2 year old not talking

If you are worried go to the dr but I was worried about my daughter and to be quite honest I worried about nothing. At 3 she is talking up a storm and that only happened at like 2 and a half. Just exploded over night. But once again if you are worried go and get it checked.

My cousin refused to talk till he was about 4. He's perfectly normal now. Just not a big talker. 2 is still very young.

Jack is 21mths and doesn't talk at all really just "mumumumum", "ta",, "Dad" sometimes and now "num num num" when he wants food. In comparison alot of his friends are talking up a storm.

A friend though has told me that he often repeats words she says but never does that with me. I was a bit concerned but as she said (and someone else said the same thing later to me) he can communicate very well with me - he takes my hand and takes me to whatever it is he wants. I would hazard a guess that as your son can communicate well with you using hand signals he has no need to use words just yet. I am sure he will though in time.

As the others said though, if you are still worried then talk to your GP or Plunket. But remember no matter what they say (sometimes I think they just scare us!) every child develops at their own rate but they generally end up at the same place in the end.

boys are often slower to talk than girls and 2nd children pick up talking way faster cos they are with older kids. at 2 years old i wouldnt worry at all. my best friends son is 26 months and can still only say a handful of words but understands real well. so i wouldnt worry much but if you are still concerned maybe get his ears checked in case they are blocked and he is understanding visual signs and not picking up verbal ones clearly

I was going to say aren't boys generally slower talkers than girls .
All kids are different, thats all, C was talking 3 -4 word sentences by her first birthday, her best friend said few words til she was 2 and a half, hers was also due to a few ear problems that may have affected her hearing and speech .
But now, the two of them don't shut up .

The speech language therapist in me can't resist adding to this ....

My first piece of advice is that if you are concerned, you are best to get an assessment with a speech language therapist and they can give you the right advice about whether he's absolutely fine and will work it out, or if you maybe need to do something. At that age, it may be giving you advice about activities you can do to promote his speech and language development.   Details of SLTs in NZ can be found at NZSTA

Here are a couple of links to information sites from international SLT organisations that can give you more info as well. The ASHA ones give you tips about activities you can do ...

ASHA - Late blooming or language delay?
ASHA - Language development from 1-2
ASHA - Language development from 2-3
CASLPA - Normal language development and when to get advice

The CASLPA (Canadian SLT organisation) guidelines say:

How many words should my toddler be using?
On average, a child should use at least 200 words by the age of two. By the age of four her vocabulary should be at least 2000 words. As general benchmarks, consider whether your child can:
• Say her first word by her first birthday
• Combine two words, for example “Mommy up” by age two
• Use three-word phrases and short sentences by age three, like “Puppy come here”
• Use four or more word sentences by age four, as in “I like to play dolls”

When should I visit or speak to a speech-language pathologist?
Seek answers if your child:
• Shows no reaction to sound in the first three months of life
• Is not babbling and making sounds by 10 months
• Doesn’t gesture, show, give or point to get something by 12 months
• Doesn’t understand simple commands like “See your ball? Get your ball!” by 18 months
• Doesn’t pretend play, like feeding a stuffed toy, by 18 months
• Is not using single words by 21 months
• Doesn’t understand a variety of simple concepts like “big-little, up-down” by 24 or 36 months
• Is not joining two or three words by 27 months
• Ls extremely difficult to understand at age three - the listener has to guess extensively about what the child is saying
• Doesn’t understand or is unable to reason questions like “What do you do when you're hungry/cold” by the age of three or four
• Continues to make numerous grammatical errors at age five so that the communication burden falls to the adult to figure out what’s been said
• Shows other communication problems, or you have a sense that something is just not quite right with the child’s way of communicating or interacting

Hope this is of some help. Like everyone has said, some babies are late talkers (I didn't talk till 3), but I thought some info from the different SLT organisations might be helpful as well.

The gremlins were both a bit slow with their language, at 18 mths both of them were pretty much non-verbal. Mercedes started talking more around the 18 mth mark, Sienna took longer and her language didn't really start to take off until her second grommets op at 23 mths. A month after that she suddenly started talking overnight.

We have had her assessed by a SLT and she is being followed up at 3 monthly intervals, but the SLT is pleased with her progress to date.

I definitely recommend getting an assessment done if you are concerned, it cost us $90 but was well worth it for peace of mind.

whoa I thought my two year old talked quite good saying over 50 words and putting 2-3 words together when he turned 2 but 200 words is alot by 2. (I do not have a problem with his talking as now hes 2.2 yrs and putting 6-7 word sentences together but he is also a 3rd child so I guess picked up on it more)

My first born had to have speech theraphy. I kept telling plunket i thought he wasn't talking properly - he would say a few of words but when he started sentences it was hard to know what he was saying - as a mum I learnt to know what each 'word' meant. It wasn't picked up til he went to kindy and then he was about 4 when he started speech theraphy = it was more repetativeness of certain sounds as V,F, Y (yu) etc... But each child will have their own needs so I agree with others that get an assessment done (even if you have to pay for it) I wished i listened more to my mother instinct and not taken no for an answer and pushed for more look into his speech - as it is as the years have gone on he speaks fine now.. still some sounds he can have a bit of trouble with though.