/2, you might check back with the pediatrician.

Dear E.,
Sounds like you need to stimulate the temporal and pareital lobes of your son's brain. Particualry the Wernicke and Berocca areas of the brain that are responsible for speech and communication. You may want to introduce your son to Brain Gym exercises, they are very easy exercises to stimluate the brain. http://www.braingym.org/. There is a teachers manual you can buy that explains many of the exercises and what they are for, it is wonderful I use these exercises in my practice with my clients everyday and have wonderful results.
Trust this gives you an alternative.
Kind Regards
Dr. Sue

Hi Easter,

I have an in-home day care. I have a 2 yr old little girl that says every word she hears. She will carry on a small conversation with me. I think it really helps that I am able to teacher her instead of putting her into a day care center. We do allot of flash cards for objects, colors, numbers, and abc's. She sings along with allot of children's songs.
I don't want to sound like I am boosting about my daughter. I just wanted to offer you my in-home day care and see if you are interested. He could come for the whole week or just a few days. He would get interaction with other kids his age and learn from them as well. It's amazing how children mimic each other. We have allot of fun and I do allot of the same thing as day care centers, but with more one on one attention and patience. I have worked with children for many years, and feel this is my gifting. I am CPR and first aid certified and am listed with the state to provide in home care. Let me know if you are interested. You can reach me at ###-###-#### or email me at ____@____.com

Thanks,
M.

E.,
I�m sorry to hear your dilemma, and I know when insurance doesn�t work out it�s a shame. I would consider looking into Easter Seals of Greater Dallas ###-###-####. They have excellent speech therapists and will put your kid in a professional, kid friendly environment where he can excel first away from home and then the therapists coach you on what you can be doing to transfer the therapy to the home environment also. This technique sounds more appealing to me because it takes the kid away from the home, where he is used to being lazy and not trying (ECI�s problem), but it is so much more quaint than being to some big, long hallwayed hospital rehab facility. They sometimes will take cases without insurance plans, although I don�t know if currently they have a waiting list for that, but they will try to work with your insurance so if that works out I recommend them.
Hope that helps, let me know if you need any other advise,
-A.
____@____.com

Hi, I also have a son who will be 25 months on the tenth. He had several ear infections when just after starting his MDO program last year and ended up having to have tubes put in his ears. Since then he has not caught up on his speech and recently we were referred to ECI by his pediatrician. I just had him evaluated today and they feel he would benefit from speech therapy. I was wondering what your bad experience was? They actually came to me from a contracted provider in Frisco called Lifepath so I'm not sure it was the same provider. My son speaks about 5 words clearly and about another 5 that only my husband and I can understand.

p.s. I am also 8 months pregnant with another boy.

Hi E., Just my opinion but I'm surprised the hospital said he needed therapy so early. Lots of little boys, especially first children, are slow to talk. My son had said a few more words by the age of 25 mos but by no means repeated alot or talked alot. Now, at 3.5 he talks all the time (at home, he is shy in public sometimes). He is definitely introverted around large groups so your son may be introverted and not feel the need. Some kids really aren't interested. I do know that you need to be careful to ensure he has a need to talk (i.e don't give him everything he needs without him needing to ask for it in some way). It just seems a little early to be too worried but thats just my opinion. Good luck!

E. - I have twin boys that were very premature, and behind in everything. They have been seen by ECI, not meant in disrespect, because I love all the therapists dearly... they probably aren't what you need. My pedi said my children seriously needed speech, and ECI wouldn't qualify them because they weren't 6 mnths behind. I got several therapists names from my pedi and contacted one who helped a lot, if nothing else set my mind at ease. One that I love is $85 and hour - and she can meet with you as little as one time a month to give you things to work on. I'm not sure where you are, but if you are interested email and I'll send you her nformation.

What I found, being a first time mom is that babies do talk when they are ready - mine are now 23 months old, and still don't call me mama, they say it (and rarely at that), but I don't think they understand what it means yet. It's so heartbreaking too, but I keep praying that day will come. One of my boys repeats everything though - the other says ba ca da pa, never more than one syllable. I also found out that they count animal sounds as words... so out of frustration, my husband ad I gave up on the words and started doing puppy, kitty, cow etc. They picked it up because we make silly faces and noises they like to repeat. All of a sudden they are both talking up a storm. We have a nany at home too, and I'm about to put them in Montessori school just so they can have some social skills. The therapists suggested it because they pay attention to their peers more than their parents - wow they really do learn everything at an early age.

