HI my name is brynn and i have a 20 month old son that still is not talking yet. he may say mom or dad once in a blue moon but that's it. any sugestions? not to into the idea of speech therepy just yet.....

Hi Brynn, 

Have you talked with the pediatrician yet?  You said you're not into the idea of speech therapy yet and that's ok.  I wasn't either when my daughter got it.  She still needs it a bit and she's 5.  She's slightly autistic though.  I would recommend that you try using a chewy tube (chewytubes.com) and let him chew on it to see if it helps.  One of the issues at that age is the teeth are moving still to prepare for the 2 year molars.  Most chew toys do not reach back in the molar area and it delays talking a bit.  Kids only do one major mile stone at a time (walking, teething, talking).  Try that and see what happens.

Hi Brynn,

Family friends were pointing out to us the delay in our son's communication when he was 18 months old.  It wasn't until he was two that we had the opportunity to work with a speech therapist, and for me it brought a profound sense of relief because what I would describe were things she was able to reassure me were either average development or needed more work.  One of our biggest challenges is what are called 'biliabial' sounds, which are a set of sounds that toddlers master first. b,m,p and w.  I suggest getting your son's attention on your face and saying the sounds these letters make, and see what response you can coax out of him.  Our son really struggles with these, but in working with our speech therapist we know what to work on and don't feel so lost.  And a lot of speech therapy is playtime at this age, so any opportunity to play sounds out of our son is highly recommended.  We also bought 'baby signing time' and learned some signs very quickly as a family (our son learns sign like most kids learn to talk.  3 times and he's got it.)  We use a picture book I put together in a very small album from stuff in my digital camera for him to point at to tell me stuff too.  Boys being so visual, it seems to have helped him understand that words are objects, people, things, etc. not just noise we make. 

hi brynn. i'd suggest a speech evaluation through either a therapists office or through early intervention (your school district). i know through our schools a child needs to have much more severe delays with speech before they'll suggest/provide therapy. an eval. wouldn't hurt, just to see what you're looking at and what your options are. i also know the schools get very backed up and in our state a school has 30 school days to provide an eval. from when it's requested. it doesn't sound like a lot, but it took us over 2 months to get the eval with mid winter break, all the in-service days, snow days and the like. it wouldn't hurt to contact them to start the process and you could always stop it later if his speech takes off.

a side note...we were just at our pediatricians office for my 2 year olds check up and per their info they gave me at 24 months my child should be speaking 30-50 words...so that makes me think a call to the pediatricians office may be a good idea, just to see what info you may be able to get there.

by the way, welcome to the group!

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have set up his speech eval. through early on and we will go from there. My pediatrician suggested he did this at his last appointment back when he was 18 months but i thought it was to soon.  i still feel it might be to soon but i will just go with it.  i just want what is best for my little man. thanks again.

good luck and let us know how it goes. also, if you are trying any of the suggestions posted on here or things you found under our lists/resources section or other things you've heard let us know how they are going.