Speech Delay - 2 yr old DD. Advice please!!!

ktwils2010 · October 2013

Hi ladies,

My dd had her 2 yr well baby check up on Friday and my pediatrician was concerned about her speech. She has about 25-30 words but does not use any 2 word phrases that don't involve mama or dada. He said at this point she should have 50 words and use lots of 2 word phrases. She does mimic what I say occasionally and still babbles "talks" a lot. He wants her to have 80-100 words and lots of at least 2 word phrases by Christmas otherwise he wants to refer her for an eval and speech therapy. I was actually surprised because I thought her development was on track (I have a background as a special education teacher).

Does anyone have experience with this? What are all your 2 year olds able to do? I'm feeling a little guilty like I haven't done enough to expand her language and a little overwhelmed by the 80 word xmas goal!

somewhereincali · October 2013

eh, things can change so quickly at that age. My just over two year olds said maybe a few two word phrases at two. Two months later they use 3 and 4 all the time and as many as 6.
I would keep an eye on things and if they don't change in a month or two maybe look into it more

ashlynne1212 · October 2013

At my sons two year appointment my pediatrician recommended speech same boat as you with not saying two words together. I was also worried about his development because I thought he wasn't were he should be. I kind of pushed for speech the dr was going to wait until his next appointment but I didn't want him to get further behind. So far speech has been great and I have noticed a difference. We also go to help me grow which is free through the state. They come to your house for free and evaluate and then work with your child. Good Luck!

kristennd · October 2013

That's.... a higher standard than many doctors use.

wilabeth · October 2013

I say keep an eye on it until Christmas. My neice said very few words for a long time. One night it clicked, and she hasn't stopped talking since. If at Christmas there are still concerns, I'd push for the eval. A lot of states have early intervention programs (ours is called First Steps), which is free therapy in the home/daycare until age 3. Some require a tiny copay.

bumpuser9524622 · October 2013

At 2, DD wasn't saying two word phrases, but had lots of words. We had her evaluated for EI and literally the day before she started using phrases and didn't qualify for assistance. She now (at almost 2.5) says lots of phrases, so I think she was just a late bloomer. But, it can't hurt to have your child evaluated if you're worried.

fancefpp · October 2013

I'd go ahead with the EI evaluation now. It can take time to set up and f she qualifies, it can take time to get a SLP. The whole process took about three months for us. DS1 has been in EI for speech for four months now and he's doing great. It was a relief to start working with someone and get professional advice.

ashiscute · October 2013

Please don't feel guilty! DD started speech therapy at 17 months (her referral was at 15 months so it took 2 months to be evaluated and to find a SLP). She had no words and was not imitating, just babbling. When she turned 2 she had about 15- 20 words and no 2 word phrases. She is still delayed and being evaluated for apraxia of speech. But really once we started therapy things became much better. The therapy itself is all play based and is at your house. And then the therapist gives you things to target for them for the week. It's so helpful to you to have someone else give you ideas on how to encourage your child to communicate. Your DD may have an explosion any time but if not therapy at this age is not stressful for your child and has really been a blessing for us.

ktwils2010 · October 2013

Thanks for all the responses ladies! I really appreciate it. It's nice to hear so many positive experiences with speech therapy. My pediatrician said he was comfortable giving her until Christmas - he said to give him a call if she hadn't made a lot of progress. "If you aren't really impressed than I won't be impressed" sooooo I'm going to stick with that timeline. If by Christmas she hasn't had the "word explosion" then we will move forward pursuing the eval at the start of the year. Thanks again ya'll!

blu-eyedwife · October 2013

I don't think there's any harm in having her evaluated. Worst case scenario she gets help she needs. It's easy to be proactive about this.

My son's preschool had an SLP come in last week for free evaluations and if I had even the slightest concern I would have signed up for a slot.

