Some may call me paranoid or overly-sensitive, but since child #1 was language delayed I have been consciously watching child #2 to make sure he is on track in this area of his development. Interestingly, Joshua was also delayed in his gross motor development which goes hand in hand with the language delay so I thought maybe we'd be in the clear with Matthew as his gross motor abilities are on target, if not beyond, for his age. Matthew has lots of single words, but rarely is uttering a two word phrase which is where my concern lies. In the past few weeks Matthew has become a bit more stubborn about repeating words or answering us with words when asked to do so. The annoying "grunting" has appeared instead of words many days. Still, like his older brother at this same age, he understands everything that is being said to him and can carry out directions easily so at least I know there isn't a bigger issue.
I emailed my friend and case worker from Early On who worked with Joshua to help with his language delay and let her know of my concerns. She reassured me that the was still pretty much on task for his task for his age, but to watch and make sure he doesn't fall behind. Hopefully her suggestions help in bumping him up to saying those two word utterances. Since Joshua was so delayed it was easy to keep up on the list of words he was able to say, but I haven't made a list of Matthew's words until yesterday. Once I put down all the single words he is already able to say at 21 months old I was actually surprised - it's a list of 47 words (an 18 month old should be saying 10 words and expands to 50-200 words by 24 months so Matthew is definitely on his way)! Now it's just helping his make that next jump to two word phrases and if not I know just who to call to help. Hoping we don't end up needing to use Early On, but thankful that such a helpful resource is available in case we do.
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