Hope this helps - Good luck, and email me if you want the therapists number ____@____.com

Many speech therapists also do private pay for a lot less than they charge the insurance companies. One of my best friends is an SLP and she charges 100$/hr (most around here charge 120$/hr). My son has Down syndrome so we've been in the therapy world for a while (five years to be exact). I'm also an occupational therapy student.

There are many websites full of ideas if you are going to go it alone. www.speakingofspeech.com has TONS of activities that speech therapists have put together and submit (Click on Materials exchange.. there are three of them). Also, Super Duper Publications (you can google for their website) has LOTS of awesome stuff to work on speech. www.do2learn.com has free downloads of picture cards. www.babysigns.com is the first thing I would recommend. Start teaching him signs (you use the sign and the word simultaneously..never just sign) and that will help him have a visual for the language.

I'm concerned that you said he's not "interested" in talking. What do you mean by this? Does he make eye contact?

www.julieslp.com is the website for the SLP that I love. If you can't afford her, you might just explain to her your situation and I'm sure she'd be happy to offer you some suggestions you can do at home.

I've been through the tears. Insurance doesn't cover A LOT of the therapies I would like my son to have. And being a student myself, it's hard to afford private pay. Consequently, I've done LOTs of research on my own and made friends with therapists so I could seek free advice on how to work with my son. I'm happy to share any knowledge and resources I have.

Oh.. you might also want to look into group speech therapy classes. They are generally more affordable because parents split the costs. www.julieslp.com (her name is Julie Liberman) has a group called Lunch Bunch (60$/session, sessions are 2/wk). Sheryl Ambers, another SLP friend of mine is the Director of Star Music (www.startherapyprograms.com) and she does group speech classes too that are LOTS of fun. (She charges 50$ for eval. then 300$ for 12weeks of class, classes meet once per week. You can pay in two payments of 150$ throughout the course. Sheryl is also a mamasource mom and is the one who got me hooked on this website! Love her!)

There are some other group speech programs in the area. Let me know if you're interested in this avenue and I can share with you some other resources I have.

R.

Hi, E.:

I have a non-verbal 30 month old son. His situation is different, as he was adopted just 8 months ago from Taiwan and had a rough start in life, including not being able to hear for his first 22 months!

Anyway, we do speech pathology through ECI, but honestly, they're not helping him make much progress. Everything he's accomplished has been due to the hard work of my husband and me (and my son's own little "can do!" spirit). The main reason we're doing ECI is that our previous insurance didn't cover speech pathology, and we didn't have the $$ for a private pathologist. We're on a new insurance plan now that *will* cover SP, but we have to go in-network and we have a $35 co-pay per visit. I haven't found a private pathologist yet, as we're brand new to this insurance, but I'll post here when I do.

I have corresponded with another mom here on MamaSource who's son needed SP work, and she HIGHLY recommended Therapy 2000 here in Dallas. I looked at their website yesterday, which is http://www.therapy2000.com . I'm going to call them today to see if they work with our insurance.

Blessings,
L.

Hello E., i too know what you are going through, i have a two year old son as well, who is going through the sme thing, he was only saying his brother's name, mommmy, and daddy, and Mcdonald's. I took my son to a doctor who found that he has an abnormalty on the left side of his brain that causes his speech to be limited, and prescribed medication for him. Now I don't know that this is your case, but I hope and pray that you find the right help for your son. Call the medical support, i.e. C.C.M.S., they can assist you in a speech therapist, and they are certified.
Just don't give up hope, there are many programs out there available but get those Sesame Street videos, watch Dora with him. And maybe it could be that he is shy.

If you can't use ECI, you may want to contact Easter Seals.
http://dallas.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=TX...
They have a variety of programs and I believe they can help with the cost if your insurance does not cover therapy. My daughter is almost 6 and we have been dealing with speech since she was 2. I strongly urge you to do whatever it takes during these formative years to encourage speech. Maybe you can go to Easter Seals for an evaluation and take it from there. Good luck to you!

Hi E.,
My advice is to do a little behavior therapy with him to get him to see that talking gets him rewards. try withholding things from him until he makes a sound for them and then give them to him. Also, you can use edibles for this if he has some favorite treats. ie- if he imitates your "m" sound he can have an m&m. He needs to see that communication is essential for getting what he wants/needs to motivate him to try to communicate. I do floor time/behavior therapy with kids with autism and so work on speech a lot and this kind of program works well with typical kids also. Feel free to write back if you would like more information!
T.

