Hello, Angelynn!
Language Red Flags
Don’t rush to consult a speech therapist if you have no idea what your 2-year-old is saying half the time (or if you understand perfectly, but Grandma and the babysitter are baffled). Speaking involves a lot of coordination. Kids this age commonly lisp, stutter, andmumble. But certain speech problems are considered red flags. If your child never imitates your words or speech patterns or drops particular consonants consistently, mention it to her doctor.
Your 2-year-old now
Between ages 2 and 3, your child’s spoken vocabulary will grow to up to 300 words — and he’ll understand up to 900 words. Not all children begin conversing in clear, complete sentences at age 2, however. Some rely on gestures and a bare-bones vocabulary month after month. Others chatter away — but with pronunciations that only Mom or Dad can decipher. In both of these situations, a child may be quite normal, just working at his own pace through the complex process of mastering speech.
Mispronunciation is common. The usual trouble spots: th (which comes out like a d or finstead); 1 (which comes out like a w); and s (which sounds lispy, like eth). Preschoolers also tend to jumble the order of words in a rush to get them out (“Mommy now cup juice Sam”) or, for the same reason, to stutter (“J- j- joo- juice”). These problems usually resolve themselves over time without any speech therapy.
Red flags for speech development at this age include:
- Barely speaking at all.
- Not imitating others’ speech.
- Omitting whole consonants (“og” for “dog”).
- Not using two- to four-word sentences by the time he’s turning 3.
- Never asking questions (“What dat?”) or seeming frustrated at not being understood.
I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true—hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.
Patience is a kind of love. A love that is its own explanation in bewildered circumstance. It is an old, old woman placing a wrinkled-parchment hand against the cheek of a reckless child. Because her heart is too wise to make room for reproach. Too full to find place for offense.
the priceless smile on my boys’ face when we were blowing the candle on his monthday cake…
