Two year old not talking

[blahblah06]

My two year old son is not talking yet. He doesn't say anything although he understands everything we say to him and can follow instructions so we know his hearing is fine. When he wants something he holds my hand and takes me to what he wants and points at it. He makes lots of babbling sounds but no actual words. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips on getting him to talk, all I seem to hear is "he'll talk when he's ready".

[ummmm]

He doesn't have to talk if he can get what he wants by not talking. Try not letting him lead you to things and encourage him to ask.

[redcrx]

i agree with ummm, wait for him to try and ask for what he wants.
Id also speak to your Health Visitor or GP, just to make sure that theres no underlying reason.
Its not uncommon for a child to not be talking at that age.

[ettelloc]

My neice is the same. She went 2 in Feb and only says about 7 different words, althought understands everything you say to her. If she wants something she will just point and grunt "uh" but like ummmm said many family members will say " do you want this" or "do you want that" instead of saying tell me what you want & i'll get it. Im sure in no time they will both be talking constantly and we wont be able to do anything to keep them quiet but until then we just have to encourage they to tell us what they want.

[bensmum]

My youngest son was the same - he had tests which showed nothing wrong but he could get exactly what he wanted by not talking. It is frustrating especially if you see other children of a similar age chatting away but try not to worry - he will talk.

[Marijn]

Has he had a hearing test? He may well get the gist of what you're saying by watching body language and lip pattern. Even a minor hearing impairment can lead to delayed speech. My great-nephew had a build up of wax in his ears and it really delayed his speech. He was just about to have an ear op when someone realised it might be ear wax. After having it removed his speech has come on in leaps and bounds.

[lorri24601]

my brother was the same until he was nearly 3 , just pointed to what he wanted,so my mum decided to ignore what he was pointing to and give him something else instead to see what he would do.As she passed him the wrong thing she said nothing more than "is this what you want" give it to him and walk away.The second day she started to do the same and when she enquired as to if thats what he wanted he looked straight at her and said "well no actually" :-) so like others have said he probably has no need to ask as he gets what he wants anyway,they learn quickly :-)

[tamborine]

that's males all-over 'attention seekers'. Ignore his requests till be speaks - he soon will and his demands will be greater; forever!

[blahblah06]

Thanks so much for all the tips - will give them a go, I'll let you know how I get on.

[lizzyha]

i know exactly how you feel.. i have a 2 year old daughter and was gettin worried last year when she wasn talkin. she also used to take my hand and just grunt out of her when she wanted something and id go through a whole list of items with her untill i got what she wanted.. so i started ignoring the grunts from her and she soon started talking and using words for what she wanted.. now she never stops talking and even sings songs now..lol!! just be patient and ignore the grunts and he will be fine:o)

[kylie1988]

Heya everyone. I am a nursery nurse and it is possible that the 2 year old may not have hearing problems, but what about speech? I know when I was young, my brother used to talk for me as I all I did was point at things. But it was not because I was lazy. But it was because I had speech problems. So I had to have speech therapy. You could consider that.