21 Month Not Talking at All???

Sounds like it could be a hearing issue. My friend just went through this and it caused speech delay. It does sound like some signs of autism or an auditory processing disorder. Have her get him tested as soon as possible. Early intervention is very important for helping him if there is something wrong and it sounds like there is.

Please encourage her to get him checked out. Everything you mentioned is a potential red flag... and the earlier she figures out if he has a problem, the earlier she can start working to make things better for her son. If it's just his hearing, that's easy to fix. But she needs to do it now or else he's missing the window of brain development that happens for language now.

Also, I don't think it's possible for a 21 month old to be that stubborn.

Your friend needs to stop making excuses and get an evaluation. At 24 months, the expectations of what he should be able to communicate are strikingly different than before the 24 month mark, so now is a good time to get a referral for an evaluation from her pediatrician and get an appointment for it set up right after his 24 month birthday. Tell her to get the papers they have her fill out in advance, and work on them at home. They will ask what words he can say or tries to say, and other questions. It is MUCH easier to do this at home when she can think about things easier, plus she will have more time with the therapist.

I highly recommend that she consults a group to assess her son. Like her son, mine only had a few words at that age. He tried, but only had vowel sounds - no consonants. 3 people assessed him at the same time - a team approach. I will be forever grateful to them, because they gave me excellent advice and found me a speech therapist who was good for him at the beginning of his speech work. She was young, energetic, and pretty. He LIKED her. She also knew how to get him to continue when he got mad at having to do it.

I used another lady later, when we moved, one with many years of experience because he had a speech problem that needed more experience, but that was okay. I will ALWAYS appreciate my son's first speech therapist.

Tell your friend that it is much easier to help a child at 2 than it is later. Offer to go with her. Whatever you can do to get her to listen, articles, etc.

Good luck!
Dawn

You don't want to believe anything is wrong with your child....but as others have said the earlier you start the better. IF it is hearing, that can be addressed and the language will come quickly once he can hear. One my son's has Childhood Apraxia of Speech and I started worrying around 14 months when he just wasn't really even trying to talk and the other kids his age were....then by 18 months we had him evaluated and had started therapy with him. It helps honestly just to know what you are dealing with....a simple speech delay may not be a huge deal and easily overcome but if it is something more, it is super important to get started now. Early Intervention makes a big difference so that by the time they are in school you hopefully aren't having to fight an uphill battle getting them caught up. Not having language is a huge thing. I am new in TX so I am not sure exactly who to contact for an EI evaluation, but she or you could always call the local school district or ask the pediatrician. Some peds just aren't very good about evaluating/referring for developmental milestones or they don't see them enough to really grasp what a big problem it is so you have to go around them. Maybe if you could sit down and have a serious heart to heart with her and say "I know you have to have some little thing inside you thinking something is not right here.....It certainly can't hurt just to have someone evaluate him and see"....and be supportive and there for her if she needs to talk. Having a child with issues like this is a very lonely road and no one wants to hear about it or support you, if she sees from the get go that you just want to help and that you genuinely care it can go a long way towards giving her the strength she needs to address it.

I would encourage your friend to maybe just get an early intervention evaluation. A loss of words is a big red flag. Hopefully it is nothing to worry about, but truly, if he used to be saying words but no longer is he definitely needs to be checked by his ped or by early intervention.

I would suggest she seek out Early Intervention services in her state - they are free to all kids under 3 years old and the sooner she gets him seen, the better (sometimes it can be a few months from the initial phone call to the actual evaluation and that's valuable lost time when it comes to speech therapy, etc.). She also needs to have his hearing checked.

Those are classic signs of autism- not making eye contact, not answering to his name, being able to speak at the appropriate age and then not, the repeating the same sound is what worries me. I would try to make subtle suggestions, but she may not want to hear them. He may also have ear problems. That would also affect his speech patters and abilities.

Tread lightly. No one wants to believe their child has an issue.

please encourage her to get her son evaluated, as not having eye contact can be a big issue, especially if there was language and now there is not any. If there is a concern, the sooner he gets help, the better his outcomes will be.

Next time you are together, satisfy your curiosity by shaking a bell or rattle something behind him and see if he turns around. If he doesn't mom will know it's time to get hearing checked. I

my daughter didnt talk until 26 months. she has always made noises and such but nothing major until august of this year i wanna say. and she turned 2 in march. she was just being stubbern and the brain and mouth wasnt clicking right, at his 2 yr his pedi will ask those questions of what he can and cant say and how he responds and such and if they think its a problem they will recomend taking him to an ent to have hearing checked and go from there but i wouldnt mention it

I agree with the posts that suggest he gets checked out just to make sure nothing serious is going on. But my grandson didnt talk til after 2 yrs. old. So it's not always something serious. I think all children develop and do things at different times. I hope everything turns out well for them. God Bless!

Yes!! He needs to be checked by his dr asap! I am not a dr but it sounds like autism. Those are the typical signs. The sooner you detect and start treating the better. As her friend, you need to say something.

I would encourage her to get him checked at the doctor and be sure he can hear and then if that's all okay I wouldn't worry. Boys talk slower than girls usually and it's not uncommon for them to not be talking much at this age. He should be looking at you when you call his name but I have seen kids not do that and still be fine. Just keep an eye on him when you see him but I would suggest the doctor be the judge on hearing, etc. There are other things it could be I guess too that only a doctor would know how to look for. If he is doing other things fine, sounds like he is, he just may not be a verbal person.

Tell her to take him to an ENT for a hearing test and possible ear infections not cleared up by the meds. I have posted many times about my grandson who was deaf and can now hear. Click on my name and read my answers about ear/hearing issues.

It could be something simple or it could just be he's not able to hear at all.