Hello,
I have twins boy and girl. Watching the developement is very interesting. I think your little boy sounds perfectly normal. Girls develope langauge skills faster than boys do. Boys usually can build and take things apart & develope their mathematic skills first. It's just normal brain developement. He will learn to talk more and more, it just doesn't happen as fast as we'd like it to. It will come a little by little over time. Enroll into a mothers day out program or something so he can be around other kids his age and be able to be social with his peers. Just like a couple of days a week or something. Give him time. Read to him a lot. He will talk before he starts kindergarten. Unless of some medical issue. Otherwise he sounds like a normal 2 year old boy.

I will not have much new to add except that I have a 3.5 year old daughter who was also not talking at 2 years old and everyone told me not to worry. She'll talk when she's ready. I've seen a few people say that here. But I want to encourage you to listen to your heart on this. If you are worried then seek help because the earlier you get help the better for the child. And if it turns out you didn't really need it, then no harm done. But if it turns out to be a real problem, you've intervened early and that's so important for those kiddos with a problem. My daughter by the way has a real problem that will probably require speech therapy throughout her elementary school years and if I hadn't started speech therapy when I did, she probably wouldn't be talking now. Nobody could tell us for sure when we first started whether there was a problem or not. It's just difficult to tell sometimes. We worked with ECI from the time she was 18 months - 3 years and then at 3 yrs. she started preschool and speech therapy through the school district -- all free. She's made alot of progress but still is very difficult to understand. In fact, I ask my 2 year old to interpret all the time.

I know you talked about not liking ECI, and I wasn't thrilled with it either. But it was something until my daugher turned 3. But I will tell what a ped neurologist told me. He said that being around kids his own age that are talking is probably as good as anything at this age. Perhaps you could try to get him into a mothers day out or something like that so he can socialize more. In fact, at 24 months my daughter had no words and at 26 months she started mothers day out. About 6 weeks later we heard her first word.

Good luck to you.

I would suggest that you go to your school district or local elementary school and see what they can offer/suggest. Some districts have programs for At Risk Pre-K kiddos....I think it's called PPCD?

I would also suggest going to a teachers' supply store like Teachers' Tools or the Learning Store and get the activity books for Pre K. Start with basics.

Good luck!

E.,

I worked for ECI as a speech therapist for five years and am so sorry to hear you had a bad experience. It is not uncommon for a parent to request a new therapist if the one you have is not working for you. Each of us has different personalities and strengths, so it's okay to try to find a better match for your family if you are still open to trying it again. If you are, I would definitely call the director and talk to her about it. That's what she's there for. She knows each ones strengths and weaknesses.

I've read alot of good suggestions from everyone else like reading to him, using sign language, and trying withholding an desired toy or food that he is wanting at the moment until he makes a sound. Pick books that have photos of other children/toys and just pick out one key word to say to your child like "ball", then pause and wait about 5 seconds before saying another word, to give him time to let it sink in and have a chance to say it. If he doesn't say anything, say, "your turn" or "you say it", and look at him expectantly and wait 5 seconds. If he still doesn't say anything, try having him look at your mouth and as you point to your mouth try just saying the first syllable, "ba" and see if he'll try it. You can do the same thing with food, bubbles and toys that have more than one piece. Try teaching him say "more" when he wants another piece and show him the sign for "more" as you say it. You just touch your fingers to your thumb and move your hands towards each other in front of your body. Baby signs is a good book to get from the library to start you on sign language. I would be interested to know too if he can follow simple directions and point to pictures in books upon request. Let me know how it goes after trying these things, and I can give you some more ideas.

I would call the public school system. You may have to navigate a little but I think most of them have a very early childhpood intervention speech program. It is free. It may start at age 3. What does your pediatricain say? Also, some of the local colleges ,for some reason UNT comes to mind, may have a speech program and may need students and may not charge much.. Also, contact Scottish Rite hospital and ask if they have anything. Good luck

E., contact your public school that is close to you. they have programs to help and it is free. I do daycare and had a little boy who did the samething, mom and dad thought for ever that he was doing what mom did when she was little turned out that when he went into preschool they also told them just as I had mentioned his speech problem, his sister is doing the same thing now and the Dr said get her tested and get started. What ever Elem school you are close to contact them and tell them you want to find out about the speech therapy that the ISD offers K.

Take away sippy cups. I teach preschool and I have learned that little trick from much more seasoned teachers. Several of my boys in the class were slow to speak but once we took the sippy cup away, they started communicating. I am talking about taking it away all together and letting your child drink from a regular cup all of the time. Even if you are not one to let your child carry a sippy around all of the time, it still makes a difference. Try it, who knows!

It doesn't help everyone so I highly recommend looking into the therapy within the local school district. Call the school closest to you and speak with the counselor. They do the application and start testing the children.

