any suggestions?

Question

My son is almost 2. He has a very limited vocabulary and doesn't say much. He tells me when he wants to eat or drink (eat-eat, and juice) and thats pretty much it.

Today the babysitter told me that she's very frustrated b/c he wont talk to her. She says if she asks him something he just stares at her. (he used to shake his head yes or no). I dont know what i can do to make it easier for her. Any suggestions??

Answer 1

I think maybe you should get a new babysitter. It is very normal for an almost two year old boy to not talk very much at all. If all he is doing is staring, not throwing a tantrum bc the sitter can;t understand him, then she should be thankful! A good sitter can deal with a child who does not talk much.

When you have a quiet child, you just have to do the talking for them! And you don't need to wait for an answer. If she says, would you like a snack and he says nothing, well she can give him a snack anyways if it is snack time. She can just say, "Ok well here's a bowl of snack food" If she asks if he wants to read a book and he just stares, she can say, "well I'd like to read this book" or "Ok I'm going to play blocks now"

Maybe your son is trying to tell you he does not like this babysitter. If he makes eye contact easily and understands what is going on without him even if he chooses no to interact, I doubt he has any actual problems, but you can ask at his two year check up.

Answer 2

You need to talk to your child's pediatrician. He may have a developmental delay. If a child is not speaking at least 15 words by 18 months old, and is not speaking in 2 or 3 word sentences by age two, it is a cause for concern. A friend of mine, and a cousin of mine both have children who are like this and have to have speech therapy. Its not a big deal in the long run, but something that is better to catch at an early age. Check out this website: http://www.medem.com/MedLB/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZJ8RP86DC&sub_cat=105

It will tell you where your child should be, and signs to watch for to see if your child has developmental delay. Talk to your pediatrician ASAP so they can get to work on catching your child up. Good luck!

Also, he needs to be checked for hearing problems, or autism. Autism is actually pretty common, occuring in one out of about every 160 kids.

Answer 3

Call your health dept or local school district and find out how to get a hearing and speech screening done. There are agencies out there that will do a screening free of charge and if needed will provide services (like speech therapy). You might want to also start teaching him some basic sign language. A great web site we use to help our little guys is Born2sign, Check it out.

Answer 4

Check out Parents as Teachers. Your local school district should have a program that can evaluate your child and give you lots of info on your child's development and what you can do as a parent to help your child. :) They can also put your mind at ease because he very well could be normal for his age.

Answer 5

His physician should be able to help you with this. If needed he will send him to get evaluated. Don't ignore it, but most 2 years won't really talk, especially if you do all the talking for him.
if you only ask him yes or no questions, he will not try to use more words than yes or no.

Answer 6

You should talk to your pediatrician and have your son evaluated. It sounds like his speech is delayed and it also sounds like he is mildly autistic. Especially where he used to shake his head yes or no and now doesn't. He has a lot of 'red flags' and you really should address this ASAP because with early intervention they can do extremely well.

Answer 7

Id take your child to the doctor to check for hearing or speech problems. It could possibly be autism but I couldnt tell ya based on the info given. Ask the doctor about that too at his next appointment,

Answer 8

When you give your child something, make him say what it is before you give it to him. before he gets his juice make him say juice, if he wants a toy make him say what it is. Do it with everything. He may not pronounce it right, but it's okay as long as he is attempting. If he refuses then you should definately talk to your Dr.

Answer 9

Not many 2 yearolds talk a lot. I didn't talk
until i was 3. Maybe he's not talktive.
It's okay to be afraid of this.
It will be better in mabe a few weeks or
some years. Good Luck!

Answer 10

when your child goes in for a regular check-up, just request a speech and hearing exam, if all's clear, don't worry about it. some children talk later than others