When should I worry?

[ciaomamma]

Well i think you're doing everything right, it's something that he's having a hard time talking but I wouldn't panic, just encourage.
DD was very much like that, she didn't start talking till 2.5 only little words, she's 3.5 now and she won't shut up! She too had a dummy (a lot!) she gave it up a couple of months ago without issues. DS started talking early and he's 2 and he can string sentences together but I put that down to having his sister talking to him all the time.
I would encourage play dates with other kids, that really helped DD because she wanted to communicate with her friends so she had that incentive.

[sajimum]

If you aren't overly concerned then the wait and see approach might be best for you. It also sounds like you are doing lots of the right things in terms of encouraging speech, like reading, lots of talking to him and explaining what you are doing. Another strategy our speech pathologist gave us with our DD was when she said a word, to repeat it back to her but add an extra word. So, if she said "dog", we would say "yes, big dog" or "yes, black dog".
Personally, I would probably want to discuss strategies with a speech pathologist if he wasn't saying much by 2 years old, but that's just me - I know others who much prefer a wait and see approach.

[Lil Smurfy]

I wouldn't completely dismiss what childcare have said. They deal with children his age on a daily basis, and if they're saying his attention span is short, they could be referring to short compared to average two year olds. I don't know, but I wouldn't just dismiss it

[LoveLivesHere]

I would and have before ask a referral or self refer to your local child and youth health unit or local hospital to a see a speech therapist. They will probably see you one or twice to you some great exercises and help and ran see again if he is still having trouble at a latter date.

[AdornedWithCats]

I have no advice but it sounds like you are doing all the right things.

My ds was talking more than your ds does by the sounds of it but not a whole lot at 20 months (though he had lots of "words" ). At about 23 months his language has exploded! Picking up something like a new word everyday. It could be that if your ds isn't quite 2 yet he may just be about to have a big language spurt.

[Steph12]

My DD is 2years 8months and still only uses single words. she doesn't mimic despite doing lots of reading and interactive games with her. We decided at 2.5 to start speech therapy. Although they aren't too concerned until age 3. She's had a few sessions and they have some good tips, if you've got private health insurance it might be worth an initial consult at least. I'd wait until after two though, it sounds very early still. Speech therapists will also let you know if there are any other concerns, my DD is purely speech delayed and doesn't particularly like to copy but is otherwise fine. They are also not concerned about pronounciation until after 3 so any attempts at words are good enough.

[Hasselhoff]

I wouldn't completely dismiss what childcare have said. They deal with children his age on a daily basis, and if they're saying his attention span is short, they could be referring to short compared to average two year olds. I don't know, but I wouldn't just dismiss it

Thank you Lil Smurfy, I guess I didn't really look at it that way. I guess I seen it as there is only 3 kids a day in his age group (it's a small centre) and they all seem about the same to me but I only see drop off and pick up never during the day. Is this something I should bring up with our gp?

[Hasselhoff]

I would and have before ask a referral or self refer to your local child and youth health unit or local hospital to a see a speech therapist. They will probably see you one or twice to you some great exercises and help and ran see again if he is still having trouble at a latter date.

We are going to see our gp at the start February (so a bit before he's 2) just for a check up. She knows about his speech that's why she sent us for a hearing test. Is it possible he's too young to worry about (if u know what I mean, for a speech therapist who may be thinking well he's only 2?) that came across wrong but do u know what I mean?

[Hasselhoff]

He has said words before a few times and then doesn't say them again. Like mum and mummy. He's said it before a lot but now he won't say it. He always says dad and daddy. Says Ta daddy and hello daddy so can put 2 words together just only a handful of words. I don't want to be really laid back about it and then find out something isn't quite right but then I don't wanna panic and there be nothing wrong and he's just taking his time.

[LoveLivesHere]

We are going to see our gp at the start February (so a bit before he's 2) just for a check up. She knows about his speech that's why she sent us for a hearing test. Is it possible he's too young to worry about (if u know what I mean, for a speech therapist who may be thinking well he's only 2?) that came across wrong but do u know what I mean?

He not too young at all. I been there with my at 20 months. When only had four words. The younger the better once you can see there is a problem