34 Month Boy and NOT TALKING!!!

That is a developmental delay that needs to be address.

There is one kid in mg dd class who is like this. Uber smart but with extreme verbal delay. Give him pretzels for snacks and the kid will start spelling words with them yet he is non verbal.

He needs both verbal and nonverbal communication evaluation. It may be just speech and the first five years of life are the most effective for intervention.

ETA: Whoever told you 3 for eval has been misguided. It took me literally seconds to find TN's early childhood intervention site. Here's the link http://www.tn.gov/education/teis/

Here are the district contacts http://www.tn.gov/education/teis/doc/Q_A_Jan09.pdf

This was for early intervention only up to age 2 but the district contact should be able to direct you to the next phase.

I think this is it http://www.tn.gov/education/speced/assessment.shtml click the pdf for developmental delays. It is for children 3-9

Call early intervention. I know a friend at work had similar problems with her son and he was seeing a speech therapist around 2 yrs old on.

He needs to be evaluated. I would call your local school district and ask for early intervention. They will evaluate, and assess what needs to be done. Has he had a hearing test from an Audiologist yet? If not, he needs one to rule out any hearing issues. I would talk with his pediatrian. I am surprised she has not asked this at his two year check up. That's when we asked for early intervention with my son. He was not talking, not nearly as much, and was evaluated to have a speech and language delay, as well as sensory issues.

Call your school district and get started on having him evaluated. It's called Early Intervention. Good luck.

PLEASE, get an evaluation by a speech therapist. Your ped should have told you that he needed one. (I'd get another ped, having missed something as important as this, but that's just me.)

It's very important to get an evaluation and start speech therapy now. Don't delay anymore than you already have.

Good luck,
Dawn

My younger son was a late talker. He had fluid built up behind his ear drums from multiple ear infections. At three he had ear tubes and started speech therapy. By four he was speaking as he should be.

What you need to do is: Call the Elementary school that your son WILL go to when the time comes, ask to speak with their speech therapist, tell her your fears and ask for an evaluation.

They will do the rest.

Has his pediatrician not suggested to have his hearing tested & further rmore evluations?When did you begin to notice his delay for speech?Have you brought up your concerns with his pediatrician?Hearing first I would go with the school district usually the pediatrcian can tell you where to go and call for an appt. they are FREE you can get in quicker to see an ENT w/ a referral if you need one w/ your Insurance if not needed call to get an appt. you can w/out a referral from the pediatrician.Good Luck I had a speech delayed toddler & it was frustrating at first but now leaps and bounds in speech like never had a delay

Added sorry you were told that he couldn't be evaluated till 3 Early Intervention is completely free service & offers a wide range of specialist to help children in what they are needing help with & they educate parents/guardians.The exit them out @ 3 then referr them over to the local school district with their team of educators and they alos reevaluate before their services begin.My baby was 9 months when I began the road to her speech & finding out about her ears.So yes I did begin young & I knew so did the pediatrician know that speech was behind.I didn't hear mama till 15 months of age & then it was music to my ears

Call you local early intervention program and have him evaluated ASAP. He's almost aged out of early intervention (can only be until they turn 3), but they might be able to give you some guidance in the next couple of months for sure. Also talk to his ped.

ETA: BTW, he is talking, just not as much as he should maybe ought to be. Thus the reason to get the early intervention and talk with the ped.

I am not trying to make you feel bad, but the BASELINE for an Early Intervention evaluation is a minumun of 50 words by age 2 and putting 2 words together. Your son is almost 3...who told you he couldn't be evaluated before 3? Your doctor is ok with the fact that he has what sounds like less than 10 words? It is too late to call Early Intervention. You need to call your school district immediatly. Now is the time to get him evaluated by the school for the free preschool. In my opinion, your son's speech sounds like that of an 18 month old. My son got early intervention at 2 and now his speech is better than most kids his age.

It IS too late to get services through Early Intervention because those services are for children under the age of 3. You are at the perfect time to start an evaluation by the school district for services. Do not delay.

You need to get him evaluated. He's almost 3 and should be talking a lot more than that. Your local school district or county likely has an early intervention program that can evaluate him for speech, vision, hearing and motor skills and tell you what they can offer to assist him.

