What can I do to get my toddler talking?

Hi there, I’m from India and a single mother. My son is 2yrs n seven months; he is one of the active kid I have ever seen; the main concern was when he was 13 to 15 months old he was calling me momma and my dog Gracie, he uses to reply to us, sing rhymes and all of the sudden he stopped calling us and talking… I was really concerned about my child’s health, so I started reading many articles on Quora, Google, and whatnot; the results I got is autism and ADHD, so worried I took my son to a Pediatrician and speech therapist and thank God the results were negative…he is still not talking, if he needs something he will make some actions… I play some cartoons or rhymes for him; he repeats after them now he can say A to Z, 1 to 20 and recognizes most of the animals, vegetables, and fruits. I sit with him and try to talk, but he doesn’t; I tell him to repeat after me sometimes he does( random words), and most of the time, he won’t; he just want to play n make us laugh… … it’s getting difficult for me to potty train him …As I’m WFH due to covid-19, I’m able to spend time but don’t know what needs to be done in this case…tried n still trying…please pour some suggestions. Sorry for this lengthy post.

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Sometimes kids don’t talk because others talk for them. Just keep encouraging speech and never become discouraged. Every kid is different and will speak at their own time. I suggest to try speech therapy 1-2x a week.

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I have autism I started talking and then quit and then I didn’t talk till I was 7 with lots of therapy

My son is six years old, he is on the autism spectrum and has ADHD. He was non verbal up until he was almost four. Sign language helped us a lot. Still to this day he will use some hand signing. I should add he is a triplet with two non autistic girls and they also used sign language. It’s truly a life saver, as it takes away from the frustration of not being able to communicate your basic needs.
I was also instructed by his therapists that I do a lot of talking and understanding for him, thus, taking away his need to do things on his own. So I had to learn to not answer for him, and to let him do the work. Now he is very talkative and loves to tell and make up stories. With therapy and love and patience he has transformed from a boy who would only say three words (no, yes, and mama) to being such an eloquent person. Best of luck

We went something similar with my son when he was 2, would talk all the time real plain and clear & then all of a sudden he stopped talking & would would just make noises or talk to where you couldn’t understand anything & when he wanted something he would just point at it. His pediatrician recommended speech therapy since there was noting medically causing it. It took a while to work but it now has him talking more & can understand more of what he says & the speech therapist told me that when he wants something make him say it & if don’t say don’t give it to him & that helped as well bc he hated not getting what he wanted so he started saying what he wanted.

They talk when they are ready, just talk to him no baby talk real words and read and point to things tell him what they are

My ten year was the same way I got I’m a speech teacher when he was almost 2 and he has had speech classes ever since he was diagnosed with add about two years ago

My daughter used to be like this and she is highly intelligent. Shes 3

Maybe he likes to learn things…so find some stuff to teach him about. My daughter loves learning about things from anatomy to star fish. Mayne try to broaden the horizon a little for him. :slight_smile:

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Your pediatrician isn’t qualified enough to tell you if your son is on the spectrum or not. That’s something a neurologist or a psyche evaluation should be determining.

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On my son’s second birthday he was only able to say about 3 words. By his third birthday he was speaking full sentences, and now at 3 and a half he’s very articulate and others can understand him well. Kids all talk on their own timelines. Don’t worry just yet mama :two_hearts:

First your doing an amazing job! :clap:t3: here are some things I would try… First since you know he can talk because he has before maybe when he is pointing at something like say grapes for example maybe say you need to tell me use your words would you like grapes? Say grapes… maybe this will work my now 5 year old is really shy and would go through spurts of this every now and than. Second thing I would try is if you can take him around other kids maybe just a bit older. Than when he sees them talking it might make him want to talk too. Just a bit of advice from one mom to another. I hope it might help in some way :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts: good luck. And know that your amazing and doing a great job ! :clap:t3::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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If he’s been talking and stopped out of nowhere there may have been something that has traumatized him. My oldest did this and it was because her daddy deployed around age 3. As 4 things that have worked with mine: I point 2 objects and repeat it often. Simple books with pictures in it that make noice helps too. Flash cards worked wonders with my oldest. Once they learn the words and know it I will not give them the object until they repeat it. Example if they are thirsty they have 2 tell me they are thirsty and they want a cup. They then have 2 tell me juice or milk. So until they get a full sentence down it would be the 3 simple words: thirsty, cup, and juice. Try with a few small sets of words 1st. So the main ones I start with of course mommy, daddy, sissy, doggy, and hailey. the next set have been: nana, cup, juice, milk, sarge, and kierston. Consistancy is key.

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He might not want to talk or shy to talk. You can try learning sign language with him. That way everything would be between the two of you.

Hes only 2 so try not to stress too much. Speak with your health visitors as if there’s is a communication need he may be entitled to 2 year old funding in a nursery or childminder to encourage social interaction with children his own age. Continue as you have been, practicing language, lots of words like a monologue. You could try a toy microphone :microphone: to encourage sound making in a different way. You could even try one or 2 kids shows where they encourage kids to talk to the TV, I know its not everyone’s ideal but it may be that it takes the pressure off xx

You have to talk to him. Talk to him all the time. Make conversation with him. He may be speech delayed like my son was. Send him to daycare, or let him spend time with other kids his age. The more speech stimulation he gets, the more he will talk.

