How to Get My Almost 2 Year Old to Talk

It is not "your" fault, that he is not speaking the way you think he should.
Boys, in general, speak later. It is gender based as well.

My son, was a late talker. Talking has NOTHING to do with "intelligence." Einstein, didn't talk until he was 3 years old.....but he was a Genius.

My son, from about 19 months old, had a Speech Therapist. Which was free from our local regional program.
Anyway, they do an OVERALL developmental assessment... my son, was found to be ADVANCED in many areas, developmentally. But his talking was late. Nothing "wrong" with him per say... he was just shy to talk and needing encouragement and help in forming words/sounds. "Forcing" a child to talk, will not help. However, my son did communicate well, even if he was late in talking, he did not get frustrated, he would gesture and talk the words he knew and would SHOW us what he meant. He was very "articulate" even though he was not talking as others his age. We were always proud of him. But, I choose speech therapy for him, because it was free for kids up until 3 years old... and my son LOVED it and it did help. He now talks VERY well and has an astounding vocabulary... and it the most talkative one in our family! So... there will come a time, when a child WILL talk... just not by "our" time-line."

Encourage your son to SHOW you how he feels.... and the words for it. It will take time... DO NOT show frustration about it... it will only make him not want to and feel self-conscious. Kids are sensitive.

AND show him alternative ways to express frustrations.
"Talking" is not just saying words... its also how the coordination of the mouth/tongue/throat and its accompanying "sounds" are formed... which some kids need help with. And, per age, certain words/sounds are not mastered yet. I learned this ALL from our Speech Therapist.

The book "Your 2 Year Old" from www.amazon.com is great. It is a series of books about each age juncture of a child, and what THEY go through and their development. Although written years ago, it is still VERY pertinent. I really recommend it.
2 years old is also hard naturally. They are going through MAJOR growing pains both physically and cognitively. So, its hard for them too... and "expectations" upon them changes too.. .and they may not be ready for all that, developmentally. MANY MANY changes are happening to them... and a kid that age does NOT have the perfect coping skills for it all. So lead him towards more acceptable ways of coping... not just getting all pent-up in his emotions. "Boys" need to know that communicating and expressing their feelings are "okay."
My son, will even tell me "I'm grumpy... go away, I need to be by myself" for example. And this is great... so instead of yelling for example, we taught him to tell us HOW he feels. Of course, since your son does not yet talk... teach him gestures or sign-language for his feelings... so he CAN tell you, safely and confidently. Thereby, teaching him "problem-solving" skills too. Most kids, get all pent-up and fussy because they don't know how to "problem-solve" yet on their own... so gradually, teach them... in conjunction with expressing it 'nicely.'
Your son is still so young... but over time, it will help when he gets older.
My Daughter's teacher, when in preschool, would actually tell the kids when they came up to her with a "problem"... she would tell them "Problem-solve that...." and would coach them on HOW To "solve" their questions... and would guide them. Therefore, the kids would start to learn that they are ABLE to think proactively. Again, it takes time.... throughout their growing up. So "allow" for that.
A kid, any kid... will get frustrated if they think that they are being "rushed" for things they are not yet ready for. My daughter, would actually tell me "Mommy, I'm just a kid... not an adult. I need time..." etc. So I learned from HER too. Not just going by "my" expectations.
Go by your child's cues and individuality. They will respond better that way.
Often times, we say that our kids understand what "we" tell them and do what "we" want. BUT.... do we also understand "them" and what they are trying to tell us? When we don't, they get frustrated, too.

All the best, sorry for rambling,
Susan

Every child develops at their own pace. I would suggest reading more to him. My son (2 1/2 year old) and I read together every evening before bed for 20 to 30 minutes (and often throughout the evening as well). He has a great vocabulary and I think this has a lot to do with reading to & with him (some books he has had me read to him so many times that he has memorized them). I have also heard that interactive talking helps children develop words. I ask my son a lot of questions and if he doesn't know how to respond I give him a few options and he will usually repeat one of them. With regards to the biting issue, this is about gaining a since of control of his surroundings, or that is what i foudn with my son. My son only bit me and it was a 6 month battle to get him to stop. My son also has a VERY short attention span (but I think most kids of this age do) and I have found that teaching him short games, singing and dancing together and reading have helped him calm down just a bit. These activities help give him focus yet he still feels free.

hi J.!
i'm not sure how to get your 2 year old to talk, however you might want to look into teaching him some sign language "baby signs", to help him communicate and ease his frustration. i am a certified sign language interpreter and if you would like more information please feel free to give me a call.

N. ~###-###-####

when our son was around the same age, I was equally concerned as friends kids were talking more. I asked the pediatrician about it frequently. He said not to worry. Sure enough, he started talking very quickly after his second birthday.
We're finding the same with our daughter - the past 2 weeks, her vocabulary and ability to put words together is flourishing.

If you're concerned, ask the pediatrician.

As for the acting out, one thing that worked for us with both kids was asking them to "show us" when they were frustrated. If we didn't understand, it made them more frustrated to ask them to repeat themselves, but if we asked them to show us, it usually made it easier for us to understand how they were verbalizing what they wanted.

Good luck!

I went through this with my little guy and at age 7, he won't be quiet!!! I also taught 2YO's for several years and it is normal. You are doing nothing wrong. My advice to you is to talk a lot, narrate what you are doing when you are around him ("I'm chopping of veggies for snack", etc.). Read to him a lot, too.