27 Mth Old Won't Talk

My 32 month old son has a speech delay (with no known medical reason) and started ECI at about 27 months. He had about 5 words he used regularly when we started and now has at least 50 (I have actually lost count!). We are still working on phrases and sentences but he jabbers constantly and his frustration level has gotten much better. I just remind my self that he will talk eventually!
One of the challenges we have is that he is very stubborn and won't imitate me, so saying "Say Ball" get's me no where. I made up some games with homemade flashcards (try www.mes-english.com/flashcards It is an ESL page with great free flashcards). I read once that boys learn better when enganged in a physical activity, so for verbs we pick a card , like jump, and then jump around the room. For objects you can hide the cards like a scavenger hunt with a treat at the end or match the object in the house ( a pic of a pillow on his pillow) and see who can get the most. Sometimes he will go weeks without saying anything new and then it will be a word bomb. Some kids have to let something new sink in for a few days. Good luck and be patient!

Hi E., my 5 yr old grandson is just like your son. I went through all the same stuff you are and as far as I'm concerned the sign language is not a good thing because then he has NO reason to talk...I stopped the teaching of sign language to mine so we would put up pictures of things he might want or need and he was made to try and say it and show me so we could try saying the word a few times. he still has speech therapy which in my opinion is a waste if time because he learns more from us then from them. Like I said he is 5 now and will be going to regular school in August and we are going to have our hands full but you do what you have to. He could also have a mild case of Autism like mine, but don't panic because if the only problem is with his speech then it would only be very mild..good luck and let me know how it goes. Another thing, my grandson is so so very smart all the teachers say so but his problem is putting it into words or down on paper...

Talk to him constantly. Name his body parts when you wash them (ex:"let's wash the thumb, now the pointer finger...". Name his clothes when you dress him. Talk about the food you give him. Talk about everything you do. Read him word books. Don't pressure him to repeat. He'll soak it up. When he gets enough words in his head, he will be ready to talk.

Don't worry. There are alot of late talkers these days. He will talk when ready, then look out....non stop talking. If he is healthy in every other way then try to relax and be patient.

oh my goodness!! it's me again, i'm waiting for a load of laundry to dry and just "surfing" through this website, and sure enough...someone i can totally relate to!! my son, dylan, just turned 3 and is 1 year behind with his language. it is sooooooo frustrating!! he had ear infections from 4 mos to 11 mos of age and we had tubes placed at 11 mos. his ent doc said that during that time he hearing was "like he was under water" well, needless to say, he missed the crucial period of developing speech and we have had a battle every since. when he turned 2 he wasn't even saying "mama" or "dada" yet. dylan has been in speech therapy for 16 mos and we have started "homebased headstart" for him. somedays i feel like i'm at my wit's end, i just want to communicate with him and know what he is feeling and thinking. he yells at me alot, i wonder if this has become more of a habit for both of us because i can distinguish which yells mean what and sometimes don't make him use words, partly because his word are not understandable. i really feel shame when we are around other children his age and he babbles on while the other child is carrying a conversation with their mother. i don't know what else to do except keep trying and just be there for him, i cry on a regular basis because i don't want him to be made fun of when he goes to school. he starts preschool 3 mornings a week in the fall. luckily his teacher is one of my really good friends. i keep asking, "when will he catch up" and nobody seems to have an answer for me.....

I am a retired Speech Pathologist. The first thing that I would advise you to do is to stay in close contact with his therapist and know what words are being worked on, so that you can reinforce them at home. Speech should always go with the signs. I have worked with many many children that sound like your child. Early Intervention is the best thing that you could have done. Progress usually comes more quickly the earlier you start. Ask for the sign or word before you give him what he wants. He may become frustated at first, so again ask his therapist when to start this at home. I certainly don't want to confuse the issue. I would love to hear how he progresses.
D. B.

