2 yr checkup - did your pedi ask this?

JGirl2005

I didn't take DS, but DH did.  I usually take both kids to all appt, but I am sick today.

He said that the pedi asked if DS can say 50 words.  I know he can say a lot, but I have never counted.  DH said yes. 

I don't mean to scare anyone who is having a 2 yr appt.  This post is not intended to do that.

Courted

Nico is in speech and has been since he was 18 mo old. I recognized quickly his words were not coming along like they should.  I work in the education field side by side with SLP (speech paths) and at 2 years they are supposed to be saying 100 words and putting 2 word phrases together frequently and spontaneously.   Nico has his 2 year appt tomorrow as well.

browneyedgrl4282

Yes I was asked if the twins have at least 50! When I said yes, she said good and asked  if they had a 100 words.  She did say at 2 they should have closer to 100 words! Which they do than the next question was are the putting words together to create a sentence. Which they are.

RoxBride

Yes.

She also carried on a conversation with DD, asked her if she could jump, how old she was, where was the table, etc. to test her comprehension.

JGirl2005

Thanks ladies!  It is interesting how drs ask different things.  I think 50 words is a lot to ask for and some ask for 100.  I think M is behind.  He says a lot but not that clearly and I am sure it had to do with his ears.  He can say happy birthday 2 me kinda, but when I ask him how old he is, he isn't great at saying 2.

TheSkimmy

I asked about them using the correct word. Example: For a long time Charlie said Boppy instead of apple- no clue why. The pedi said if he uses the same word for the same thing over and I know what he's talking about- it counts as a word. I thought that was interesting.

btw- now he says apple.

LisaMarisa

I knew this was coming so I started keeping track of his words.  He is probably saying a lot more words than you give him credit for.  I thought DS was only saying a few but as I wrote them down it was a lot.  He wasnt quite at 100 at his 2 year appt but quickly passed that within weeks of turning 2 and started putting phrases together.

alchris

We definitely weren't asked that.  She already knew we were scheduled for a speech eval, but still, I don't see her ever asking something that specific, let alone on something where there's such a huge variation between kids.  That's a high expectation at 24 months, above average IME, and IMO not fair to ask to parents or kids.  Asking "About how many words does he say?" would be more reasonable, I think.

LIAngel

alchris:

We definitely weren't asked that.  She already knew we were scheduled for a speech eval, but still, I don't see her ever asking something that specific, let alone on something where there's such a huge variation between kids.  That's a high expectation at 24 months, above average IME, and IMO not fair to ask to parents or kids.  Asking "About how many words does he say?" would be more reasonable, I think.

And this is why I love you, Alchris.   Nicholas has his 2 yr appt mid March and I am pretty sure that he will not have 100 words by then.   Right now he has about 3 or 4.    So I will go into his appt with the mentality that each child is different and he is getting Speech Therapy along with Early Intervention, so I will not worry.   Nicholas may not have many words, but he sure comprehends just fine.   

CMM05

My pedi only really brought it up because I did. I was concerned that DS1 wasn't talking enough. 

I had a friend whose friend was taking her DD to a speech therapist (at a local hospital). This speech therapist came to her house and did all this crazy testing and told her that it was "abnormal" that her 2 year old was not drinking perfectly from a cup, knocking down blocks and not coloring within the lines. She also told her that her DD should be using at least 100 words. We all got freaked out. I started a list of DS's words and right before his 2 year appt, he had exactly 50 that I could account for.

I went to the appt and my pedi (who is a mother of 4........3 of whom are boys) started laughing. She said the speech therapist was nuts and those expectations were outrageous. She said they *hope* for 50 words by 2 years, but even if they don't have 50, they aren't that concerned.

And, sure enough within the next 6 months, DS's vocabulary took off.

No worries now

I think what she asked you was normal, but don't worry if he doesn't really have 50 words yet!

 

RoxBride

If this helps, based on the info the pedi sent home, they hope for 100 words, but it is no big deal if they don't have that many.  However, since the normal gap between appointments is a year, if they don't have as many words, they will want to see you in 3 months just to check in on the progress. 

di0607

From what I remember pedi was looking for 25 words that he would consistently use. He seemed more focused on him starting to string two words together. He said at that age it is really a very wide range. As someone said previously if he uses the same "word" for something (boppy-apple) that counts as a word. We had a lot of these!

alchris

LIAngel:

alchris:

We definitely weren't asked that.  She already knew we were scheduled for a speech eval, but still, I don't see her ever asking something that specific, let alone on something where there's such a huge variation between kids.  That's a high expectation at 24 months, above average IME, and IMO not fair to ask to parents or kids.  Asking "About how many words does he say?" would be more reasonable, I think.

And this is why I love you, Alchris.   Nicholas has his 2 yr appt mid March and I am pretty sure that he will not have 100 words by then.   Right now he has about 3 or 4.    So I will go into his appt with the mentality that each child is different and he is getting Speech Therapy along with Early Intervention, so I will not worry.   Nicholas may not have many words, but he sure comprehends just fine.   

Seriously, 100 words at 24 months?  I can't imagine using that as a standard.

While Kira came a long way from 12-15 words at 24 months (when you may recall she tested just TWO months behind the 50th %ile, i.e 12-15 words at 22 months is the 50th %ile) to speaking a few sentences at 36 months, I should add that she didn't qualify -- not even close -- for services through the preschool system (3+ years) back at the end of November.  No doubt she had 100 words by then, but probably just as of a few months before that.  If you think of a bell curve with 100 being 50th %ile, she scored a 93 at 36 months, and she didn't show them a lot of what she could say or put together.  (They did hear her tell me, "Mommy, sit right here," LOL.)

I just have big issues with people thinking there's a problem if you're not in the top 90% on something where there's huge diversity, let alone in the top 50% (can't be above average in *everything*), let alone ABOVE 50%.  Kids are different.  Look into hearing, definitely, if there's a possible concern with speech.  But X number of words by X months, especially anything less than 24 months since it's so common not to say anything until then (below average, yes, but not necessarily problematic), is unreasonable an unfair, again just IMHO.  And it's just taking them longer to start; it's not that their speech will still be behind others' in 6 months, let alone in kindergarten or beyond.