31 month old not talking much

[gb2008]

My son is currently 32 months old.  To date, he can only say between 10-15 words, but he babbles all of the time (he will say googoo gaga  like a baby). He has been in speech therapy for a year now, and he still only says 10-15 words--the same number as when he started. Some of my concerns are that my son is not speaking more than 15 words, doesn't really answer questions when asked, or vocalize his wants or needs. If we ask him if he is hungry, he will sit there. If i say, "yes, no?" he will repeat, " yes, no." When he does use words, he sometimes uses them incorrectly, like he will walk inside of a room and say "bye" or he describes all foods as 'cookie.' Also, when I point, he looks at my finger, not where I'm pointing. My family thinks that he is just developing slowly, and his pediatrician simply said just give him time. I don't want to waste valuable time while he's young. Can you provide some advice about some other interventions that can possibly help my son? Also, I know you haven't met my son, so a diagnosis is impossible to do. However, can you provide a list of possible reasons why my son is not speaking?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Your description indicates that your son is displaying a serious developmental delay in the area of speech/language - that is obvious. The question is whether he is displaying delays in other aeas of his development (motor, social, emotional, cogniitve). The fact that his speech/language is not growing in spite of the intervention does invite concern. It would be wise to have him evaluated by a team of developmental specialists so that you gain an accurate pucture of his developmental status.

[gb2008]

Thank you for your suggestion. My family and I met with a development specialist today. He indicated my son does demonstrate behaviors that are on the autism/PDD spectrum; however, he did indicate that my son also exhibits behaviors that are atypical for autistic children, such as his interest in other children. He has diagnosed him with a language delay until our MRI next week.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

He is showing some worrisome delays in development and these invite further evaluation.

[gb2008]

Thank you for your quick reply. Socially, he is very active. When he sees children, he will smile and run around them. However, when we had him in a daycare, I would watch outside and he would be on the playground watching the other children, not really joining them. On another occasion, during storytime, he was just running around the room while the other children sat in story time. The center indicated they tried to make him sit down, but he refused, so they allowed him to run around. My son seems to understand much of everything that you tell him (following directions). The center did an eval of him, but said sometimes the results can be skewed because the test was administered while other children were in the room. They had his emotional development at 11 months and cognitive at 12 months.