You did the right thing by taking your child to professionals. They have confirmed your concerns and set up a plan for you - follow the advise THEY are giving you. They are professionals. You are paying for thier services. If they are not giving you skills to work on at home, the next time you have an appointment say "What should I be doing at home to help?"

I too have a 27 month old with the same issue. My son has speech apraxia or dyspraxia and has been in speech therapy for over a year. My son understands what I"m asking him or saying to him, but can't participate in two way communication verbally. Sign language has been our saving grace. We teach him to sign while also verbalizing the words. He know mimics the sounds he hears which is fantastic, even two syllable words. He only has 8 words but can communicate more using sign language. Verbalize as much as possible with your son and repetition is key. Good luck!

I am a Speech Language Pathologist working in the school system. Early intervention is so very important. You did the right thing by seeking help. Speech with very young children is alot like playing with your child at home. You just need to know to talk to him about everything! Find things that he really likes. Use them to your advantage. If he loves cars, get them out and play with them but keep them out of his reach. Make him vocalize to get them. He doesn't have to exactly say CAR, he just needs to make an attempt at asking for it. Then, reward him by giving him what he wanted. You have to be strict. He needs to attempt to ask for things that he wants. Use toys, food, games, etc to reinforce speech. Once he starts giving you one word answers, work on 2 words... "want car." "More" is a good word to start with. Using signs is good if they are making an attempt to say the words also. Vocalizations are the key. He must learn that he needs to attempt to verbally communicate to get things he wants/needs. Don't let temper tantrums sway you. In LA, when a child turns 3, they can attend speech at your local public school. Do not let speech stop for any reason. It is so very important. Keep in close contact with your SLP. You are doing the right thing. I'm here if you need anything.
T. W.

I've heard that's more common with boys. My fiance's little cousin also had the same problem. He went thru speech classes, is older now and doing just fine. Just keep working with him and try to make it fun. If he sees you getting upset, he gets frustrated too, and he'll just clam up. If he's paying attention to you while you're reading, then he's absorbing all you say. Who knows, he may surprise you one day by popping off a whole sentence. :} Good luck.

The steps you have taken are great and I believe will help him a great deal. I know that was hard to do, you should be proud of yourself, many parents out there wouldn't have done that. The only advice I can give is to make sure you talk to him. I know it's hard when it's sometimes a one sided conversation (my 17 mo old daughter is very quiet) but you are his first and best teacher. When my now 3 yr old was about a month old I was a new SAHM and I realized I wasn't talking to her during the day, it just hit me in a moment and I started right then talking, telling her what was for dinner, naming the items of clothes as I folded, didn't matter what I said she heard me talking to her and interacting-she started babbling at 3 months and hasn't stopped since! (which is why my 17 mo old is so quiet I'm sure) And remeber that it will take time, be patient with him and pray for him and yourself every day!

Have u ever take him to audiologist to see if he can hear ?

My son was a very late talker due to hearing loss from ear infections. Once he got his tubes the talking improved but he was behind where he should have been according to his age. I started playing a game with him in the grocery store where I would read the item I was looking for off of the list and ask him to tell me when he saw it. He enjoyed this since it was a "game" and was very low pressure. Then I started doing it in the car and at home. He learned words very quickly that way. Maybe that will help some. The ECI will help tremendously. Good luck to you.

E.,
Does your son drink dairy? A lot of children I treat can't break down the casein protein in milk. One of my mothers was watching Oprah and saw Jenny McCarthy who was talking about the Glutten Casein free diet. So she took her daughter off of milk because she was not even saying "moma or daddy". She came in for a consult with me 2 days later and she couldn't understand why she all of a sudden began to talk with words such as "purple nails" because she wanted her fingernails painted. So I got to the diet component of my consult and she said she had removed milk. I told her she needed to look in her snack foods too, and make sure she removed all of the casein. So she did and a week later she brought her daughter in for an evaluation with me and she was stringing together 3-4 words. Now she is talking spontaneously with occasional temper tantrums and is aware of everything around her.
So, if you try to replace the milk with rice milk or almond milk you will see in 2-7 days if it the problem. You should see more attempts at verbal communication, less tantrums, and more focus on playing with toys. Don't replace the milk with soy milk because most children have allergies to soy. Don't worry about the vitamin D or the calcium because it should be in the milk substitute. I like the almond better because it is not as watery as the rice milk and the chocolate almond milk tastes like "yoohoos". The milk is called Almond Breeze. Plus the magnesium helps calm the child down and helps with sleep.
If you have any questions just send me an email.
Hope it helps,
L. Malagarie

