My boy is 2 1/2 and doesn't talk.
 

My wife is really worried, but I've taken a very laid back approach. But now that we've hit the downhill approach to 3, I want to be more proactive, or at least just talk to a professional. We haven't taken him to a doctor or anything for his delayed speech. I don't like parental alarmism, and I think kids should be given space and patience to develop, with loving encouragement. But my wife has been chafing at my "I'm not worried" statements, and I am now curious why he may not be talking.

He makes good eye contact, plays well, likes physical affection . . . but he can't say a single word except "yah" and "mo" -- his "yes" and "no." Not a single other word. He won't try to make the sounds when we have worked with him.

Internet tells me there are a host of reasons for delayed speech. We're going to take him to his pediatrician, but have any of you guys or gals had any experience with this?

I'm tired of telling my wife that Einstein didn't talk until he was four.

My daughter was slow walking, otherwise normal. She's been seeing a therapist and is catching up fast.

At 2.5+ you definitely need to take him to a specialist. Not to alarm you. It could well be nothing in the long run. But your son is in the lower percentile in terms of speech and you want to do everything you can for him. Follow your wife's instincts. I'm surprised your pediatrician hasn't recommended it from seeing him in regular check ups.

Have you had his ears checked? My son was in the same boat. Turns out he needed tubes to drain the gunk out of his eardrums (had to have them twice.) He showed no signs of chronic ear infections prior to them figuring out what was going on.

It's taken a little catching up, but at nearly seven his speech is fine now.

At his two-year check up, the doctor checked his ears and everything was fine. I am hoping it is something like that. My wife's been with the boys at home for a nice long summer vacation, but we have a doctor's visit planned when she gets back next week. SU, the doctor didn't seem particularly concerned and just told us to monitor his speech. But 6 months for a two-year old with not a single word is a long time.

My son has always been very shy. When he was a six-month year old, he would turn his head away shyly and snuggle into our arms when anybody smiled at him. At 18 months, whenever somebody would talk to him on the playground, he'd run over and plant his head in our laps. At two, when my brother gave him a little tease, he dropped to the ground and planted his face. When he hasn't seen me after a few days being gone on business or whatever, he gets a shy face and turns away. And he's never been a noise-maker. He was just a very sweet, very quiet little boy. My theory has been that he is extra shy and does not try to assert himself by trying to talk; a personality thing. But I'm thinking that belief may have been silly on my part and perhaps motivated by how much I adore his shy sweetness.

My son is 2 and doesn't talk either. We had all the tests done, and nothing is wrong, he just doesn't talk. The local school district here has a speech therapy program we've enrolled him in where he gets one on one instruction and group activites. We just barely started, but I'm encouraged so far.

If your doctors have checked and done tests and nothing is wrong, enjoy your little boy's sweet personality. Milestone Paranoia for children is out of control these days.

In all my life, I have never met adults who couldn't walk, talk, eat with utensils, or use the bathroom.

That's great your school district does that and that there's been progress to encourage you.

Do you think we should send our boy to preschool (three days a week for 2.5 hours a day)? He'd get the social interaction, but he wouldn't be talking at all, and they wouldn't be focusing on his speech; we'd send him to just a general preschool.

This is completely my attitude -- at least it mostly was. I have to admit it causes me some uneasiness that we're approaching 3 without a word besides "yah" and "mo." And it's hard when one parent has had this attitude and the other has felt a lot of anxiety. I think I need to pump up my worry if only for my wife's sake so she doesn't feel like she's carrying it alone.

My daughter was 10 weeks premature so since her birth she has been monitored to see how she develops with therapists. She's 2 1/2 now, but right before she turned 2 we had a therapist come into our home and we were very encouraged by the results. She too is behind in her verbal communication but scored very high in other areas of development. At the time of testing she only had about 8 words in her vocabulary and this has steadily increased since then. It did seem that she hit a plateau for awhile and even now she and we have grown frustrated with our inability to communicate. But she has started repeating things including the last word of every sentence when we pray with her.

All kids develop at different paces and like our little girl, though she doesn't have a great vocabulary she can do many other things better than many others. I'd have him checked just to make sure there isn't anything physically impeding his development and if that checks out, just work with him and love him.

My wife says to tell your children what you want them to be and they will be.

You definitely need to get plugged in so that your son can start working with speech therapy.

Also, how did the doc check his hearing? Looking into his ears is not checking his hearing.