I hate to say this, but your son may have a hearing problem. People with deafness or degrees of it often are upset by loud noises, as it hurts them. Deaf people watch movies too. But tv is not good for any child. Screen time should be no time for young children. It interfers with mental development.
Get him evaluated asap. My brother was born deaf. He has about 30 % in one ear. There are many new devices for the hearing impaired now. For brother it's too late but your son may have the type that is fixable, for lack of better words.
Regardless of whether he's hearing impaired or not, get this check out.
Sending the very best thoughts for you and you little boy.

Math... 24 is 2 years old plus 10 is almost three years old... I need more coffee.

At nearly three years old, his vocabulary should be much higher since you're including sign language as part of his vocabulary. Children that sign typically have much higher word banks than other children.

I'm concerned about his expressive language, and I wonder about his receptive language. How much of what you say do you think he understands? How much comprehension do you believe he has? Does he follow simple directions? Can he follow three-step directions or only one-step directions? Does he show other signs that he understands what you're saying? How does he respond to sound in general? Does he seem overly sensitive to various types of stimuli? When he looks at books, is he only looking at pictures or is he actually trying to read? If he mimicking from memory when you read to him?

It's not too late for Early Intervention. Make that call first thing Monday morning. He needs to be evaluated by the school ASAP. They'll do it for free. They need to perform a Neuropsychological Exam which will test for a variety of things, including speech delays, and they will also observe him in a classroom-like setting. It will last more than one session. You should also have a Neuro-Psych Exam done independently of the school so that if a diagnosis or multiple diagnoses are found, your son will be legally entitled to special services from the school.

If your son has learning delays he's entitled to special services. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Be a squeaky wheel. If your pediatrician says, "It's too late" or "It's too early" then you find another pediatrician. Your pediatrician won't be the one to perform a neuro-psych exam anyway. You need to be referred to one of the following: Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrician; Pediatric Psychiatrist; Pediatric Neurologist.

Please know... no matter what diagnosis/es there may be, it doesn't mean your little guy isn't intelligent. It just means he needs some help.

You need to get him evaluated. What does your pediatrician say?? He should have recognized the red flags by now and if he hasn't or says nothing is wrong, you need a new pediatrician.
Perhaps it's his hearing, perhaps not, but you need to get going on this immediately.

I agree with others to get him evaluated as soon as possible and get him into some early intervention type program. He is definitely behind the curve. It must be quite frustrating for him at times. But if it makes you feel better, my cousin did not talk much at all when he was young. He was just not a talker and my aunt didn't worry about it. He was a very smart little boy and eventually he did catch up to others and now he is a brilliant young man who just completed Veterinarian school.

I agree with the people who said he may have a hearing problem. My mom apparently didn't speak when she was a preschooler, either, and they thought she was just not very smart. :( Finally when she was in kindergarten, she had a hearing test at school - but it was in a group. She went home and told her mom that when all the other kids in the class raised their finger, so did she. My grandmother asked, "Well, did you hear the noise that made them raise their fingers?" My mom just looked at her. Fast forward, it turned out my mom had double ear infections, and had for years. They cleared that up, and suddenly she caught up in vocabulary, pronunciation, and suddenly she was the "smart kid" in class. So... a hearing problem could be the issue with your son. And, like my mom, it could be caused by an ear infection (not all of them are painful).

Yes, you must get him evaluated for hearing and speech delays. I am surprised your doctor didn't catch this at his 2 year well check. Does your son have a history of ear infections, allergies or sinus problems that could keep his head stuffy? That could play a huge factor.
One other thing, you mentioned a lot of people interact with him. Do you give him enough time to respond or is his need met automatically? My dad was nearly 3 years old and wasn't speaking much more than what your son is doing. The doctor said everyone around him anticipated what he wanted/needed and just gave it to him. He didn't have to speak. Experiment with your wait time and see if it helps. He sounds like he is pretty alert and bright, you just need to get this piece of the puzzle figured out and I bet he takes off just fine! Good luck!
HTH,
A.

He needs to be evaluated now. Talk to your pediatrician about it. My son has non-verbal apraxia and he is 13 and makes lots of noises but no words. He was diagnosed at 2. We went through a lot of testing. You won't get early intervention because that goes till age 3 and then they are put in preschool. You will probably get an evaluation by the school district you are in which is a team of people. He'll probably need a hearing test.

I know you already got a lot of responses, but I just wanted to make sure you contact your free early intervention program--every state has one! Your son is at a tricky age. The programs usually run 0-36m and 36m+. You can start with the early intervention, but they will move him up to the school-aged program at 36 months. Good luck!

Also, I would consider a new pediatrician! A decent pediatrician would have referred you to the early intervention program!