Language of 2.5-3 Boys
Micelle78
member
Hi,
I do not post on this board (usually Special Needs Board), but I was hoping you guys would be willing to answer a few questions I have about "typical" speech and language of boys between 2.5-3.
My son has been in speech therapy for 9 months and has recently turned 3. I only have nieces, and they talk A LOT. I mean not just talking but complex thoughts and sentences for their age. For example, the 14 month old says thank you, grandma, her sisters name, the dog's name. The 3 year old says all kinds of long sentences. She talks about princesses and what she did at the daycare, feelings etc.
My son is no where near that. He said mama around typical time (under a year) but said no other words until his 2nd birthday and then was only using nouns and no verbs. He also was dx with a receptive language delay (meaning he did not understand what we said at the age level he should have) This has led to problems with every typical daily activity since he doesn't understand what you are saying much of the time. For example I can't give him expectations on what to expect when we are at a place. He doesn't understand "this first" and then "this next". He lives in the here and now.
Therapy has been a long and emotional road for me and my husband. Its hard to put in a nutshell exactly what my son is like. He has responded so well to speech therapy though. He is speaking in sentences now, but still way behind his peers. He also still has trouble with you asking him anything that we have not practiced over and over.
I guess my question is, mothers of boys-- what is your child saying/understanding? Can you describe the way they talk? How aware are they of social contexts like someone being mad at them? Do they have a concept of "tomorrow" or referring to something not right in front of them?
TIA-- it means a lot 
Re: Language of 2.5-3 Boys
DS is a November 2010 kid, so just past 2.5yrs old.
He can speak in sentences, asking for what he wants or talking about what is going on around him. He definitely understands when somebody is mad or sad at him in real life as well as when he sees it in a movie. For example last week when I was away from him for a week for work, he was watching Ice Age Melt Down with his Dad. In a scene where Ellie is flashing back to seeing her mother as a baby he said "Ellie misses her Mommy, Lincoln misses his Mommy" so he made the connection there.
He does have a concept of later on or tomorrow. He understands when you ask him to do something in a sequence, but sometimes gets off track and needs reminding part way through.
He is a chatty kid, definitely has the gift of the gab. He is rarely silent. He likes to fill any silence when we aren't talking with singing songs or talking about what he's seeing if we're driving.
He understands and recognizes emotions in himself and others and will attempt to manipulate by saying something makes him sad or scared to get his way.
He seems to have a grasp of time in the sense of tomorrow and soon but I couldn't say how well he understands beyond a few days.
There is a wide range of a normal though. My nephew is 3 1/2 and barely spoke until after 3 and now it's like talking to a little man.
Thanks ladies.
Its so hard when the future is unknown and also hoping he doesn't "hit the wall" and not improve to the extent he needs to. I was curious about the imagination thing. He isn't there yet. He is very social as far as wanting to talk to everyone and lately will not stop hugging complete strangers! This happened while waiting to get a hair cut and while standing in line at the store and other instances. He is a very happy kid.
The ways you were both describing your sons was about what I was thinking they would be at. I enrolled him in preschool for the fall and we (husband and speech pathologist) that he will gain even more language. Thank you for sharing
A kiss he will never forget- Disney World 2014
Its is really amazing how much their language skills develop from 2 to 3 years old. I remember a year ago my husband and I were considering taking him in for an evaluation because we were worried about his speech. And then suddenly, BOOM! language explosion. His language gets better and better but sometimes its hard to see the growth. One thing I did to settle my own nerves was I would video record him every month or so, and then I would watch the old videos. It was so amazing to see the difference in his expressive and receptive language from video to video.
A kiss he will never forget- Disney World 2014
DS is almost 4, and he has just recently begun to understand tomorrow, yesterday, etc in a concrete way. As a young 3, he used and understood them very loosely. Any time in the past might be called "yesterday," and anytime in the future "tomorrow." The past year has been huge for him understanding time.
He has been talking in sentences since around 18 months. Last summer, when he had just turned 3, he was able to play imaginatively with his 4.5 year old female (very verbal) cousin, including spontaneously coming up with and expressing ideas in their pretend play. The receptive language delay you described sounds very challenging. DS didn't really talk until 17 months, but he signed and had excellent receptive language, which made communication relatively easy. He had a language explosion at 17 months and went from fewer than 5 words to hundreds in about a month.
DS turned 2.5 in June. He was on the early side with verbal skills and developed a stutter around age 2 that has mostly gone away. He is somewhat deliberate in choosing and pronouncing words, but he has an excellent vocabulary and excellent understanding. I'd say that everyone (us and others) can understand about 95% of what he says.
He speaks in complete sentences. He does a lot of pretend play with his sister and can talk about "pretend" things as well as real. He can talk about his feelings and understand others' feelings. When his sister gets in trouble and has a time out or something, he will sometimes note, "Katie's in time out, but I am sitting VERY nicely in my chair," and that sort of thing. He has a concept of time but interesting you mention that. He said something last night but used the word "tomorrow" instead of the word "yesterday"--so he gets the concept but hasn't nailed down the details of how you talk about it. He will ask when we are going back to our vacation cottage, and he doesn't understand what "2 weeks" means, but he knows it's not "today" or "tomorrow". He can talk about places/things etc that are not right in front of him, for sure, and does often (i.e. when I went to the store with Daddy, we saw a FIRE TRUCK; or, "Mama planted some pretty flowers outside" or "Uncle Danny got an owie on his finger when he was fixing the washing machine.") We just moved and we talk a lot about new house vs. old house and he clearly gets that and talks about it himself.
I hope that helps. Good luck! Maybe your son is poised for a big developmental leap soon.
My son is 2.5 years old and his is very verbal. He talks in complete sentences, understands what I say, understands when someone is mad at him, and he understands today/tomorrow and his days of the week. He talks almost as well as my 5 year old and he is not even 3 years old yet.
My daughter is 5, but she could not do all of this at 2.5 years old. In fact, she didn't start talking at all until she was 2 years old. I thought she needed speech therapy, but my husband assured me she was ok. By the time she was 3, she could recognize all of the letters and knew all of thier sounds (english and spanish). She could also count and recognize all of her numbers. By the time she was 4 she was reading books, and at 5 she is reading chapter books. She is extremely intelligent, but she still has days where she is talking so fast I have to slow her down. She is right on track with speech development with kids her age.
Please do not worry to much about your son. They are all diffrent and develop much differently.
We are very hopeful for him and he has been in speech therapy for 10 months and OT for almost two now. He will be starting preschool in September. Its really one of those one day at a time situations and celebrating ALL the successes no matter how small.
My son is 2 years and 7 months now. He can say everything we say now. Though he says things like "snack" like "ha-nack." He understands who people are, how to do what I ask him, etc. He has been very aware of how others are feeling for maybe 6 or 7 months. He will tell us the baby is sad. Or if she is smiling that the baby is happy. Lately he has become very sensitive to how we are feeling and is very empathetic. He does understand if someone is angry/upset/sad/mad and he gets very upset about it.
As far as "tomorrow" goes, he does understand that after he sleeps at night, it is tomorrow. But I think he's grasped that concept fairly recently.
You are getting help and doing the best you can. He will get it and eventually catch up! :]
Freshie Girl 9.29.12
He is still working on feelings. He understands the differences, but not always how verbalize how he feels or how to react to others. For instance, he will point out another child crying and say they are sad, but if he is crying won't typically be able to explain that he is sad or frustrated.
He gets the idea of the future, but if we say we're going to the aquarium tomorrow he wants to pack up his things and go now. This may be more about living in the moment than not really getting the concept.