Re: Why isn't my child talking yet?
Asked by NickysMumMum

Question:
It feels like everyone else's kids are talking and they're even younger than my son. Nicholaus is 2years old as of January, and he only says mummy, daddy, and up. I have spoken

to the baby health nurse and she's arranging a speech assessment but that will take at least 6months. Does anyone else have a child who's slow to start talking? or am I the only one? I feel so alone!! I just want my little guy to talk to me!!!!

My Advice:
Re: Why isn't my child talking yet?
Thank you everyone for all your thoughtful advice  !!! All of it is sooo true. Nick is three years and four months now and is talking really well. I went through all the avenues to get to this point and have realised that all it really took was time. The doctors, baby health nurses, child psychologists, and speech therapists were all very reassuring. When I initially wrote this I was devastated because at two Nick wasn't even saying mum anymore. He had a language delay of about 9months. The worrying part was that he had been babbling at the right times in his first year (6-12months) and even said some words, mum, dad, hat, dog but just...... stopped... For almost a year he was quiet. I started to worry that he might have autism and sought all kinds of help. We had regular appointments with our baby health nurse and our GP referred us to a speech therapist who diagnosed him at 2 1/2 yrs as having a moderate expressive language delay of 9 months and a moderate phonological disorder because when he did start talking he would leave off the beginnings of words, everything was 'ar', 'ee', 'oy' and so on. We went to a music class at the University of Newcastle's Conservatorium of Music and the two ladies who ran it were awesome!! In Nick's group there were about 5 children, all with a range of different problems including autism and behavioural difficulties. The group taught me so much about how to interact better with Nick. I know that it would probably just come naturally to most people but I'm not a very confident person and I had to learn to communicate with him on a more simple level. I had been talking to him in full sentences and had to learn to just use singe words or just two words at a time. At the Music Group I was also able to learn more about Nick and I learnt to handle frustrations on both our parts much better by understanding the causes. Therefore tantrums were easily worked through and I think we skipped the terrible two's. To this day Nick's a very happy and easily pacified little guy who gets loads of attention for his good manners and pleasant nature. He's just gorgeous and really easy going. I absolutely love him to bits!! 

So after all that Nick's now 3 and is talking in full sentences and really clearly. There are still some speech sounds that he struggles with and will simply drop, and we are still in the system to get speech therapy for him, but he may not need that for another year. He's just going really well now and will get better with time.

I hope this offers others mums hope that all will be well. Children do need lots of nurture and stimulation to encourage language development but at some point they also need to have the motivation to talk. And they all do in there own time!! Even for children with learning difficulties and autism, there are early intervention initiatives for kids to learn to communicate. There is hope for everyone! If you are worried, there is always someone who you can talk to for help, and there's loads of services available. It's also great for kids to learn from other kids too. Playgroup and Preschool are vital for kids to learn the first important socialisation skills that will help them throughout their lives.

Thanks again to everyone who offered me support through the beginning and to those who have shown support recently. Good luck to everyone who's waiting for their children to talk. Trust me.. It will happen!! 

 Best wishes 

Hayley