Delayed Speech in Two Year Old

I would not delay in the evaluation process... it can take months to get the evaluations done and completed. Sometimes the free services are only available until 3 and you want to get as much as you can as soon as you can.

I don't think it is something to worry too much about. But early childhood intervention is free. They will do an eval and therapy if needed.
My son didn't talk until he was 3 and is now a very bright senior in high school.

I wouldn't worry at this point. Does he follow your directions?

My son is 27 mos and just in the past few weeks his vocabulary has suddenly begun to emerge. Now he won't shut up! :) It is like these words have been in his head, and he's finally figured out how to get them out.

Two of my children didn't start talking until they were 2 1/2. My sister's son had extreme delayed speech and they didn't start speech therapy until he turned 4. He didn't say one word. He did sound effects and hand motions. He's 7 now and talks well. It was because he was deaf but he had surgery and he's better now. My sister knew he had a problem early on but they didn't do anything until he was older. I have 5 kids and two of mine didn't talk and the others were early talkers. I'd say that your son is fine. Time will tell. Good luck!!

for some children, signing delays speech. I know this statement is controversial.....which is why I phrased it as "some children". I have said many times that I would prefer teaching children to speak than to sign....& stand by my words! The only exception would be when signing benefits a child with speech disabilities....

That said, just keep plugging away at encouraging speech. Don't bypass his lack of speech....be patient & wait for him to mimic your words....or at least attempt to....before moving on in the conversation. This should help immensely!

I don't even think it's a speech delay. It seems totally normal to me. A lot of my kids didn't do much speaking until 2.5 years of age, and then they spoke very well.

My sister's kids were different. Her girls spoke similar to mine, but her boys were over three years old before they finally started speaking much at all. One of them is almost 12 now. He's a mumbler, but he has no speech issues other than that (and he could fix the mumbling if he practiced). Her other son is five years old and talks very cute.

So, I would' more suggest that your child is learning at his own pace and that there is no actual delay at all. I think there is a wide variety of what is truly normal with children. Boys seem to pick language up a little later than girls...not always but often.

If it's me, I wouldn't worry. Just give him time and I bet he'll be fine;-)

I disagree with the posters that say that signing delays speech. My son was evaluated at 18 months and his therapist had us start signing so he could learn to associate words with being able to ask for what he wanted. He's 32 months now and hardly ever signs. He is still speech delayed but making much progress. I strongly encourage you to get your son evaluated. There can be many reason for speech delay and the sooner you start services the better. Nothing that they do will hinder him, only help, so there's no reason to wait.

Hello, If you are worried, then you could have his hearing checked. Obviously, he has speech abilities because he is signing. I am not a doctor, but perhaps it could be the hearing. Also, when you use the sign language do you also say the words?
Good luck with your precious little boy.
K. K.

my sister is a speech path and she said to have his hearing checked right away to rule that out. esp if he has had a lot of ear infections. Sometimes kids get fluid stuck in there and they hear like they are under water so they don't talk because it doesn't really make sense to them. They can get that fixed easily and then can hear better.

If not- just take him to a speech path and he will do great! it is always good to be proactive!

Wouldn't it be better to have the assessment early and rule out any issues other than normal development? My son was assessed around 1 1/2 years and was diagnosed with an apraxia of speech, rather than a speech delay. His speech therapist said early intervention is the best thing we could have done for him. Many children apparently go unchecked and develop great frustration around not being understood. Sign language was also encouraged by the speech therapist. She cited studies that showed how useful a bridge it is in acquiring spoken language. We went through a regional center and yes, services only last until age three so act now!

Best to you and your beautiful boy!

My oldest said his first word at 18 mo and had maybe 2 dozen words at 24 mo. At about 26-27 mo, his language started to emerge and he learned 1-2 new words a day. By 2 1/2, he wouldn't stop talking. There is no harm in calling to set up an appointment to get him checked out. If his language starts to develop, you can always cancel it.

good for you for being proactive!

I would contact your local regional center to get him assessed. In tandem, i would get him assessed either by a private speech-languge pathologist or an SLP at a local university clinic.

Some kids are truly just 'late talkers,' but others need intervention.

Good luck!

Hang in there.. I have known ALOT of young children that were taught sign language that had "delayed speech". They felt more comfortable signing then speaking. Maybe you could try and phase out the sign language and encourage the talking. It'll work itself out

Hey M.,
I have the same issue with my 20 month old. Only my son has no words yet. He used to say "mama" and "dada" but seems to have lost those words. We started teaching him sign language at about 4 months and he knows about 20-30 signs, but he really started showing a digression of signs at around 15 months. Now all he'll sign is "more". Obviously we are working with our pediatrician closely to check him out and are in the process of getting a referral to a pediatric neurologist. He was referred to Regional Center and has already qualified for speech and is going for a formal evaluation next Friday to see if he qualifies for additional services. I share this with you to say that you should take your child in now and have him assessed ASAP. Any delay, be it speech, cognitive development, etc can impact your child's development and impair his readiness for school. The earlier these things are caught, the more likely your child is to have less intervention later on down the road, and possibly reverse any damage done.
You can call the Regional Center without a medical referral. They will send a case worker to your home to assess your child and either further assessment will be ordered or he will be given speech services. Once you make the call they have 45 days to have him assessed and placed in services if he qualifies.

the sign language causes speech delays. there is no incentive to speak when they get what they want using their hands. he should have a vocabulary closer to 50 or more words and should also be putting 2 to 3 words together to form sentences as well. you should have him assesed ASAP, early intervention is key if you want good speech patterns.

First off, I know a handful of children who were late talkers - especially boys! They seem to be way more active than verbal. Sounds normal to me.

Regarding Baby Signs - I hated them for the reason you described. My daughter was an early talker, and regressed into sign language. In the end it didn't do any long-term damage, but I just thought the whole signing thing was pointless.

My son is going on 21 months and likes to grunt or whine and point at things...Being stubborn about his words....If by 24 months not picking up more words I'll have him evaluated but he is showing the similar pattern my first two had. It would not hurt to have him evaluated but he sounds pretty normal to me. I also think that boys on average tend to be a bit slower in learning their verbal skills.

i think you have nothing to worry about. Both of my kids had ear problems and niether talked at that age at all. If he can follow directions he has no hearing problems. if you are real concerned check his ears but I think he is just either being lazy or doesn't have to talk because he has someone to do it for him. something my oldest son started doing with his brother who does have hearing issues is breaking down the sentence. Instead of sayin take this to the trash, he say take this to the trash. or instead of are you hungry he says , are you hungry. this has helped my hearing impaired child immensely. he mocks more when done this way.

It may be tempting to associate sign language with speech delay, but there isn't proof of it. There are people who say their kids actually learn more words due to signing.

My son uses signs too. He is 20 months old and doesn't like to talk. But late speech runs on both sides of the family. I didn't talk until I was 3-4 years old. My husband too. The pediatrician told us so long as he interacts and understands what you say, it's nothing to worry about right now. Imagine if my parents had taught me sign language back then! People would've blamed the signing for it.

Have you tried engaging him in singing nursery rhymes? Or playing games with words? Does he like to read? My son likes books and when he turns the pages, he starts to say things to himself. So I think he'll start to talk with that.

Anyway, don't worry so much. If it reassures you any, when I finally learned to talk, I wouldn't stop!

Enjoy your little one!

As a resource there are two very interesting books by Thomas Stowell you should check out. I'm sure they are available at your local library. The Einstein Syndrome: Bright Children Who Talk Late and Late Talking Children.

Also talk to your child's doctor.