23 month only talks jargon...should I be worried?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would. My daughter just turned 2 last month and can say 5-6 word sentences. A friend of mine whose son was born the same day (November 7) sounds a lot like your son and he was just evaluated through Early Intervention and found to qualify for speech. Doesn't use mama/dada toward his parents, doesn't say full words, no stringing words, etc. You should call Early Intervention and schedule an evaluation.

The thing is, some kids are late talkers who talk between 2-3. Some kids don't. And if you keep waiting until 3 to determine he really can't talk, when he's giving you lots of signs right now that he can't, that will be a year of potential progress wasted. An evaluation cannot hurt a thing and can be a big help if he needs speech therapy.

Agree with this. Also, it's common in my DH's culture-- and, I think, among people of a different generation in mine-- not to talk until 2 or 3 simply because adults don't read/talk/relate to babies and toddlers in the same way most of us DCUMers do today. If a child who parents and other adults were consistently verbally engaging with and responding to from infancy onward isn't picking up language, it isn't necessarily the same thing. Not that it couldn't also be genetic, but like PP said, you can't know now.

[Anonymous]

I was concerned about speech delays at 2, but dd had a lot of words--they just were difficult to understand. She also had great receptive language, and was starting to make 2 word sentences. I was one of "those" moms that needed to hear from the DCUM community to give it time. The combination of what you described makes me think you'd fall into the 25% delay required by early intervention. Also, once your child qualifies, you'll likely still do the therapies privately but at a reduced cost (insurance may cover it too). You may also find out about other issues that may be at play. One of my friends took her DS to EI for similar issues that you described. It turned out that in addition to speech delays, he also had low muscle tone which required therapy. He's now doing great in elementary school but still has an IEP for speech and OT.

[Anonymous]

OP here...thanks for all the great advice. I asked my mom how I was when I was a baby since I did not start talking until I was past 2. She said that although my expressive language abilities were delayed, my receptive language abilities were not. For example, when I was 18 months old, if she had asked me to point to a particular type of animal in a picture, I would point to the right animal. My son does not demonstrate that capability at 23 month. I also asked DH to ask his mom how he was at DS's age, and apparently he had both receptive and expressive language delays. Once he began talking, he had trouble with words such as aluminum or yellow. His mom had to practice those words with him and get him to speak slower. In addition, my husband is a little tongue tied and so is my DS (the pediatrician at the hospital noticed it). I mentioned this early on to our regular pediatrician but she said not to worry yet because she has seen worse cases of tongue-tied. If it was just expressive language delay, then I could attribute it to the tongue tie issue, but it appears more than that. EI called today and said we will be contacted for an appointment within 10 days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was concerned about speech delays at 2, but dd had a lot of words--they just were difficult to understand. She also had great receptive language, and was starting to make 2 word sentences. I was one of "those" moms that needed to hear from the DCUM community to give it time. The combination of what you described makes me think you'd fall into the 25% delay required by early intervention. Also, once your child qualifies, you'll likely still do the therapies privately but at a reduced cost (insurance may cover it too). You may also find out about other issues that may be at play. One of my friends took her DS to EI for similar issues that you described. It turned out that in addition to speech delays, he also had low muscle tone which required therapy. He's now doing great in elementary school but still has an IEP for speech and OT.

Early speech delays are very very often indicative of larger motor issues that are only noticeable at such a young age through speech. My daughter had speech delays and through that got better she still has fine motor issues now at 6. Very often speech delays are not standalone issues but symptoms of larger motor issues or delays that will become known once the child is older and can be assessed more comprehensively. This is why speech therapy also includes elements of occupational and physical therapy- to address motor skills globally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't call EI, call a private SLP. I was you two years ago. Bilingual child who wasn't talking much at two. At three, ChildFind said she was fine. At four, she was diagnosed with speech apraxia. What we saw at two was early evidence of her disorder. A private speech pathologist will help you better understand what's happening. We see Amanda at Childrens Speech and Language Services in Falls Church.

This is true but she also needs to call EI because at 3, he will be able to transition into an ECSE preschool class through Child Find if he is still delayed (and with zero words at 23 months, it seems incredibly likely that would be the case). Private SLP is great if you can afford it, but having the "in" with EI/Child Find to get him into special education preschool AND get an IEP is invaluable and you won't get that from a private therapist. Most insurance nowadays will not cover private speech therapy either, so it can be prohibitively expensive with a private SLP compared to free or on a sliding scale with EI.

I'm the PP who said to call a private SLP not EI. What I meant was that an eval from a private SLP will make EI much easier to get. We'd have had EI earlier if I'd gone that route. Believe me, I know people can't afford it--we are paupers by DCUM standards. But get the private eval at a minimum ($350 at CSLS). Also, our diagnosis--apraxia--really required treatment nobody at child find is trained in. So, we are grateful for our child find therapy but also pay for private therapy which is more tailored to DD's diagnosis.