# is this normal? repetitive speech in 2yo



## meg-momto2 (Apr 23, 2007)

DD is a bit of a late talker. she hardly said more then a handful of words until after her 2nd b-day in July. some days she speaks great and others i still have a hard time understanding her. yesterday i got to go out for almost a whole day alone. DH watched the kids. this morning he said he was concerned with how repetitive DD is. she'll repeat a phrase 5-6 times even though we acknowledge what she's saying and respond to her the first or second time. these phrases are usually very clear and understandable so it's not like she's repeating them because we don't understand. she's very different the DS in the speech area so i'm not sure if this is normal or not. i'm not really sure what else to mention but if anyone has any thoughts feel free to ask for more info. DS has some sensory and behavioral issues that we didn't address until recently. i don't want to drop the ball on DD if there's something we should be addressing.


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## halomancer (Jun 2, 2005)

My 2.5 year old repeats what he says even if I respond conversationally, he really wants me to repeat it back to him.


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## sunnygir1 (Oct 8, 2007)

I can't say from your generally description if I would find what your lo does odd, but my 2y 9m dd often repeats herself many, many times. Sometimes she maybe isn't getting the response she is looking for, other times maybe it's fun, other times she's probably trying to push my (or dh's) buttons. I think it is a pretty normal pattern, but like I said, I can't be sure how I would hear what your child does. kwim?

If you are worried, you could try calling your local public health office or asking your doctor about a birth to three or other program that could assess your child's speech. Sometimes just a phone conversation with them will make it clear that nothing's wrong, or maybe they'll want to do a home visit to assess your child. Very non-invasive and potentially helpful.


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## stormborn (Dec 8, 2001)

Mine is only 17 mos but FWIW she does this all.day.long. Even when she's talking to the dog and has no expectation of a verbal response.







I think it's just practice.


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## Peony (Nov 27, 2003)

DD2 repeated all the time as well, she is 3 now and rarely does it.


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## meg-momto2 (Apr 23, 2007)

thanks everyone. i'll let DH knows it's perfectly normal. i think he just wasn't used to it. he hasn't spent that much time alone with her since she started talking.


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## Dov'sMom (Jan 24, 2007)

I hope it is! I think it has more to do with verbal development than age. My 22 month old started talking pretty early, and he talks fairly well for his age (most sentences are 3-5 words long; sometimes 6 or 7) but he is HUGE on the repetitive talking right now. I'll grant you, sometimes it's because we're simply misunderstanding him -- he'll just keep saying the same thing over and over until we get it right even if we've stopped trying because we thought we did the first time (his pronunciation lags far behind his vocabulary...). But sometimes it's just repetition.

For instance, I'm usually home with him Fridays, but last Friday someone watched him because I had my anatomical ultrasound and I couldn't take a toddler with me without someone else. He must have asked me 17 times on Friday: "Why Ima go doctor office?" I'd say "because the doctor wanted to check that the baby in my tummy is healthy!" He'd say "Baby heh-thy! Me heh-thy get bayoons!" (After he goes to the doctor we often stop by Trader Joe's and he gets a balloon.) And then a moment later: "Why Ima go doctor office?" Till this morning he's still asking me that.

Sometimes it's just because he wants to talk and doesn't have much to talk about. He'll wander up and tell me something that occurred to him and then tell me over and over and over until we find something else interesting to do. Sometimes he's practicing adult conversations (i.e., "Ima, how are you?" "I am well, how are you?" "Good! Ima, how are you?" etc.). Sometimes I wonder if he's checking to see if we'll still give him the same answer. I know with my older son (just turned three), when he was about 2.5, he'd ask the same question over and over and over again. A few times, instead of answering, I'd say, "DS, I just told you the answer to that question. Why are you asking me again?" And he'd explain: "I wanted to see if you would say the same thing again." DS2 isn't old enough to give that kind of an answer yet, but sometimes that's clearly what he's doing.


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

IMO:

1. Limited vocabulary but a desire to converse. (ever tried to talk to someone in a dif. language? I remember doing this once and I kept recycling the limited number of words I knew).

2. Practice. Practice makes perfect!

Haven't you guys already discovered the joy of reading the same bleeping book 30 times in a row? It's the same with speech lol!


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## gcgirl (Apr 3, 2007)

Yep, they're practicing. DS says the same thing over and over, often with different body language. It's cute.


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