Hi,
You might want to have him tested for Autism. My 7 yr old displayed some of the same signs as you state your child is & both my hybby & I explained it away as with lots of excuses. Now we wish we hadn't due to the fact we found out that he is mildly Autistic. I'm not stating that your son is, but it is better safe to get tested that way if he is, you can do early intervention. I wish we HAD gotten him tested. But always do what you think is best & don't let anyone try to sway you any other way. Also, don't think that you are just being paranoid. One of the things that we have learned is that majority of the time when a mom has a concern about something like this in her child it is usually correct & should not be brushed off by the child's doctor. Also, if not happy with test results (should you decide to have the Dr test him) always go for that second opinion. If money is an issue, there are always agency that can help you at little or no cost to you. Just some thoughts. I'm not an expert, just a mom who wants to help :)

Hi E., sorry to hear about your situation! I had a son who is speech delayed. The think about speech delay is unless you know WHY the child is delayed, it is hard to treat yourself. There are many different reasons why a child is delayed and they have very different therapies. It could be a motor planning issue, it could be a recall/retrieval, apraxia, etc.

I do understand the financial issues here....trust me! I would recommend you try ECI again and see if you can request another therapist or speak up with what you are unhappy about.

Until you know why your son is a late talker....I think it would be really, really hard to treat yourself. Most speech people, have Masters Degrees in therapy.

Good luck!

My son is behind speaking-wise as well. We are doing ECI (for feeding problems) and so far, so good. We found out that my son loves the computer so we show him pictures on the computer and he has started identifying more.
We also sing a lot to him which seems to have helped some.
Good luck

Ester I have 4 kids, and my 31 month old son just now started to talk. They all start at different times. I was worried because my 20 month old daughter started talking before he did...just remember that all kids develope differently and I do not think that your son has anything wrong with him. Some children just need more time.

Hello E.,
I am an audiologist and I now stay at home with my 3 month old son. Have you had your son's hearing tested? This is a very important step. Most insurances should cover it, though you would have to check. The Callier Center for Communication Disorders is a great place for hearing testing, speech evaluations, and speech therapy. You can call them at ###-###-#### (I think I remember that correctly--you can look it up). They have an office near downtown Dallas as well as one at the UT Dallas campus in Richardson. If he has not had his hearing tested recently (in the past 6 months), do that first. If he does have any hearing loss, you need to address that prior to any speech therapy. Then, you could ask at the Callier Center regarding options for your son to receive therapy. Feel free to contact me if you wish: ____@____.com

A. M., Au.D.

Hi,

We had a not so great experience with ECI too. We went to Easter Seals and when insurance coverage ran out we ended up having to go back to ECI. We got a different case worker this time and different ST. It has been wonderful. If you haven't tried it already, see if you can change ST through ECI. Another option is the Callier Center in Richardson. They offer many speech programs for toddlers through UTD. The classes offered are about $200-$300 per semester and your child will work with a graduate speech pathologist student. Also, TWU has graduate speech pathologists offering services for $10-$15 for 30 minutes. Good luck.

If you type 'two year old still not talking' into google you will see 56 million searches for this phrase. That's got to tell you something. There's a lot of people worried out there. Too many!
Why so many searches? Because two years generally don't talk much at all.
My advice is if your son or daughter is three and not talking, then and ONLY then, consider going for hearing testing and speech therapy. If someone tells you different they're trying to make money off of you for something you don't need or they're winding you up based on flawed information. Remember there's business at work here so there's misinformation abound.

I have a cousin who's son had the same problem. Alot of times children get lazy when their parents or other caretakers do all of the talking for them. It is always good to ask lots of questions. If they do not answer, keep asking what they think or say "what" "I can't hear what you said". My daughter is 2 and very intelligent. I ask her lots of questions and always expect an answer. She loves to be told she is so smart after talking. Giving lots of praise always works. Children have to learn to speak through trial and error. We cannot communicate for them, it just holds them back. Tell the nanny to ask your son lots of questions. DO you read to him? Read books and ask questions. Like, "What is this animal?" "What color is that?" They love to be involved.

Good Luck and God Bless,
B. B.

E.-

this is lili. Zach and nate went to speech therapy for ove a year. i have lots of input in how to help Kian. call me and we can talk. or better yet lets do lunch.

Hello E.,
I am a speech language pathologist. I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with ECI. You are correct to begin looking at options to help your son with talking. Once he is 3 he can be tested by Plano ISD and if he qualifies you could receive services through the school district. Until then you might want to consider private therapy. One option to help with cost is to contract with SLPs who work for themselves. Where in Plano do you live? I could give you the names of some friends, or if you live close enough to me I could offer services. Feel free to e-mail me at ____@____.com
Thanks
J. J.