That being said, don't let this put a lot of unnecessary stress on you. Wait until Christmas and see where things are, set up an evaluation, and then don't think too much about it. We had our 2 year appointment at the beginning of the month and the doctor said that there's a really wide range at 2. Some kids are just starting to develop a vocabulary, others are speaking in formed sentences. (And looking around my son's school that's pretty obvious. Some of the 24 monthers still are barely communicating, others will tell you ALL about their weekend.)

RachieTK · October 2013

At 2, DS had lots of words and a few two word phrases. His phases/sentences exploded at about 2 years 3 months. He's now 2.5 and speaks primarily in sentences. Sometimes these kiddos seem to go from 0-60 in no time. Wile I certainly wouldn't worry, I also don't thi k an evaluation should be a bad thing...

Venuschild · October 2013

OhBenji said:

We are in a similar situation with our DS.
I am not worried too much because he is reaching all of his milestones on time, and he says a lot of words and I am pretty sure that he will start forming sentences soon. I know most people say this but not every child reaches milestones at the same age.
So don't stress over it too much.
blu-eyedwife to wait a while and see what happens until you set up an EI for your DD.

I agree, personally I think it's a little early for EI and don't think they would qualify anyway. I am a public school teacher and have spoken at length with our Speech Path (SLP) she told me as long as they are trying to communicate not too worry each kid gets it in their own time. Just keep pointing things out and it will come. With our DD she has a few phrases about 50 words and bablles non stop (with expression) my mommy instinct is that she's fine. She is also repeating more and pointing more than she used to, I am going to give her a few more months and reevaluate when she can get servies through the school district. Hope that helps!

ktwils2010 · October 2013

Venuschild said:

OhBenji said:

We are in a similar situation with our DS.
I am not worried too much because he is reaching all of his milestones on time, and he says a lot of words and I am pretty sure that he will start forming sentences soon. I know most people say this but not every child reaches milestones at the same age.
So don't stress over it too much.
blu-eyedwife to wait a while and see what happens until you set up an EI for your DD.

I agree, personally I think it's a little early for EI and don't think they would qualify anyway. I am a public school teacher and have spoken at length with our Speech Path (SLP) she told me as long as they are trying to communicate not too worry each kid gets it in their own time. Just keep pointing things out and it will come. With our DD she has a few phrases about 50 words and bablles non stop (with expression) my mommy instinct is that she's fine. She is also repeating more and pointing more than she used to, I am going to give her a few more months and reevaluate when she can get servies through the school district. Hope that helps!

That's how I'm feeling, thanks for both of your responses! She communicates really well as far as getting her needs met and is constantly "talking" to me. I'll go by the pediatrician's recommendation and give it until Christmas and hopefully we will see a big improvement. And she uses a lot of sign language and from what I read most SLPs count that as verbal ability, so I feel like we are going to get there soon.

ktwils2010 · October 2013

fredalina said:

Your daughter is the exact reason the AAP now added a 2.5 year old well baby visit. They don't do any vaccinations or blood draws on otherwise healthy children at that appointment; it's basically just a development checkup. My pedi said that she sees a lot of cases of kids who are "just a little behind" at two and for whom "wait and see" works great and they quickly get caught up. But some of those "just a little behind" kids really have little to no improvement until age 3 and by then they don't qualify for EI and if there are other developmental concerns, early diagnosis and therapies can really help so 6 months lost may be a big deal. In this case I would trust the pedi but be very watchful.

That is so interesting! I didn't know the AAP added a 2.5 yr well baby, that makes so much sense though. A year is a long time in a little one's development, it definitely makes sense to break it up and have a check up to make sure things are still on track. Apparently, my pedi hasn't caught onto that recommendation yet as they said to call back to schedule her 3 yr well baby. But he did ask me to call back around Christmas to bring her in if we don't have improvement, so I definitely plan on following his advice.

authorofdreamz · October 2013

Our pedi does a 23 month check-up not two years so we had ours today. She said DD has a mild speech delay because she has less than 20 words that are understandable to non-family and doesn't use two-word sentences at all. She wants to see her back in 3 months to see what improves before taking any further steps though.

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Speech Delay - 2 yr old DD. Advice please!!!

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