Language and Development

At my daughters 2yr. well check, I asked the same question, my Doc said they should be saying and understanding between 50(least)-300(most) words and putting together 3 word sentences. If you are concerned you can call EI(early intervention) and they will do an eval and see if she is developing right(also with jumping and such) My little girl had started talking and regressed around 18mons. She is now in ST and OT. They were thinking Autism but now they are not sure. I wish I would not have waited until she was 2. When she started regressing I took her in and they said wait. If you are worried get her checked out! I don't want to scare you but it should be free and at best it will cure your worries!
Good Luck!~N. J.

My son didn't really speak until he was three. When he had something to say he unleashed, so don't worry. About the jumping, try a mini trampoline.

J.

Hi again... :)

The jumping-but-not-really-jumping is normal at that age, as I understand it. They're basically practicing to jump. Mine did the same thing at first, and then after a while she started actually leaving the floor. I don't know if it helped, but I frequently held her hands over her head and when she'd "jump", lifted her at the peak of the jump so her feet would leave the floor, then let her come down normally (didn't hold her off the ground in other words). Perhaps that helps them get confidence and build balance for the landing?

I'm pretty clueless as to the speech thing, as I only have one daughter. She had a few words at 2, as well as at least a couple of phrases like "Love you" and "what's that?". From 2 on though, she's picked up words very rapidly, and I found that she started becoming a *very* good mimic of sentences, so my best advice is be careful what you say, even if you don't think she's listening! :)

I read the other responses about your question and the range given 50-300 is appropiate for this age. It is hard to give ranges for speech development because it is a very indiviualized developmental acheviement. I would say not to worry to much about it unles your child seems to not notice you when you speak to them.

Children early on have a higher receptive vocabulary than expressive vocabulary so you might look for them to seemingly understand simple phrases or words, like "want your cup" or "where is daddy" etc. If your child has less than 25 words expressive or receptive at the age of 2 I would definately have them evaluated or if you just feel the need to. If it turns out that there is a speech delay you will be glad you caught it so soon because results of speech therapy are exponentially better the younger it is started.

A good place to look for services, more information, or a professional opinion is at Vandy. Specifically the Kennedy Center located on Peabody Campus, The Bill Wilkerson Center located in the Medical Research Building East Across from the ER, and the Child and Infant Developmental Labs located mostly in the Hobbs and Panye Buildings on the Peabody Campus. I'd suggest checking into services and studies at Vanderbilt University through this site:

http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/gcrc/volunteer.html

This site links you to most if not all the different studies going on. I have my son in a Hearing study as a control subject. All evaluation are free if you qualify for the study and some even copensate you for your time and gas. Well worth checking out.

Go Vandy! Hail to the Black and Gold! :-)