Your child is two years old, but he can’t talk correctly, and he can say a few words, which will make you think he is way behind his peers. Yet you notice everything and don’t do anything about it, considering that your little one will catch up soon. The fact is that some parents even observe other areas of slow development among their children, but they hesitate to take any professional help.
Today in this article, we address the common issue of delayed speech and language development. We will tell you everything about this issue and help you figure out if you should be worried about your child or if your child is right on the schedule.
Table of Contents
Before 12 months
If your baby has started cooing and babbling, then know that your little one is in his early stage of speech development. With time, your baby will use the same sounds to bring words together and string them. They start saying “mama” and “dada”, etc. Also, notice that your little one is attentive to sounds and responds when you call specific names, this again is a sign of a healthy baby who can react to sounds well before 12 months.
From 18 to 24 months
Most kids start saying around 20 words when they turn 18, and those who turn two can speak around 50 words. Now you cannot count the words they say every day, but yes, you can observe the addition of new ones, which will signify them growing up. A 2-year-old kid starts combining two words to make a small sentence, such as “baby crying”. He should also be able to respond to specific questions like, “where is your nose?” or “where are your eyes?”.
From 2 to 3 years
By this time, your toddler must be able to combine 2 to 3 words and form proper sentences, and by the age of 3, they must be able to understand you when you say stuff like, “put it back on the table”, etc. He should also be able to identify different colours and try to name them too.
Warning Signs
Some signs can signal to you that there is some problem with your child regarding delayed speech and language development. You should be concerned if he isn’t using gestures or waving bye-bye by the time he is 12 months. You should be worried if he isn’t responding to any sound or word you say when he reaches 18 months, and you should seek help if he is two and he can’t tell a single word properly. Don’t worry and don’t panic because there are places like lifespeech.org that can help your child using speech therapy but make sure that you are observing all of these signs to avoid a more significant issue in the future.
We hope you found this article to be helpful for you. Now, observe your child, hear what he says, look at what he does and pay attention to him so that you can identify if you need to seek professional help.