Ester, You may want to ask your pediatrician or whoever diagnosed him at Presby Plano about getting speech for your son, without the insurance coverage. If you live in Plano they do provide ECI at some of their public preschools (don't know if these are the same people you had a bad experience with). As far as home activites--reading to your baby, playing children's music for him, playing peek-a-boo or anything that will increase eye-contact and interaction with you can help promote communication. Good luck.

Hi E.!

Please, don't worry. I had the same problem with my son. The only difference - I spoke to him Russian and my husband English. My husband was worrying all the time. But my pediatrician was saying: "Wait till he turns 3! Speech therapist will not help you anyway until your child will turn 3!" And magic happened. He started talking at 2.5 years! So, just love your child and believe in him!
All the best,
T.

Dear E.,

Your child is very fortunate to have a parent who is concerned and ready to find the necessary intervention. I am a speech-language pathologist, and understand how the price of therapy can add up quickly. I have a program called S.T.A.R. Music (Speech Therapy And Recreational Music). The program is unique in that it offers you an opportunity to meet with a licensed and experienced speech-language pathologist and select individualized objectives that will be targeted in a fun, small group setting (maximum of six children per class). You would be given suggestions at each class as to how to encourage your child to practice those objectives during the various class activities. You would also be given weekly suggestions for fun home activities to target each of those objectives. For more information, please visit www.startherapyprograms.com, or call ###-###-####. The fall schedule is not yet posted, but I would be happy to e-mail the fall '06 brochure to you. The price per class is significantly less than private therapy.

Another option would be the Callier Center. They have facilities at UTD, in Richardson.

Please let me know if I can be of service. I wish you much luck, and congratulate you on your efforts. Research continually boasts about the advantages of early intervention.

S. B. Ambers, M.S., CCC-SLP
Director/Speech-Language Pathologist
S.T.A.R. Music
###-###-####
____@____.com

Your local school district will provide pre-school with speech therapy if he qualifies. Call the special education dept and ask to have him tested. They have programs starting at 2 or 3 year old, I think. Don't fret too much. My daughter did not talk until she was about 2 years 4 months, and now I cant get her to stop. She never said words. She started talking in sentences.

http://www.dars.state.tx.us/ecis/index.shtml

contact early child intervention asap. they do great testing. your child may just be on the late end of normal, or they may have a delay. the eci can test him and help him on the right path.

I have a friend that just put her son in the PALS program in McKinney, Texas. From what I understand the child was tested and will be going to a 2 day school while insurance pays for it. Here's a website: http://www.napsa.com/briefs/pals.htm

Good luck.
C.

Hello-I have an almost 3 year and he is not talking much. Says a few words. Certain times we talk to him we use just a couple of words. Like if he wants Daddy to do something we say to say Daddy please while looking at him (he will watch our mouths). We sit in the bathroom in front of the mirror and do different facial expressions (get his mouth to form different letters). I sign the vowels to him, putting alot into the way my mouth is formed. We put heavy on the first letter of the word (like ball, we say ba,ba,ba,ball).

May I ask what was up with the ECI??

Good Luck with the talking!!

Hi E.,

I am a special education teacher for preschoolers (well currently staying home with my lil ones) and based on what you have shared, here are my thoughts.

1. Make sure he does not have a pacifier--at night is one thing if he needs it---but none during the day. These prohibit a child from speaking!!!
2. How is his receptive language? Will he follow one step commands? Does he seem to understand what you tell him? IF so, that is good and in time he may start talking. If not, you need to seek assistance asap. There is more to communication than talking, so I wanted to point that out.
3. IF you aren't willing to try ECI again (which in my experience I have heard both good and bad) then I would definitely look into another program run by a professional. Even as a special educator for the lil' guys, the speech specialist have skills and training that most of us don't have.
4. Sign language was mentioned by another mom and I agree. It is a form of communication and stimulates the same area of the brain as verbal communication. Children as young as 10 months (in my experience) have mimicked the signs to communicate. Some that I use regularly with the kids I keep in my home are: eat, drink, more, please, night-night, all done, milk, help--modified version, hurt. I bought a book for $6 at walmart--pink small square one---and just started doing a few at a time consistently.
5. If he is staying with a nanny, he may need more stimulation and social interaction. There is something powerful about a structured, stimulating environment. He is at an age when this type of setting is more appropriate. I have had children admitted into my class and within the year I released them. The class routine will really get the child out of his patterned behavior and he will take off pending there are no other issues.

Hang in there.
K.