Is my 2 year old's speech on-par?

Question

I am concerned that my 25 month old son's speech may not be on par. Most of his sentences consists of a noun and a verb. For example: Daddy eat or mommy swim.

He also mispronounces certain words while others come out perfectly clear.

Is this normal at that age? I know another couple with a 23 month old who is forming very clear sentences.

Answer 1

Yes, it's normal. The speed of speech development varies widely, but all that's expected from a two-to-three year-old is that they form two-word phrases and speak sufficiently comprehensibly to be understood by their parents, which your son seems to be doing just fine. Boys also tend to be slower to pick up speech than girls. Here's a handy milestone chart from the US Dept of Health.

Answer 2

The literature on grammar acquisition distinguishes the following three stages.

1. One-word stage (e.g., "mama", "papa" "water", "poop"...)
2. Two-word stage (e.g., "want cookie", "flower blue",...)
3. For everyday purposes, adult-like grammatical competence.

In reality, the big jump is transitioning from the one-word stage to the two-word stage. One your kid reaches the two-word stage, the move to full sentences might take some time to start, but once it starts, it will happen surprisingly quickly.