Hi,

My son is 2.4 years old and still doesn't speak and least, nothing that we can understand. He's bilingual and I was told by some people that being bilingual might cause a certain delay in speech but then other people told me this should not cause any speech delay.

Any advice would be appreciated.

You should address this with his doctor because he would be able to give you a refferal to a specialist that would be able to help your son.

You stated he is bilingual so does he speak or understand you in any language?

Seek help for him now because the sooner the better and at this time he should be saying a few phrases.

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Originally Posted by liz28

You should address this with his doctor because he would be able to give you a refferal to a specialist that would be able to help your son.

You stated he is bilingual so does he speak or understand you in any language?

Seek help for him now because the sooner the better and at this time he should be saying a few phrases.

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At home we speak one language and at day-care another. He understands both languages very well. Though I think his English is better. He can place all the abc's in the correct order on his magentic board and can do the same with number 1-9. Someone said to me that he might be autistic but I don't think that is the case as he's very affectionate and loves huggs and kisses and laughs a lot and does have eye-contact. However, he only recently started pointing at things. He's very good with finger plays to children songs and, does say about 5 words (dada, mama, cat, car and sun). He had fluids in his ears for ages but now one ear is completely clear and the other partially, which I'm thinking might be why he doesn't speak but I'm still very worried about autisim.

Children pick up speech at varying degrees depending on how well a parent communicates with them starting from an early age. You should always be talking to your child, and not in baby talk, so they can comprehend and learn speech.

At your child's age, I don't find it that unusual that he can't put words together. You say he is bilingual, but how can you tell this ? What other language is spoken in the home. Our household was bilingual in french but because english was my first language I always spoke in english and as soon as my son was in daycare, his speech improved in english and french and he was 3-l/2 at the time. However, we because we lived in an english community, we spoke english at home for his benefit.

You can't rule out a hearing problem, but you can test this yourself in various ways. Does he respond to his name when called ?

I think it is too soon for testing, his attention span won't allow that just yet and would probably be very frustrating for the doctor doing the testing. They do test hearing first and I think the age would be kindergarten age.

If I were you I would sit down with him at certain times during the day, get his attention and start teaching him and see how far that goes. You may be alarming yourself unnecessarily.

ms. tickle

Hi allardsk, we posted simultaneously. I don't think anyone should be diagnosing autism as children his age are a blank slate and from your last post I don't think you have much to worry about.

I guess some of my advice was outruled by your last post which filled in some blanks but some of what I say still stands. As for the hearing problem, you probably recognized that yourself as being a reason for the slow speech. I would mention that at his next pediatric check up.

A little more information from your second post, in your first one, probably would have given you better responses.

Good luck

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Originally Posted by tickle

Children pick up speech at varying degrees depending on how well a parent communicates with them starting from an early age. You should always be talking to your child, and not in baby talk, so they can comprehend and learn speech.

At your child's age, I dont find it that unusual that he can't put words together. You say he is bilingual, but how can you tell this ? What other language is spoken in the home. Our household was bilingual in french but because english was my first language I always spoke in english and as soon as my son was in daycare, his speech improved in english and french and he was 3-l/2 at the time. However, we because we lived in an english community, we spoke english at home for his benefit.

You can't rule out a hearing problem, but you can test this yourself in various ways. Does he respond to his name when called ?

I think it is too soon for testing, his attention span wont allow that just yet and would probably be very frustrating for the doctor doing the testing. They do test hearing first and I think the age would be kindergarten age.

If I were you I would sit down with him at certain times during the day, get his attention and start teaching him and see how far that goes. You may be alarming yourself unnecessarily.

ms. tickle

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Thanks. We speak English at home and in day-care he's spoken to in Hebrew. He understands both languages as he responds to requests in both languages. We did a hearing test twice now and it's been very frustrating for my son. We were told to come back again in a few months. The thing is that most other kids his age I've met already speak at his age and my in-laws and brother keep telling me they think something is wrong and I admitt they've managed to get me very worried, even though I don't think my son is autistic.

