Developmental norms say 2 year olds should be 50% intelligible (understood) by an unfamiliar adult, 75% at age 3, and 100% at age 4.

It depends on whether your child is an only child or number 3 or 4 down the pecking order. My lazy little girl couldn’t see the sense of talking when she had older siblings to translate for her. When I finally stopped them ‘talking for her’ she could talk quite well.

If you are at all concerned see a speech pathologist.

They say that just before the age of 2 a child has a really big vocabulary explosion which includes better pronunciation of words. Check out the Speech Pathology Australia website because they have some great downloads about milestones and when to seek intervention. Good luck with it.

get a second opinion. some kids are harder to understand than others anyway. When they are that little, it is really hard for others to understand them like you do. you know what your child is trying to say as you also learn his baby talk

My son is just over 2 and not talking a lot yet. I checked with a speech pathologist and have a starting point to work with. I would suggest a chat with a speech pathologist of you are concerned.

Some little children need you to speak slowly in order for them to pick up correct pronounciation. When he says a word incorrectly sometimes it helps to repeat the word and have him do it a few times. If he wants something make him learn to “use your words” is what a lot of people say to encourage them to start, then no words – they don’t get what they are supposedly asking for. Does your son go to childcare at all? Some have the children assessed at various stages and can pick up such situations if the exist. Our eldest was behind for a short time, then suddenly her speech was a lot clearer (now she never stops!!) I have a younger brother who wasn’t talking much at all. It wasn’t that I talked for him, it was more that I was able to anticipate what he wanted from him either only saying one or two words or pointing. One of ours was talking, then decided he could get what he wanted by taking us to where whatever it was was stored and point. We had to put a stop to that. He is now 3 and we are at the Please and Thank You stage of having to be reminded occasionally.
If your son doesn’t make some progress soon, I would take him to the Dr.and have him checked. My borther had a muscle or something that was too tight that the Dr. was able to stretch. All else failing ask for a referral to a speech therapist. I am sure you need a referral even if you go to a public hospital.

Yes, see a speech pathologist. This is something that I think needs sorting out before it creates other problems.

As long as you keep tailing to him and encouraging him then he’ll pick things up. Is your maternal and child health nurse concerned. My son was a bit slow to start talking and my nurse said as long as he understands he will be fine. She said I also had to consider that I have an older son and he was doing a lot of the talking for the both of them.