Hi, My name is Tammie and I just joined. I would like to find some insights to my daughter. She was two back in January, and her vocabulary to me seems very limited.

She still grunts and points to things she wants, or uses her very popular phrase, "I need" but never labels the item she wants. There are certain things and phrases she says over and over, but they aren't even very clear to us, and we have to guess at what she says. (Honestly, even the I need phrase isn't very clear.) She can say Mommy, Daddy, Doggie-and has for a very long time. She can say Drink. I have heard her occasionally say "hungy" And she has a few select phrases like the ever famous "I need," "Here you go" (If she's handing us something) and "No no, nini" For a long time we thought that Nini was what she called her little sister, Emma. But since then we've discovered she will call everything Nini.

I try to always asks "what she needs" and after a few attempts to get her to name the object, which she never does, I try to always label it for her as I give it to her.

She is very intelligent, and shows it in other ways, and fully understands what we say. She is really becoming mommy's little helper when asked to help out, like getting a diaper for Emma or the wipes, or a towel, or various other things. She clearly knows when I say it's time for a bath, time to go, time for bed. She is also well behaved, but when she cannot label what she wants both her and mommy and daddy can get very frustrated, of course....especially when we can't figure it out.

She refuses to repeat after me, even like a game. She just smiles at me, or tells me "no." Except one day when I was trying to introduce her to the word "yes" after a very long "no" day (what two year old doesn't have those days!) and then she would repeat the word "yeah" after me a couple of times. I then asked her if she could start using that word a little more and she, of course, told me "no." and walked off.

One other thing that may or may not be related. Even though she has been walking for a year now, she still staggers quite often, even when there is nothing but open floor in front of her. She can "trip" over nothing but air.

We have not yet done her evaluation with the school district. I wanted to wait until after we moved, which we have just done as of three weeks ago, and I kind of wanted things to return to a normalcy with her so we weren't throwing any more stress in her life. My friend watches her during the day while we work, I would love to enroll her in some sort of daycare and would be interested in seeing how her vocabulary would flourish (I used to work in a very good daycare and am totally not against them if staying home is not an option) but the cost is too prohibited. I don't know how others can enroll their multi-child family in top end daycares and be able to survive...although many people earn more than me. The funny thing is that I earn way too much to be considered for Title 20. I'm kind of stuck in the middle! Mom's day out through our church is an option, but the schedule conflicts with our work schedule and we won't be able to work anything out with my mother until probably summer for transportation and watching them a few hours until I'm off of work.

Any other ideas you have used to boost speech at home that have worked? Thanks for listening

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 01:19 pm:

PamT is a speech therapist, I'm sure she'll have some good advice for you. Welcome to Momsview!! When my kids were 2 my son was delayed, actually worse than your daughter, but it turned out to be part-stress (divorce), part just being a twin and having his own language. As for the tripping, my daughter is 3.5, and can still fall over standing still. She's also VERY fidgety, and would be in constant motion if we'd let her. We've talked to the doc, and decided she's just active, and while she can drive me nuts with the constant falling and tripping, she's developing normally.

By Tink on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 03:15 pm:

As Crystal said, PamT is our resident speech pathologist and she recently posted some great information here: http://www.momsview.com/discus/messages/23/43294.html
My son also had trouble with his vocabulary (he was later diagnosed with autism) and bribery and sticking to our guns worked wonders. If you know that your daughter knows what to call a cup, don't let her have it until she attempts to say cup (or milk, juice, drink, etc.). As soon as she tries, give her the cup and make a HUGE deal about how happy you are that she tried.

I encourage you to get an evaluation through the school district or a pediatrician as soon as possible. Many of these problems can be taken care of so easily at this young age. Good luck and welcome to Momsview!

By Lauram on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 09:55 pm:

I would call for an evaluation asap. Here is a resource for Birth to Three. I don't know where you are, but this should be able to give you the correct people to contact:
http://www.birth23.org/Programs/OtherStates.asp

By Amecmom on Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 10:03 pm:

If you live in a state like NY she will probably not qualify under early intervention. My son was speech delayed. At 21 months he had only 2 words. However, he understood everything! Because they lumped together expressive and receptive language and required a combined 33% delay or 15% in two areas, my son did not qualify, even though he had an obvious oral motor weakness.

Try and have her evaluated, but don't get discouraged if she doesn't qualify. Have her evaluated by the school district as soon as she is three. The school district has to consider articulation.

Good luck and keep doing what you are doing. Hugs.
Ame

By Areed on Sunday, January 27, 2008 - 05:15 pm:

Have you had her hearing checked? My daughter has an enlarged vestibular aqueduct. This causes hearing loss which could account for the speech delay (as it did in my daughter). The vestibular system also controls balance which may explain the tripping over nothing. Good luck.
Alicia