My 25 month old's vocabulary consists of 'no' (unprompted), 'hey' (very rarely unprompted, mostly at my prompting), 'bye' (almost always at my prompting), and on occasion the word 'ball'. She understands everything we say to her, can make animal noises (what does the cat say, etc.), follows complex commands (go find the red cup -out of several other colors-and put it inside of your toy box), knows what things are for (puts a brush to her hair), etc. She was evaluated today and everything other than talking is fine. Basically she just won't talk (there aren't any physical impediments to our knowledge...her hearing has yet to be evaluated, but she hears me even when she can't see me...). The kids at her preschool who are 15-16 months old have a greater vocabulary than hers. She is in a class with 2-3 year olds and she is the only one who cannot communicate with words. She babbles constantly (for example, will pretend she is reading a book, talking on a phone...even uses inflection with her babble), but the babbling is garbled and doesn't contain consonants. The evaluation today determined that she needs and will get speech therapy for this.

My husband is deeply concerned that she is at risk and feels that she possibly will have, despite the therapy, *permanent* speech and language delays/impediments all of her life. He was concerned as early as 12 months that she was not saying words...I kept asking the pediatrician and she said to wait and see. The evaluation today determined she is at a 15 month old's level in regards to her expressive communication. Because this is a gap that is 10 months off, husband thinks we have waited too long, it is just about too late and wonders if the therapy will be able to correct it (thinks she's almost too far gone)...but still wants the therapy for her.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with their child and the child has turned out alright? I don't really need advice on what to do because the therapist has provided us with things we can do to help. I'm just so hoping that someone out there has experienced something similar and the child caught up, is talking normally, etc.. My husband seems to think there is a good chance that she won't ever be completely normal. The therapist says not to worry, but it is always reassuring to hear from people who have experienced similar situations and it all worked out. Thanks in advance.