When did your toddler speak?

[Bohemiamommy]

Our son turned two in February. I just took him in for a check up and our ped was concerned that he isn't speaking full sentances, he talks to us, but not full sentances, like bye mum mum, and cheese, garlic, Mum I pooped... etc.

Because he is not speaking full sentances our ped suggested that we have him tested with a speech pathologist, and if he doesn't speak soon, he may be tested for autism, this made me so upset,

our son, reacts to us, he plays with us, reads, say's the alphabet.. interacts with children and others, and doesn't display any signs that are listed of autism.

Any experiances or thoughts are welcome, please let me know when your babies started to talk :)

[Darcy_]

Truthfully, I wouldnt be worried. At Parkers two year checkup she was only saying a few words, she is 26 months now and she is saying more sentences. Some children take longer to talk. He sounds perfect to me!

[Bohemiamommy]

Thank you :)

[smoochy12]

i was worried about molly too...up to the age of two , she had maybe fifty-60 words, some signs..but would not string them together and WOULD NOT repeat after anyone. had to be on her terms.
since she turned two ( literally in the last 4 weeks) a light switch has turned on. she is repeating EVERYTHING and saying sentences, contextually appropriate. just a different kid.

i was more worried about something physical with her, as her comprehension and interaction seems to be way above average. that was the frustrating part for me. i knew she knew what we were talking about and she had no problem getting us to understand what she wanted( pointing, non-verbal stuff) ( ie knows all the letter of the alphabet when asked to identify them...same with numbers, picture of anything...we read A LOT)

i think it was more of a stubbornness thing for her...and a perfection thing. she did not way to make mistakes. :)

now i can't get her to be quiet. she is singing songs and blabbing all day. it's tiring to talk so much, but I LOVE the sound of her voice.

hugs to you as you are worrying. i think it's premature to worry too much, ( i was in the exact same place a few weeks ago.) it is hard when everyone else's kid is talking and yours isn't :)

good luck. and i think this autism thing has gotten way out of hand. IMHO. yes there are many valid cases, but to make a parent worry this early with only verbal cues seems a bit much to me.

best of luck
smooch

[Bohemiamommy]

thank you so very much :)

[Jmom1010]

Try not to worry. My son had a verbal explosion after his 2nd birthday. Up to that point he used some signs, gestures and one or two words to get across what he wanted. He also understood everything we said and interacted well with us and others. Now at 2 and 1/2 he talks constantly often surprising me with things that he knows.

[HIJKMommy]

Kenna just turned 30 months (2 1/2) and is finally speaking in full complete, clear sentences. She had words at her 2 year checkup but no real sentences. Now you can't shut her up, lol!! As a matter of fact now the only thing she wants to do is talk on the phone.

[Jmom1010]

Typical girl LOL

[Prettyskittle82]

"Mum, I pooped" sounds like a sentence to me!!

[ima062002]

I wouldn't worry but would go for the pedi's rec. On the OFF chance that there is a speech delay, you would want to know earlier than later.

[SingingMom]

Like Patricia, I wouldn't worry. And I probably would see the speech pathologist, although I might wait three or four months first. You want to see sentences around two- but around has some leeway built right in.

Many kids just don't feel like talking. Some get frustrated because their little mouths or whatever aren't quite up to what they want to say. These kids explode into speech. Yours will probably be one of these.

My DS, weirdly, started off with sentences, which were really garbled. If you paid lose attention you could figure them out- things like "I want that cookie." THEN, he went back to single words, but the words were much clearer. Anyone could understand them. He didn't start talking in sentences again for a long time. And for the LONGEST time, he didn't talk when there were strangers around, or in strange places. So everyone thought he was effectively mute and I could tell our extended family was starting to think that maybe something was wrong with him.

Anyway, I blather. My point was that there are a lot of perfectly fine development scenarios. Pay close attention and you may find that your kiddo is talking more than you realize.

[Jacksmommy]

In my family we tend to be late talkers. Jack had 2 words at 8 months, a few words at a year, would put 2 words together at 2, and at 3 communicates in sentences.

[threefunboys]

My oldest son had 4 words at age 2. He didn't have his "language explosion" until closer to 2.5. Now he is 6, and is at the top of his class. He was reading simple words before he started kindergarten. Don't worry too much!

However, I do think it would be a good idea to have him evaluated by a speech pathologist. Even if there's nothing wrong, they can give you good information and help ease your mind. I think your dr. was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay premature on mentioning autism. But at age 2, there might be a problem, there might not be (I'm leaning toward there not being). Getting some help is never harmful, but waiting could be. Better to be safe than sorry, because if there is something going on, the sooner you intervene the better.

Another thing I would recommend is starting baby signing. You can make up your own signs for things, if you want. I did that with my son, and it helped tremendously, not only with helping him learn to talk, but also eliminating the frustration we had with not being able to communicate very well. There are lots of books and websites to help you out with this.

Good luck.

[Stephanie]

I wouldn't worry but would go for the pedi's rec. On the OFF chance that there is a speech delay, you would want to know earlier than later.

I agree with Ima.

Our ped, who is very laid back, wanted 2 word sentences at 2. "I pooped" would qualify.

Children also approach language so differently. Ds did not say anything until he felt he could be understood and he had everything organized perfectly in his brain. He was fairly clear right off the bat. Dd just tries away, and is not as worried about perfection. So, although she talks much more than ds did at that age, what ds said was much more understandable and to the point.

[steelady]

DS is nearly 5 1/2 and he is just starting to speak. He has autism that was caught when our ped mentioned he thought ds should have more words (he had 2 at 12 months).

My advice is to get screening, any potential problem will benefit from early detection and treatment and the guilt one can feel by NOT following up is very difficult to deal with if something is found to be a problem later.

[steelady]

My oldest son had 4 words at age 2. He didn't have his "language explosion" until closer to 2.5. Now he is 6, and is at the top of his class. He was reading simple words before he started kindergarten. Don't worry too much!

However, I do think it would be a good idea to have him evaluated by a speech pathologist. Even if there's nothing wrong, they can give you good information and help ease your mind. I think your dr. was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay premature on mentioning autism. But at age 2, there might be a problem, there might not be (I'm leaning toward there not being). Getting some help is never harmful, but waiting could be. Better to be safe than sorry, because if there is something going on, the sooner you intervene the better.

Another thing I would recommend is starting baby signing. You can make up your own signs for things, if you want. I did that with my son, and it helped tremendously, not only with helping him learn to talk, but also eliminating the frustration we had with not being able to communicate very well. There are lots of books and websites to help you out with this.

Good luck.


autism can be dx at 2. And unless you know the child in question (and you may, I don't know) you have no idea if the ped's concern is just based upon language or other things he/she sees. It is irresponsible, IMO, to say "nothing is likely wrong" based upon what little was listed.