Look whoz NOT talking now...

[mom1931]

....that would be my toddler. He is a little over 2 years now and cannot speak very well.

He most of the time communicates by pointing at things and in a fussy voice. Well .. he does say words like "mom".."dad".."brush"..."bath" .. "shoes"...etc...but does not form sentences yet. He likes going out..he would say "bye - see you " and then thats it. He is a fast learner.. he sings songs from dora, diego , elmo etc. He gets the tune right..but his pronunciation is still not very clear. Sometimes he talks and we cant make the head/tail of it. I feel he talks too fast/quickly...so the sound of it is like some alien language.

At the same time he understands perfectly!! He knows what we mean/ask him to do and does it. Me and my husband started to ignore him when he points and fuses , since he knows what he is asking...what we call that. But he just doesnt say it. And when he knows we are doing that...he is frustrated and starts crying.

Is this behaviour something to worry abt? Should we give him more time? We are planning to send him to the daycare soon...in a hope...he will learn/talk something.

Want to know how your toddlers are...how are they talking?

Thanks!!

[Beachymom]

My daughter is 25 months old. She really didn't talk much until she was 19 months. She only said about 5 words at her 18 month check up. I have to say that once she started, it just took off. She is quite a good talker now - huge vocabulary and can form long sentences and tells stories. It all just kind of happened at once.

It sounds like your son is very age appropriate. He knows what you are saying and following directions. I think as long as you don't have that gut feeling that something is wrong, then it probably isn't. He is saying words and putting two or more words together so that's great. I think the pronunciation thing is just the age. Sometimes I can't make out what my daughter is saying either.

Not sure about the daycare thing as my daughter stays home with me. I have heard that children who attend daycare sometimes talk more. I think it all just happens when the child is ready for it though. I think you and your husband are on the right track by making him ask for things rather than responding to his pointing and fussing. Have you had your 2 year old check up with the pediatrician yet? What did the doctor say?

[jtmommy32]

my son is 15mos old and only says dada, mama, and bye-bye. He does babble all the time and understands what we are saying to him. In order to let us know he wants something he pulls what I call caveman speak, grunts and whines, until we guess what it is he wants.
I read to him, name all the objects he points at, and when he "asks" for something I name that object, but still he won't talk.
Part of my son's problem was repeated ear infections that required him to have tubes put in his ears since the fluid build up was affecting his hearing. I honestly believe the rest of it is just plain stubborness, LOL. My suggestions with your son is to just keep encouraging him to use his words. I have a 6yr old nephew that I can not understand sometimes due to his speech and the specialist have told my sister that he'll grow out of the problem(blending sounds). They told my sister to tell him to slow down when he talks. My mother is called ma-maw because my nephew could not pronouce g's to say grandma and it has stuck. My nephew's speech has improved considerably since he was first learning to talk. I know at 2 I could not understand much of what he was saying and today at 6 I only have to ask him to repeat things every now and then.
Blending sounds and mispronounciation are common in young children. I have a sister who pronounced k's as t's and g's as d's for the longest time and she grew out of it. What I am realizing with my son is patience and to just keep helping him learn the name of objects.

[Krista]

My son (6) had similar issues. First he said only "HI" to everything while pointing. It was cute...for about a year. Evidently nothing in the world communicated more than the varied tones of "Hi". Eventually we did the same thing as above and stopped responding to the "Hi" requests while working to sound out and speak back and after a while he has off like a shot...

Beware though, now we can't get him to be quiet :)