i have a 27month old son also, and he's very picky about what he eats. he only eats mac n cheese or cereal...i told our pedi about it and he said that it was fine and normal. as long as he is growing and gaining wt. and that any pasta or cheese you can get down him is great bc of the protein and carbs. as to him talking we may put 2 words together sometimes and me and my husband are the only ones that understand what he's saying when he does. again this is normal, boys develop speech later than girls so please dont compare him with other girls his age thats not really fair to him. Don't freak out just yet but try reading to him and have him name things, speak clearly to him, and if he wants something have him say the word for it before he can have it, that will inspire to speak more often. its working for us. i truely feel for ya, we're going thru the same things, just take a breath and try to relax, he'll start chatting up a storm before you know it!

Ask the ECSE teacher what assistive technologies they use in the classroom for communication and use it at home. Almost all ECSE teachers sign with the children in my experience. Some use picture cards. I have a few signs for basic needs that I still use with my recently conversational 6 year old. My 2 1/2 year old uses them too, so it makes it easy not to have to raise my voice to get her attention. Sit, milk, walk, eat, drink, yes, no, stop, please and thank you are our main signs. We use others, but those are the ones that get the most use here. Have you gotten your son evaluated by a developmental pediatrician? We went first to a pediatric neurologist who told us nothing was wrong, then a developmental pediatrician who agreed with us that there was something wrong and after listening to our concerns diagnosed our son with autism. Once you have a medical diagnosis there are a whole range of things that will be available to you besides the ECSE program.

You should have his hearing checked and get him with a good speech therapist.

I have a 16 year old deaf daughter who speaks wonderfully (even though she cannot hear herself speak) and does excellent in school. She reads lips and signs with her other deaf friends so she is able to communicate with anyone.

If you find out that he has a hearing loss and would like to talk to another mother with a child who has a hearing loss, please contact me though mamasource, however, I pray that his hearing is fine and all he needs is some speech therapy.

Good luck!

Have you had his hearing checked? My son will be 23 months old next week and his speech is delayed but he has had a lot of problems since birth. One of them is fluid in his ears which we feel has caused him to not be able to hear very well therefore his speech hasnt developed normally. We have had three sets of tubes surgically put in his ears to help with the fluid. You might have his hearing checked if you havent already. My son has been learning sign language since he was 18-19 months old and his doctors have said that it will also help develop his speech and he is beginning to speak words now. They are not as clear as some of his peers, but his speech therapist has seen a lot of improvement as have I. I sympathize with you on your frustration, but I have been learning sign language too so I can communicate with my son and it is awesome to see him sign a word that I have taught him so I know what he wants sometimes. I dont want to scare you but my son also had a stroke at birth which the doctors feel may be affecting his speech development, but they think he will catch up by the time he is 3-4 years old. If you havent asked your doctor I would see what suggestions or diagnosis he has for the slow speech developement. Good luck and may God bless you and your family.

