Spinoff of speech delay

I have been concerned about my son's speech now for a couple of months. He is 20 months old and says duck, quack, up, mama, and that is about it. The ped seemed not to be concerned....but I am. For those of you who have had similar issues, should I worry at this point? Thanks in advance.

 

Since my kids were not talking at that age, I can look back now and say that I needlessly worried. Ben did not have any words that I can recall at our 2 yr. appt. My doc was not concerned. They now speak in sentences, and we have full on conversations. So a lot can change in one year!!!

 

If he says those words and understands what is said/asked of him, then I wouldn't worry. My boys had few words at that age, but 2 months later it was like the flood-gates had opened! By 24 months, they were using 2-word sentences and, frankly, wouldn't STOP talking :lol: My guess is that your son will do something similar in the next few months.

If you are concerned, why not call EI? The evaluation is free and they come to your home. They'd be able to tell you in more detail if there is a problem, and if so what kind and set you up with therapy if he needs it.

 

I go back & forth between worrying. And it seems like soon as I get worried enough to say something, he learns a couple new words. Last week I was ready to call the dr, and then he started talking a little more. Not just about 2 new words, but the words he already knew I hear him using more.

Something that I think helped & I'm hoping to do it more often now was to have someone else take dd for the day so I only had him, one-on-one. DH took dd fishing this last Sunday & when I had ds all day he acted like a different child! And his talking was much better that day.

It's so hard not to worry, but I firmly believe in mother's intuition. Never hurts to call. My own mind is a bit more at ease right now, but I still plan on talking about his speech at his next checkup (which is only next month) just to make sure.

 

Kathy, have you talked to your ped about it at any of his well-visits? What does s/he say about it?

My oldest didn't say much until between 2 1/2 and 3 and then had a speech explosion. Ben now doesn't really say anything we understand, but we talked to our ped for a long time at his 18 mo visit and he's not worried about him, and either am I. I was so worried and stressed about my oldest, demanding he be sent to a ST and in the end, he just wasn't ready. My ped says that Ben has excellent receptive language, all the sounds are there in his babbling, he makes and maintains eye contact, plays with his sister and brother...so he's not worried and said the speech will come when he's ready.

 

My second son had only 3 words at 22 months. I wasn't particularly worried, because my dad and my mom's brother both started talking around age 2.5. And by age 2.5 he was ahead of his age group.

My girls had ZERO words at 20 months. They had zero at 24 months. Olivia started talking at 25 months and she progressed in a matter of weeks to complete sentences with 8 or more words in them. Lu started at 27 months. I was not worried this time around, because I knew late talking ran in my family, and because they could clearly understand me and follow requests. To any fussy family members I just blamed it on their being twins. (The ped was not worried.)

I never had them evaluated, but I am sure they would have tested delayed for expressive language.

Mine were 37 weekers, so not premature at all.

If he can understand you and follow simple instructions, and if he can do things like point to the [noun] on the page of a book, I would not worry.

 

Ethan had hardly any words at 2 (mama was pretty much it). Jackson was talking in complete sentences early on. The ped kept telling me we would have Ethan evaluated at 30 months if he wasn't saying 2 word phrases. I finally made an appt at 30.5 months and he started talking. He didn't qualify. Now he is really talking at 32 months. I worried so much the past year over this and am so glad I'm past that point.

Mendy

 

My boys had no speech at all at 22 months. By the time they were 2.5yo, they were nearly talking in sentences. Don't compare him to his sister, boys tend to talk much later than girls. If he has a good comprehension of what you are saying to him, then it's a good sign that he will be just fine.

 

No words until 22 months. 2-3 word sentences at 36 months. Still struggling with speech at age 4+.

I wouldn't worry at this stage. If he doesn't progress as his 2nd birthday approaches, then I would look to have an evaluation done.