Have you considered a speech therapist?

Evidently, when I was a child I only spoke in "gibberish" and the speech therapist said that I was speaking my "own language." My first time to "speak" was in complete sentences... my Mom was worried, too.

He could be exceptionally bright, too... don't rule that out! I haven't stopped talking since I started! :)

They are offering outside opinions and sometimes that is good because you are close to the situation and probably don't see as much being a mother (a good thing, not a bad thing and you probably know what I mean).

Its like I said, children develop differently depending on stimulae. Don't jump to conclusions, Google offers some good autism sites that list signs and symptoms. It probably would be worthwhile checking them out and reading a bit about autism. You may find that you can't find any similarities and that would ease your mind. Even if you do, it is not the end of the world and can be treated and dealt with.

At his age there is a problem, weather it be with his ears or a developmental delay. It is not for us to determine if there is a problem. Your son needs to be evaluated properly. First I would go to an ent that deals primeraly with children. They can and will do testing on young children. They have certain testing procedures they can do on very young children, my son was accuratly tested at 9 months. (they use sound and sight cues.) he should also be evaluated by a speech therapist. The sooner you start the better. The longer you wait the more difficult and time consuming it will be.

Diagnosing autism? Going a bit far I would say.

This is very common at this age. If he makes a noise and points and you get him what he wants, he has no need to speak. I had this same problem with my son who is now 6. I can't get him to quit talking now.

Are there any older siblings?

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Originally Posted by allardsk

At home we speak one language and at day-care another. He understands both languages very well. Though I think his English is better. He can place all the abc's in the correct order on his magentic board and can do the same with number 1-9. Someone said to me that he might be autistic but I don't think that is the case as he's very affectionate and loves huggs and kisses and laughs a lot and does have eye-contact. However, he only recently started pointing at things. He's very good with finger plays to children songs and, does say about 5 words (dada, mama, cat, car and sun). He had fluids in his ears for ages but now one ear is completely clear and the other partially, which I'm thinking might be why he doesnt speak but I'm still very worried about autisim.

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I would be very careful with diagnosing autism over the internet. Autism is hard to determine even just working with a child. I would take the child to the Dr. and discuss your concerns. There are many tests that the dr. could suggest from hearing to cognative. The other thing to consider is that children mature at different rates, also if there are older siblings in the house that "do the talking" for him he might not have a reason to verbalize his needs. Before you panic see your pediatrician

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Originally Posted by J_9

Diagnosing autism? Going a bit far I would say.

This is very common at this age. If he makes a noise and points and you get him what he wants, he has no need to speak. I had this same problem with my son who is now 6. I can't get him to quit talking now.

Are there any older siblings?

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Thanks. My son has 2 older sisters, twins that are 5 years old. They're from my husbands previous marriage and don't live with us.
One of our doctors said to me that because my son is so attached to me and I seem to understand him so well that he doesn't feel the "need" to speak. But that just sounds far fetched to me. I got him a dog a few weeks ago, hoping it would encourage him to start speaking but so far -- not much, though he loves the dog very much.

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Originally Posted by allardsk

Hi,

My son is 2.4 years old and still doesn't speak and least, nothing that we can understand. He's bilingual and I was told by some people that being bilingual might cause a certain delay in speach but then other people told me this should not cause any speech delay.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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I had a friend with a similar situation and come to find out he was half deaf and it was not detected till later on. Get his hearing checked... it may not be the case, but it is a start.

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Originally Posted by allardsk

my son is so attached to me and I seem to understand him so well that he doesnt feel the "need" to speak. But that just sounds far fetched to me.

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It's not far fetched at all. This is what happened to my son. If he mumbles and you understand him then why should he use his words at all? If he wants juice he has to SAY juice before he gets it, etc.

I agree with J_9 at that age many kids don't feel they need to talk and so they don't.