My 19 month old boy does not talk or respond to commands

[michiganmomof2]

My DS is 19 month old and does not talk.  He is so sweet. Loves to cuddle and play, very active. He started all of his physical activities very early. He says two words right now, and does not seem to understand commands very well. He knows very basic commands like let's eat, but he does not show his body parts very well at all, does not bring me his shoes when I ask for them etc. He also does not wave, but he points at things randomly. His eye contact is good, he does not have any weird behaviors or rituals. He loves to play ball, run after his older sister, also does pretend things, like brush his hair, talk on phone, etc. He is busy, but is able to relax easy, very easy personality with not a lot of temper tantrums. Here is my question. Did anybody have any problems like that with their kids and what was the solution. He has never had any ear infections.

[momofhope2012]

Hi my son is 19 months now and sounds exactly like your son when he was 19 months. Can you please let me know how he is doing now? Is there any problem with him to be concerned and I think he is 3 years old now, please please let me know as early as possible thank you.

[Sandman2]

   I echo specialmom.  Welcome to the forum.  Do try and message to the old post and see if you get a response.  However, the poster has not done any posting for over two years so who knows what the response might be?
   Which brings me to the next point.  It would have been wonderful for us to have known what happened with the poster, because then we might have been able to help others whose children had the same problems.
    So if you could let us know how things go it might well help others in need.  Also please do start a separate post (although we will also watch for you here)
Good Luck!!!

[specialmom]

Hi there!  Welcome to med help.  You've posted your response on an old thread.  You can try to send the poster a private message or note to ask how things are going and see if they respond.  Let me know if you need help on how to do that.

I posted in this thread 2 years ago, my son has challenges as well.  He's now 8 and with early intervention, I tell ya, my son is doing fantastic.  

If you have any specific questions, I would say to post your own question (go to the top and look for the orange area that says "post a question".  I also want to tell you that med help has started a sensory integration disorder forum that you can post in and get ideas as well.  

Here any time you have questions or concerns.  I've been through the process and things are going really well for my child.  peace and luck

[isjackdull]

Hi, I am a Michigan dad of one. We are having an evaluator come out tomorrow for our son. I was wondering how your situation turned out,  cause my son sounds exactly like yours. Please respond. Thanks!

[michiganmomof2]

Thank you so much for your kind words! He is so sweet, I really hope everything will turn out fine. Hopefully he just needs a little push and he will flourish. I will keep posting about his progress. I am so glad your son is doing great.

[specialmom]

I'm so glad that he is able to let you know what he wants, that is great.  I also think it is great that he has an appointment with a speech pathologist.  You will be amazed what early intervention can do!  What seems like miracles.  Little ones are very pliable and huge changes can come about by addressing any issues.

I'm wondering about processing-------- perhaps motor planning.  My son has sensory integration disorder and motor planning is part of this.  The sensory system is basically how the nervous system and brain communicate and how a person reacts to the outside world.  You've probably heard about some of the more main stream ways that sensory can show itself like tags bothering a child or not wanting to wear socks.  But the sensory system is vast and involves many areas.  Motor planning is one of them.  It is how the brain processes information, organizes it and then sends the message back out to the muscle groups.  In your son's case, if the nervous system is a little out of whack and he isn't getting organized and clear signals to formulate what he wants to say and then the signal never gets to his oral muscles-------- no speaking.  If you say something to him and the nervous system is out of whack and the message goes to the brain but he can't process/organize it---------- he can't respond or follow the direction.  

My son has some motor planning issues and they work on this through occupational therapy.  It is good that your son's pincher grip is good as I was asking in order to see how his fine motor skills are (which tend to make themselves known as a child gets older--------- holding a crayon, using scissors).  Try doing some big beads on a string and see how he does with that.  

I think you are doing all the right things--------- and I really want to convey to you that they do amazing things with our children these days.  We've had such good luck helping our son and you will too.  Best wishes and let us know how it goes!

[michiganmomof2]

Thank you so much for responding. My son is very good at letting me know what he wants. He will take me all over the house and show me what he wants, for example, if he wants to go outside, he will go to the door and try to open it, and then come back and tug on me or pull me towards the door. His picher grip is really good. He also has great memory. When I say he does not understand me, I'll say to him things like bring me your cup, I get nothing in response, he just looks at me. If I say let's go get your cup, he will follow along. If I say let's go eat, he goes by his high chair(just started doing it couple of days ago), which gives me a little bit of hope.  His pediatrician sent me to see a speech pathologist for evaluation. His appointment is not until December 28. I feel anxious waiting so long, but I feel like he has been making some progress.

[specialmom]

Hi.  There is an old school of thought that if a child is very physical they will be verbal later and vise versa.  

How does your son communicate with you?  If he wants something, how does he let you know what?  When you say that he doesn't understand---------- is this all speaking or specific one step or two step directions?

I think what I'd do if I were you is to give your pediatrician a call.  I see that you live in Michigan and in the US by law all kids age 0 to 3 can be evaluated for any issues including speech.  If he shows that he is delayed by a speech patholigist, they begin speech therapy.  This includes much more than just speaking but eating, oral muscle stregnth, etc.  And . . . drum roll, it is free!  By law, early intervention is provided for kids who qualify. So in your city, there is an agency that handles this and your pediatrician or local children's hospital can hook you up with this.  I'd do it.  And then at 3, the public school system takes over and kids can attend early intervention preschool.  Many kids do just talk late.  The not understanding part is more concerning.  

My son had articulation problems.  We worked on things like oral muscle games (play music and make all kinds of silly faces, turn music off and freeze and hold the face), tongue exercises, etc.  

How is your son's pincher grip?