Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

I can use all the advice I can get so if you opened this, please give me any suggestion you can.

DS just turned 2 this week. We had his party on Sunday and all his little friends are right around his age (either a few months younger or a few weeks older) and they ALL are better verbally than DS.

DS has ALOT of words but it's all labels at this point.

I say "What's this?" he says "Spoon"
We can count to 20, sing the ABC's and lots of nursery rhymes.

His 2 word sentences are "Did it" and "All Done".

But he doesn't respond to me if I say "let's pick up the ball" or "Come get a cheerio". I don't know if he's purposely ignoring me or if he really has no clue what I'm saying. The only time he really responds to his name is if I'm reprimanding him or getting him away from something dangerous.

I had a 22 month old walk into my bathroom at the party and say "Wow, this is a nice room". I know that's probably an extreme example but seriously - what are these other parents doing that i'm not? Am I missing something about the communicating? I'm at my wits end. I wanted him to talk for SO long and now that he is, I want sentences. Am I crazy? Is it honestly too soon for this?

If you've read this far, thank you. I'm sorry for the vent/panic. I'm just worried and frustrated about this. He shocks me sometimes with the things he knows but this whole development thing can drive a parent mad.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Every child develops differently. My daughter is not speech delayed but she had very few words at 15 months and then all of a sudden she was talking sentences by 18 months.

MY Cousin's daughter was saying short sentences by 10 months.

It's really hard to see other kids more advanced and it makes you start to worry, but it'll all work out in the end.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Loey's not at that age yet, but I am an SLP so I'll just say a few things.

First, please please please don't blame yourself!

Labeling is good... that's a start!

How's his receptive language overall? If you say something, can he find it?

Also, "all done" and "did it" usually aren't really considered 2-word sentences just because the child probably learned them as a phrase - KWIM? he probably doesn't realize what the individual words in that phrase are ... does that make sense? Does he say anything like "more ball" because that would be putting two words together.

When you talk to him, are you emphasizing the more important things as you say them? Like "Let's go get the BALL" - try to make the object stand out a little more.

It sounds like you're giving him really rich linguistic experiences and that is AWESOME! GO MOM! But sometimes it might be easier for you to break it down for him a little bit.

How are his other developmental milestones? I only ask because a lot of times we see kids that are either "walkers or talkers" - and those who are/were faster to walk, crawl, etc. might be slower to develop language. But of course that is just sometimes and not always the case.

Hang in there! If you have any other Q's I'd be happy to help. I haven't worked with the very young kids in a while, but I would be happy to try to help in any way that I can!

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Please DON'T worry!

My DS said maybe 5 words at 18 months. The Dr said that at 2 he wanted DS eval'd if he didnt say 50 words. At 2 he said probably 10. He could care less about speaking, he got everything he needed from us before he needed it. He was perceptive and understood everything but he also would ignore me sometimes and that is just the child showing the beginning stages of their independence.

He was eval'd and they said his comprehension was that of a 3 year old and did not qualify for EI. I started him in a daycare during that time and within 6 months I could not count his words. His next Dr appt the Dr came in and DS said "Hello Dr. Martinez How are you today"...the dr.s mouth just dropped. Be patient he will amaze you soon =).

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

DS (21 months) is quite similar. He has tons of labels and pretty much no sentences, just phrases. His receptive language is good but he does things only when he wants to do them and is "open" to listening to me.

What works best for us is me asking for his help - he loves to help me. So I can ask him "Luca, can you bring me the BALL?" and he'll do it but if I say "where's the ball?" he just looks around the room and then gets easily distracted by something else. It's all in how I word it.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Posted by Bluepixie

Posted by maybeamommy

How's his receptive language overall? If you say something, can he find it?

Also, "all done" and "did it" usually aren't really considered 2-word sentences just because the child probably learned them as a phrase - KWIM? he probably doesn't realize what the individual words in that phrase are ... does that make sense? Does he say anything like "more ball" because that would be putting two words together.

When you talk to him, are you emphasizing the more important things as you say them? Like "Let's go get the BALL" - try to make the object stand out a little more.

It sounds like you're giving him really rich linguistic experiences and that is AWESOME! GO MOM! But sometimes it might be easier for you to break it down for him a little bit.

How are his other developmental milestones? I only ask because a lot of times we see kids that are either "walkers or talkers" - and those who are/were faster to walk, crawl, etc. might be slower to develop language. But of course that is just sometimes and not always the case.

Hang in there! If you have any other Q's I'd be happy to help. I haven't worked with the very young kids in a while, but I would be happy to try to help in any way that I can!

Thanks so much. He still can't grasp what I'm asking for if I say "Go get the BALL" or "Let's find the BOOK". Not a clue. Unless I pick it up and give it to him - then he'll say "BOOK!"

You're right about the phrases. I didn't even think about that. So, no. Then he has no two word sentences..... great.

He wasn't really late-late with any other milestones. Crawled at 9 months - walked at 14 months.

He's a real observer. If he's engaged in something (book, toy) there is NO distracting him. So I try to get engaged with him since he's pretty receptive to new words then - but again, all labels.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

don't panic. I think verbal skills are all over the place at this age. Erik also just turned two, and its only been in the last 2 months that he went from simple words to full on sentences.

But I was never concerned because his comprehension and receptive skills were there.

The part of your post that stands out to me, is that he's not understanding you and doesn't follow simple commands. Have you had his hearing checked?

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Have you tried any signs with him?

And I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad about the phrases...

Some children aren't risk takers when it comes to language and they might be the ones who sit back and watch everything and take it all in, then once they get to a certain point, their language just explodes! It's really incredible.

I think you're doing the right things so far.

Try asking more open-ended questions so that he isn't required to just label things. Instead of "Should we go to the park?" Try "Where should we go today?" Also give some choices.... "Do you want an apple or a banana?"

Also, try to model for him.

If you're saying "Let's go get the book!" You might want to try "Let's go get the book. Where's the book?" Then go find the book yourself and say "Oh! There's the book! I found it!"

Also, when he labels things, try to expand on that.

If he says "book" you might say "Yes! There's the book about little brown puppies!" or if he says "ball" you might say "Oh! You have the ball! Let's bounce the ball" etc.


Thanks so much.

The signs we do are the same ones we did when he was a baby - "More" and "all done" except now he says them while doing the sign.

And no worries - I just didn't realize that a two word sentence meant something that HE had put together. Just realizing that we still have a long road to get there.

I'm going to try all these suggestions. He is very distractable so I hope I can keep his attention long enough to try a few of these little things out.

Message edited 6/8/2010 12:50:45 PM.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Re: Delayed communicator moms - please come in.

Sit on the floor with him... get down to his level and just talk about whatever he's doing.

If he's so into his book or toy... you can try either parallel play (play with your own book/toy and narrate your actions) or try to engage him while he's playing. Ask questions about the book and it's pictures - open-ended ones, and then you can even answer them yourself! "Where's Clifford? Oh! There is he is! I found him. He was behind the lamp." or "Mommy's playing with the ball. I'm rolling it. I'm bouncing it! Your turn Zach! Roll the ball to Mommy"

Things like that... KWIM?

Take an interest in what he's doing and make it full of language. Then give him small (increasingly more as time goes on) opportunity to respond. You can start with labels because he CAN do that... but then build on it.

If you ask, "What's baby holding?" And he says "ball" you can say "Yes! Baby's holding ball."

I hope that helps!