My oldest son did this. Talked early, was very vocal. Around 15 months he stopped altogether. Sometimes he’d say a random word (his favorite was car), but most if not all communication ended. He also had other “issues” that showed up Around and shortly after that age (severe food aversions, screamed when in/near water, sensitivity to sounds and light, went from social to non social, the list goes on). My mother is actually the one that pointed out to me there may be an issue.
He was evaluated for and tested negative for autism, typical issues of the mouth/tongue that cause speech issues with a speech therapist around 2. No obvious signs of ADHD.
He will be 8 next week and was officially diagnosed with ADHD at the end of kindergarten, started medication in first grade (in hindsight would have started was sooner that year than we did), has sensitivity disorders and is kinda technically on the spectrum as he has “tendencies”, but still haven’t gotten an official autism diagnosis. He’s getting better as he’s getting older, but still struggles.

I say this not to scare, but to be aware. It could also very well be a stage and short lived. Kids are weird and do weird things. But follow your instincts and get a second opinion if you feel the need. It doesn’t hurt. The earlier these things are caught the better, my son still struggles with speech, he didn’t start therapy for it until kindergarten, and has come so far in the 2 years.

However, the fact that he knows his abcs, can count that high, and recognize things and identify them is an AMAZING sign! That is great for his age. Keep up the good work working with him

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My 12 year old has autism, started talking then stopped until he was 6. We did speech therapy and still do speech and he’s finally talking full sentences. Regression is normal, I’m not saying he is on the spectrum but he could be and that’s ok! It just means he’s super special (that’s what I tell my son). Just keep encouraging words. If you could get him around other kids his age that talk that would help him out tremendously as well.

I know kids who went non-verbal but were fine as they grew up. It’s a bit early to rule out ASD as I think it would be too early to test properly for it. Learn some baby signing so you can communicate and just be supportive. If they do have ASD, they do. There are far worse things to happen to a kid.

My son has speech apraxia. He was saying mama and dada at 10months then he stopped. He didn’t start talking again until he was 6. I would recommend getting him into speech and learning sign language. They failed to teach my son sign language and it ended up causing alot of frustration and aggression because he couldn’t speak or communicate.

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If he stopped talkin all of sudden its from the immunizations. Did he get vaccinated? There is a major shot they get around that age with like 8 shots in 1… I refuse shots for my son and idc what ppl think. Ik too many ppl with the exact same things happening. I hope your baby recovers… They say autisim but really its something brought on by the lead and poisoned in the shots. The baby was prolly allergic

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At 2 years seven months your child should be talking, at least singular words but many say much more. If you google “how many words should my two year old say” it will tell you 50, but 50 is just the amount that’s needed for there to not be a problem, that’s the bottom. Most are stringing two word phrases together pretty regularly at 24 months. My son was similar to yours in the sense he was way more into talking about letters, numbers, than having conversations. This problem resolved itself before 2.5 He’s perfectly fine. It’s completely possible your son is just fine, but he has a pretty significant speech delay right now, and I would do my best to get him into speech, also get his hearing tested to make sure there isn’t an issue there.

In the meantime, lots of nursery rhymes, singing and narrating your day can help. If he’s interested in the alphabet, expand upon that. Talk about it with him. “Oh you like letter A? A is for apples, apples are red, look there are two apples! Let’s eat one and see how it tastes”

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Get him back to a SLP. Possibly a developmental pediatrician as well

Don’t give him anything unless he tells you what he wants. Make him say cup or milk.

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My mom use to babysit a little boy, who would never talk. He was 3 and he just wouldn’t talk. But, a lot of people would speak for him, so that’s what his pediatrician believed was going on. By the time he was 3.5 he was talking like he had been talking for years. He is a super intelligent boy and is not ADHD or Autistic. But, kids shouldn’t be tested for any of that, until they are over the age of 3. Before that, kids are still developing and learning basic life skills.

I know you said you took him to a Dr, but did you have his hearing checked?

You’re doing a great job, Mama! Talk to his pediatrician again. Things I would ask for are a hearing evaluation and a referral to a speech therapist. He may have a speech delay or possibly apraxia. Apraxia is a neurological condition and children with it sometimes are harder to potty train because of the nerves involved or it affects muscle tone so they can’t hold their bowels as well. My son has Down syndrome so he’s had speech therapy since he was an infant for feeding then speech. His therapist told us not to give him things for pointing - he had to make a sound, any sound, to get what he wanted while we modeled the word. During play we did the same thing. I would say “ball” or “go” then roll a ball to him when he tried to mimic the word or made a sound. You can do this with all turn taking games. Even very early on during feeding she had me say “mmm” then “more” after each bite so he learned to request. You can start doing things like this now but definitely see a speech therapist.

My son didn’t talk till he was about 3. He was tested. Negative results. Turns out he just didn’t have anything to say lol. He is 24 now and is still very quiet, always was.

Take him to a phycologist for a second opinion. If autism is still ruled out ask for his hearing to be checked. Also has he suffered trauma or loss? That can set a child back.

When he hits 4 and still isn’t talking…I’d be worried.
When I had a dayhome it was a pattern I saw regularly. Some are chatty, some aren’t. But by 4 all but 1 (with autism) were speaking.

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Apraxia check it out.

He needs daycare with other kids. If he does all that, he’ll talk when he wants

stop talking for him

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I have known several kids who didn’t talk till 3-5 and they are totally fine adults now, lawyers etc. I know as a Mama you automatically worry. Hang in there!

Nothing, he’ll talk when he’s ready