BEHS Parenting paper

Christina Rothstein

BEHS 343

Your 2-year-old has not begun speaking yet

Lot in Life is true for me

May 15, 2015

Dear Diary,

Today I picked up my two year old son from daycare, only to have one of the instructors come over to talk to me about a possible speech problem. They addressed with me, the fact that he is two years old, and he still does not talk. The teacher in the daycare that works with him every day said that the other two year old children in the daycare center are talking a lot, and yet my son is not talking much at all. This does not seem to bother my son as he plays very well with the other children in the daycare class, and even makes himself very understood with his actions. The teachers have no issue understanding what he wants most of the time either, however there are a few times that he gets frustrated when there is something that they don’t understand when he is trying to tell them. At a very young age I taught my son some sign language, the teacher feels that maybe this is one reason why he has not tried to use words to talk. She feels that maybe he is just a little lazy, and that most of the time I talk for him instead of making him use his words to talk. She suggested that I stop talking for him and make him tell me by using his words what he wants instead. She also feels that I should have my son checked out by his pediatrician and possibly have him evaluated for speech issues. I never really thought about him having speech issues, or even considered it to be odd that he wasn’t talking yet. I just assumed he would start talking when he was good and ready to. Of course, hearing this from a teacher who works with many two year olds is very concerning to me, as I do not want my son to fall behind the other children in learning. I think that my son is very smart, he seems to understand everything I tell him, and he follows directions very well. However, if he is indeed falling behind on talking, I really want to do everything I can for him, to get him caught up to the other two year old children. I guess, I need to start by making an appointment with his pediatrician to see what she thinks about his lack of talking and using words on a regular bases. The teacher also mentioned that there are programs out there for kids who are late talkers, such as the infants and toddlers program of Anne Arundel County. She has told me, that if I give them a call, they will also come out to my house, watch my son play and interact with me for a little while, to see if he needs further help or indeed has a learning setback. If they determine that my son in fact is delayed in talking, they will set him up for classes at a local elementary school to help with his talking issues. I am glad to hear that there are programs out there to help kids like my son who may not be talking as much as they should be at the age of two or three years old. I am also glad that my son’s teacher was able to come to me and inform me of what could be an issue for my son, with help and the right opportunity this issue can be fixed pretty quickly. Although, this was not something that I wanted to hear, and probably no parent wants to hear, it is better for me to be able to get him help early if he really needs the help rather than ignoring the issue and delay the problem any further.