Child Not Talking At 2
A child not talking at 2 is a matter of grave concern for parents. It is important to understand that there is a huge variation when it comes to the age when the child starts to talk.
Generally, toddlers start saying “Mama”, “baba” and “dada” around their first birthday. On an average, a child can say around 20 words by the time they are 18-20 months old.
So, before you start worrying about your child not talking at 2, it is necessary to be familiar with certain facts about development of speech and language in children.
What is the Difference between Speech and Language?
Speech: Speech is the verbal expression of language and includes a combination of sounds and words.
Language: It is a complete system of exchanging communication, and includes verbal, non-verbal and written expressions.
Speech and Language Delay
A child with speech delay can speak words but these are not understandable. A toddler with language delay can deliver words but he is only able to pronounce two words together. So, now you know how to differentiate whether it is a speech or language delay in your 2 year old late talker.
Stages of Developing Speech and Language Skills
At what age should a child start talking? Following are the stages of a child’s speaking skills development. This should give you a fair idea about the approximate age to expect speech skills.
Before One Year
Chattering and prattling are initial stages of talking. Approximately by the age of nine months, child starts babbling “Mama” and “Dada”. By twelve months, the child should start paying attention towards the direction of sound and recognize names of common things. Children who do not react to sounds may have hearing loss.
From Twelve to Fifteen Months
Range of sounds and words spoken by the child increases by this age. Their babbling includes sounds of p, b, d, n, and m. Commonly the first nouns are baby or ball. At this age, the toddler starts to comprehend and implement one-step commands like “pick up the toy, and “open your mouth” etc.
From Eighteen to Twenty-Four Months
By two years of age, a toddler can speak about fifty words. At this age, they start connecting two words to form sentences like “Mama give”, “ball throw”. Usually they tend to use the noun at the beginning of the sentence.
By this age, the baby should be able to differentiate between common objects.
He should be able to identify and point towards eyes, nose and mouth. By age of 2, the child should be able to comprehend and implement two-step directions, for e.g. “pick up the ball and throw it here”.
From Twenty-Four to Thirty-Six Months
By this age, the child can connect three or more words to make a sentence. At 3, the child should understand meaning of commands like “place the ball on the table” and ” look under the bed”.
At this age, the child should be able to differentiate colors and know the descriptive phrases like ‘big ball’, ‘small car’ etc. The total vocabulary must be more than it is possible to count.
If your child not talking at 2 has not covered any of the above stages, then it should be a matter of concern and it is necessary to get medical assessment.
Late Talkers When to Worry
- 12 months: Baby is NOT using gestures, like waving bye-bye, or pointing to things.
- 18 Months: Child prefers signaling and is NOT using verbal expressions. Also, the baby does not respond to simple verbal phrases.
- 2 years: Baby imitates words and phrases but cannot deliver the words spontaneously.
- At 2 years baby says specific words and phrases repeatedly. He cannot use words or phrases except those that he / she uses to communicate immediate needs. The child is unable to follow simple commands. Parents cannot understand most of what the child tries to communicate.
- The tone of the child’s voice may sound abnormal like a raspy or nasal tone.
Causes for Child Not Talking At 2
Causes of speech impairment can be divided into 3 major categories:
- Oral Impairment
Defects or issues in the tongue or palate, presence of a fold underneath the tongue (frenulum) etc.
- Oral-motor problems
Here the speech difficulties are due to incoordination between speech areas of the brain and the lips, tongue and jaw. This could be associated with feeding difficulties as well.
- Hearing Problems
Problems in hearing can also deter speech in children because they learn to articulate through imitation of what they hear. Chronic infections of the ear may also contribute as a cause for late talking in child of 2.
How Live Positive Can Help a Child Not Talking At 2?
Live Positive treatment for developmental delay in children has helped hundreds of children all over the world. Our delayed milestones treatment protocol is based on years of research and development.
Live Positive protocol uses homeopathic medicines to treat late talking children.
The medicines are always customized and are selected only after a rigorous process of analysis and evaluation of about 175+ factors.
The child’s current symptoms, past medical history, vaccination history, family medical history, mother’s medical history during pregnancy etc. are a few crucial factors that are a part of these 175+ factors.
Our personalized treatment protocol ensures that the medicines suit only your child and are laser-focused to cure. The treatment is absolutely safe, holistic, and works by boosting your child’s natural development process and immune response.
Almost 58% of our patients who have not spoken any meaningful word at all have uttered their first ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ or ‘nana’ within the first 15 days of starting our treatment. The remaining have taken about 30-45 days.
Our protocol helps all late talking children with oral motor problems, hearing difficulties due to infections and those with no specific cause for the delayed speech development. But if the late talking is due to an anatomical defect in the palate or due to presence of a frenulum, then it is advised to get the defect rectified with surgery and then approach us for treatment.
If you want a safe and personalized cure for your child not talking at 2, then click the blue button below to start a direct chat with Dr. Kavita.
