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My brother was a late talker and didn't start talking till he was in the second grade. The hubby's nephew didn't start talking until he was just shy of turning 5! However, both of them understood everything when spoken to and took directions well. Hubby's nephew is also a brilliant kid in that he was able to complete puzzles (like the states of the U.S.) by the time he was 3 and was putting together tiny lego piece structures by the time he was 4! Hubby's nephew took speech therapy, but it didn't really seem to impact him. He just wasn't ready to talk yet.

My MIL runs an in home daycare. She got this boy, C, who started at 28 months and did not say one single word. She could communicate with him fine (he would understand her) but he just wouldn't talk. However, within three weeks of C being at the daycare and around other children (he was an only child), he started talking in complete sentences! He automatically starting spitting out dozens and dozens of word and stringing them together. It was crazy! I guess his doctors said that being around other children and socializing can really help the speech of some toddlers.

My brother didn't say a word until 3. They recommended he go into a special needs school and my parents said no and put him into regular pre-K with no speech therapy. He finished his PhD from an Ivy League school last month so... suffice to say it worked out fine.

ETA: One theory my mom has is that our housekeeper was trying to teach him spanish around that age - there are some stories about kids who get raised bi-lingual talking later.. but then speaking 2 languages. Something about it taking longer to process. Don't know if that's the case here, but thought I'd mention it

I always compared Wagon Jr. with Charlie since they're exactly the same age. Wagon Jr. is seriously behind Charlie in speech but I don't stress about it anymore because it seems like they all even out by elementary school... and if it's still a problem then, then we can think about speech therapy. But I think starting it now (especially since he'll be bilingual) is a great idea!

Apparently I didn't say any words until 2 and then was shy to talk so didn't really start saying much until I was 3. My mom said she would ask me to repeat a word and I'd just shake my head no. I've got my PhD now too (though not from an Ivy league school) so maybe there's a trend

@banana: I know, we can get anxious about certain things when we see other kids doing them before ours. But I know a lot of boys who say about 8 words, too! Don't worry too much and I hope the speech therapy goes well!