23 month old doesn't say any actual words, just syllables. he understands everything though?

Question

my son is 23 months old and listens and understands everything we ask him to do. he follows direction perfectly, but he won't say words. he seems to be stuck on the last syllable he hears, like grandma he'll say ma. we have tried ( for every other word as well) separating the word into 'ga' and 'ma' and he will do them separately, but when you ask him to say 'ga ma' he only says 'ma'. he addresses items by the correct syllable though, like ball is 'ba' or drink is 'da' so hehas the right intention, but he can't do it. and when we ask him to look at our mouth as we say the word, he tends to just yell out a syllable correct or not, he usually yells his default syllable: 'da', and gets frustrated when we ask him again, he'll start whining and looking around like he's totally lost all and any patience he had for this. and we do it in a calm manner, so i don't know. he also can't make the 'la la la la' sound with his tongue, so it could be like apraxia, he'll just make a ' ah ah ah' sound.

Answer 1

please get him checked by early intervention. My son only said 10 words at 24 months old and was very frustrated. Early intervention bought him some sign language DVDs, and sent him to 60 minutes of individual speech therapy a week. We saw results within a month or so. it has now been a little over 5 months and he is talking a lot, but he is still no where near being age appropriate. we can however understand a good bit of what he says...I had to laugh the first time he told his big sister "go way! go way!" or "no drink my juice".  Early intervention is worth it definatley. You can e-mail me if you want.

Answer 2

My son is behind too (21 months). He says a lot of words but I think he should know more by now and putting two words together, because I have met kids his age that talk perfectly. He talks all the time but he doesn't say anything in English. If we were Chinese he would have said every thing by now.

Answer 3

All I can tell you is this sounds a lot like my nephew at 23 months, he's like 30 months old now and he seems to be saying more words (Multiple syllables), he still has trouble with questions though, you give him two options he always repeats the second one.

Answer 4

My oldest daughter was in speech therapy beginning at age 2.  My 2 year old now is in speech therapy.  They both did the same thing you describe in your child.  Please get him an evaulation with the early intervention program.  They can determine if your child does indeed need speech therapy or not.  Through early intervention the cost is minimal and its so convenient.  They come to your house or daycare or sitter's home for the therapy.

Answer 5

I had a hard time dealing with this too. My oldest son went to preschool and he could say full sentences before he was 2. My middle child, he is now 2 1/2 ans till does just like your son is doing. Don't worry about it! Everyone will learn how to talk eventaully, so does it really matter when they learn it? As long as he understands you, he is okay. :) One  day they will get tired of not being bale to commuicate and they will start to say word. my son fianlly is saying a few words. But I have to listen carefully becasue he will only say them once and he will not repeat them. Good luck!

Answer 6

Mine is 2 yrs old and he says words but not much. Boys are slower than girls. My daughter it seems, was talking by 18 monthes. Keep talking to him and one day soon!!! you are going to turn around and he is going to say the whole word and you are going to go. " omg.!!! he said it."

Is he around other kids that are talking.? that might help too. Nobody wants to be left behind.

Answer 7

By the age of 2 kids should have a vocabulary of about 80 words. Ask his doctor about maybe getting speech therapy. they will give you things to work on and you will be surprised at how fast he catches on.

Answer 8

My son is 29 months old, and pretty much does the same thing.  Just make sure you're not saying those things to him in the way he would say them.  I have found with my child that sign language has helped so much.  It also reduces temper tantrums.  But really, he'll probably get it eventually.  Some kids just learn at their own pace, not ours.

Also, there are programs through the school or the government that can come and do evaluations to see if they think he needs therapy.  That's what my 2 year old is doing right now.  You can e-mail me if you would like to talk more about it.  [e-mail]