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My son is 23 months old. He is normally very active, running and playing with his toys.

My only problem is whenever we call him, he won't listen because he is so busy. He would simply not care what others are saying. We thought it's a problem in hearing, but we have also noticed that whenever he is far away and we play his rhymes or songs on phone he will hear it and then immediately comes to watch it.

He has not started speaking yet. Just few words, but not completely. We are concerned a lot about him. Any suggestions please.

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  • I actually think this question should have stayed on the Health SE, as it pertains to potential developmental disorders/delays rather than issues of parenting. Yes, the question is by a parent about a child, but hearing loss and developmental disorders, while they affect parents, and need special parenting considerations, are medical issues by their nature. After having looked at a few pages of other questions on this site, this question seems out of place here.
    – Katherine Lockwood
    Commented Dec 11, 2016 at 2:16
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    It was migrated because it was off topic enough on health to be closed. It is, however, on topic enough here to remain.
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Commented Dec 11, 2016 at 13:30

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I'm a Speech-Language Pathologist who has specialized in early childhood communication development for 15 years. I have some resources about language development in general and the specific concern you are describing.

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA) has a nice page of links to answer parents' questions about normal communication development. These links will hopefully answer most questions you have about typical language development.

As for your specific situation, you describe that your son does not respond to his name when people call him. This is a warning sign for language development. The first thing to do is to rule out hearing as a factor in this pattern of development. The next thing to do, if hearing is fine (which you can't know completely by the fact that he responds to music) is to have an appointment with a Speech-Language Pathologist. At 2 years of age there is an extremely wide range of how many words a child can be using and be considered typical. Some children are speaking in complete sentences, others are not. The things I find to be more important are:

  • Can your child pay attention to people who are talking to him and understand and follow some instructions? This is very important. Children should be understanding a wide variety of words, in whatever language they are growing up hearing, by age 2.

  • Can your child express basic wants and needs with a combination of gestures, words or word attempts, and eye contact with an adult (if this is culturally appropriate), or do adults have to figure out what the child wants on their own?

  • Is your child making a lot of noises that sound like talking but aren't recognizable as words? A "silent child" is also a warning sign.

I often find that children's doctors don't know what is typical and what is not for communication development. Children will also not act the way they usually do when they are at the doctor's office, so evaluating a child's development by observing them for 10 minutes during a checkup is not helpful.

Hopefully the links from ASHA will provide some useful information.

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  • +1 for this helpful answer. I would like to point out that while most doctors aren't specialists in language development, most don't hesitate to refer for a hearing evaluation if the parents are concerned. All the parents usually need do is ask.
    – anongoodnurse
    Commented Dec 11, 2016 at 1:12
  • @anongoodnurse, good point.
    – Katherine Lockwood
    Commented Dec 11, 2016 at 2:17
  • Yes he makes noises, also if he needs something he will draw our attension to it in his way. like brings the object near to us. we have already started speaking to doctor to get this hearing test done in sometime and started paying more attention to him.
    – Naushad Alam
    Commented Dec 12, 2016 at 12:49
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If you are concerned, please see your doctor. A Speech-Language and hearing assessment is not going to hurt anything and early-intervention -- if there is a problem, is the right choice.

It may well be nothing, but I tend to think people should always listen to their inner voice.

Best of luck! Welcome to Parenting.

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