2 yr old behavioral disorder

[lissa2124]

My son will be 2 years old next month and uses very little language, approximately 12-15 words.  He gets what he needs by pulling me to things and pointing or crying at the sink for water.  He doesn't respond to things that I think he should be doing by now, llike "Go get me the ball"  or any commands beyond "come here" or "no" .  I am worried sick about his lack of comprehension and am looking for answers.  Today I had a child development specialist and a speech pathologist observe him and thespeech pathologist said she was more concerned with his lack of command following than use of the language.  I don't know if maybe there are things I can try to do or change to help him reach this level of cognitve and communitive development.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You can certainly check in with the speech/language pathologist for some practical suggestions to emply at home. One thing that will be helpful is to limit the extent to which to accommodate to your son's gestural or other non-verbal communication. If you 'communicate' with him by permitting yourself to be dragged over to whateverit is he wants, you'll actually inhibit his development of language because you'll be reinforcing what he already does. Instead, patiently ask him what it is seeks, thereby encouraging his to try to utilize words. And be sure to follow through on directions. In other words, if you give him a command/direction and he does not follow it, don't withdraw from the situation. Pursue it to the point he is cooperating with it. To be sure, he is displaying some delay in the speech/language/communication domain, but he is not yet at an age at which you need to be alarmed by this. Did the S/L clinician recommend intervention?

[lissa2124]

Your comments have been very helpful.  I took my son to an audiologist yesterday and he failed a hearing screening, so we are being referred to CHildren's hospital to continue the process and determine the next step.  Thanks for your help!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

If your son's delay in speech/language occurs in the context of a broader developmental delay, that is a much larger concern. Time will need to unfold a bit before it's clear what is occurring, but it would be worthwhile to confer in more detail with the child development specialist to learn his/her perceptions about the scope of your son's developmental problems. The behavior dyscontrol might occur if he is frustrated by not having the ability to understand what is being said to him. On the other hand, it might occur if he understands perfectly but is acting in a willful or oppositional manner.

[lissa2124]

Well, another problem is that he throws tantrums when I try to do just as you explained to do.  If I walk to the kitchen with him and say do you want a bottle he will explode, yelling, screaming and crying.  He has really bad tantrums with most things when I try to make him comprhend what I am saying, even just saying his name for his attention makes him angry.
The speech pathologist and child dev. specialist actually made me feel like my son was severly delayed developmentally.  I don't think that they were able to get a clear understadning of his capabilities, but I do agree that he has delays or I wouldn't have looked into the intervention at all.  He was annoyed with them trying to make him do things and would get angry just as I explained above and as soon as they left he was clam and happy.  I know there are behavioral issues here also but I don't know where to turn for expert advice and evaluation.