I fully understand your frustration. My son is 26 months and he is the same way. He has the language of a 9 to 12 month old. He has a speech therapist and an occupational therapist that come to the house 4 times a month. He is very smart when it comes to hands on. The speech therapist is teaching him sign language and it has helped a lot. He still gets frustrated but he is learning how to speak with his hands until the words come. He can now tell us when he is finished, when he wants more, when he wants to eat and drink, and mom and dad, all with his hands. He can say a handful of words like "daw" for his older brother, "dayee" for daddy, "baw" for ball, "dow" for dog, "byeyee" for bye. He says a lot of different sounds that at the time he says them we might associate with what he is looking at at that time but he might make the same sound for something else later. We work very hard on words all the time and everytime we use sign language we say the words with it, so its not like we are using just the signs with no words, we want him to talk. So what I am saying that what you are doing is great! You are headed in the right dirrection. Keep up what you are doing. We are trying to get him into a special doctors office for some testing for DVD, developmental verbal dyspraxia. Keep doing and saying things repeatative, that will also help. Make things easy, for example when reading a book that has counting in it instead of saying 1,2,3 - say duck, duck, duck, or what ever it is that you are counting. Look DVD up on the internet. By no means am I saying that DVD is what you child has, but the websites are where I found some help in how to get through to some words.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to holler anytime if you need to talk.

Sincerely,

Mom for 4 - 16 yr old daughter, 13 yr old son (ADHD & diabetic), 7 yr old daughter, and 26 month old son (speech delay)

Have his hearing check by your doctor. My sister was a 'little dutchman' for years. When she was six, we found out she was 80% deaf in one ear and 85% in the other. Good luck and God bless.

Have you taken him to a hearing specialist? Sometimes they have a hearing problem & don't know it's not normal...I had to take our little one as she just didn't resond...she had to have tubes put in her ears & does great now.

You are smart to intervene so early. My first child spoke clearly and early, so it was hard for me to gauge the delay in my second child. My second child had ear tubes at 10 months. She didn't have as many infections as just constant fluid. As soon as she got the tubes, the phone, doorbell and creak of the stairs would wake her. She was a completely different child after the surgery. Though children are not speaking during the first year, the speech development is well under way. At 2.5 years, she tested in the 6th percentile for speech! It was almost impossible to understand her. She is 6 now and tested too high for speech therapy in the public schools, but I still have her in private therapy 30 minutes per week. She is doing very well. The best advice I have for you is to (if you haven't already) make sure that your son's hearing is good. Then become the "narrarator mommy" and constantly expose him to speech. Talk about everything from the clothes you are putting on him, the parts of his body you are washing to the milk you are pouring in his sippy cup. Basically talk about everything you are doing while you are doing it. Praise him for attempting words and model the correct way to pronounce the words. For example, if he says "mil" you can say "yes, milk!" or "You want milk in your cup. I'm so proud of you for telling me that!" My daughter was not putting more than one syllable into any word, so her therapist had us clapping words. Our first goal was to get all of the sounds into words and not worry about correct pronunciation. For examplemy daughter would say "ba" for baby. We would say "ba" (clap) by" (clap). She seemed to pick up on that pretty quickly. Good luck!

Just talk to him. Normal conversation, no baby talk!

You have already taken the right steps by getting him into speech therapy. They can assess him regularly and teach him to communicate in other ways.

Learn the sign language too. As you sign, and he signs, still speak the words. Make sure you do whatever practices the therapist recommends.

Be consistent and patient!

Hi E.,

I don't know if our son's situations are the same at this point but I can tell you that my now 7 year old was a late talker. I really began to worry about it right at the age your son is now. After some tests and taking him to an ENT doctor this is what we found: At 10 months old he suffered an ear infection that ruptured his ear drum. This caused problems with his hearing for awhile and he had trouble hearing and pronouncing his words.

Once I learned that what we did was begin reading to him more often and pointing out the pictures and tell him what each one was. Dr. Suess books are great! Try working with him on some phonics games. Singing songs with him really helps broaden their vocabulary, too. Also sometimes he would ask for something like juice and just say the word "juice". I would then tell him for example, "say, mommy can I have some juice". And he would repeat what I said. He really started making progress when he was about 4 years old and now he talks up a storm! He even corrects me sometimes! ha!

I hope this helps a little and that you find him making progress soon! Take care!