2 year old with speech disorder

My 26 month old son has great problem solving and motor skills, is almost completely potty trained and can follow directions well, to include setting a table of 4 for dinner. Recently he was diagnosed with a speech disorder.  What does this really mean? Is he slow? Will he learn to speak?  We have been working with him on sign language and he has really picked up on it quick, but is this teaching him not to talk? Right now he has a vocabulary of 17 words, most of them he says pretty clear, but he has not been progressing with more words, is there still a chance that he will just start talking and catch up to the "normal 50 word vocabulary" for 2 year olds? Is he too young to truly know that he has a mental disorder? He is visiting with a pathologist twice a month but the visits entail 40 minutes of sitting and playing on the floor with my child, I don't know that the pathologist even knows sign language, is that normal?  What type of help should we be seeking?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Your questions can only be answered by a speech and language professional, based on a thorough evaluation which yields a diagnosis and a plan for treatment. The term speech disorder is an umbrella term that can be short-hand for any number of conditions. Some of the conditions involve expressive speech/language, some involve receptive speech/language, some involve both. Some involve structural problems with the mechanisms of speech, some do not involve any structural/organic problems. Your son is at an age when developoment of speech and language abilities is generally flowering, and sometimes children who display problems with this arena of development are posing a developmental delay and they eventually do catch up to the norms for children of their age. Ask the clinician to describe for you the nature of your son's problems and how such problems are remedied. The sessions may appear to you to involve sitting and playing, but in the hands of the profesional such sessions likely are much more substantive than you might be in a position to notice. And remember, as with any aspect of medical intervention, you can always seek another opinion in order to assure yourself that you are on a productive course.

[MommyMD]

My son was diagnosed with a speach delay and they began him on signing immediately.  Like yours my son probably didn't have 15 words in his vocab at the age of 2 and was becoming frustrated with it no matter how great he was doing at everything else.  My son has been seeing a speach therapist for 9 months now and has begun talking in full sentances.  To me it always looked like they were just playing around but that one on one was something that he needed a little more than I could afford to give him.  My son now sees two therepists for his speech to help him to continue to advance in the right direction.  Good luck to you and yours and never forget that you are their inspiration, keep upbeat and they will be too:)