Language development (cross posted)

themarquis0

I am starting to get concerned about DD's (about to turn 9 months) language development. I know that all babies develop on their own timeline and blah blah blah, but I'm starting to think that something might not be quite right.

DD makes lots of noise and is very 'vocal' but is not babbling. For example, she says a lot of vowel sounds, rasberries, coos, squeals, etc. In the last two months or so she's started to *sort of* make consonant-like sounds. So she can sort of do a muffled 'b' sound. She can make sort of a muffled 'mmm' sound. No 'd' or other consonants. No clearly combining consonants and vowels, so no 'ba', da', 'ma', etc. I may have heard her say 'ga' at one point but I'm not sure. She does say 'hoooo' and 'gooo' but I don't think those really count because they sound more coo/vowel like. Definitely no repeated 'syllables' like ba ba ba or whatever.

The kicker is I went and started watching random you tube videos of babies and realized DD doesn't sound *anything* like babies of her age. I looked at videos of 9., 8, 7, and 6 month olds - she doesn't sound like them. She sounds more like 4 and 5 month olds. I also looked at the ages and stages evaluation for 9 months and she would score a zero on the communication part because of the lack of babbling and some other stuff.

She *does* wave, point, and clap. She usually responds to her name. She does not seem to recognize any words as far as I can tell and has never said anything at all word-like. Her development in all other areas is normal.

Thoughts? Do any of you have a baby with slow language development? What is going on?

Crequito

DD is 8.5 months old.  She's got 8 teeth, crawled early and is already starting to try walking.  She doesn't talk yet and I don't know if I could consider the sounds she does make babbling.  I've heard maaaa once or twice but I think those were accidents.  We're a bilingual household and DH and my inlaws speak both english and spanish to DD.  I've read that this can delay her speech but that eventually she'll be able to speak both fluently.  My pedi thinks she's great so I'm not worried.  All babies develop at their own pace, but if you're nervous check with your pedi and see if they recommend taking DD to a specialist.  Odds are she's just taking her sweet time.

LisaLisa1980

My cousin didn't start talking until he was 3 and he's totally fine.

=Lee=B

My 9 month old doesn't wave, clap or point.  If I try to get her too she just looks at me blankly like I'm nuts.  At this age all you can do it model as much language as possible and the rest is up to them.  Some just prioritize physical skills before language etc.

LisaLisa1980

Nicb13 said:

LisaLisa1980 said:

My cousin didn't start talking until he was 3 and he's totally fine.

DS needed to have 5 words by 15 months old. If he didn't, he would have needed an evaluation. A child should not make it to age 3 without talking and not raising any red flags. Only a medical professional should tell you if what your LO is doing is normal or not.

Ok, I will explain further.... He could say words, but forming sentences was just harder for him. Slightly delayed but he's "caught up" now. My point was that everyone learns differently

themarquis0

Thanks, folks.  we do have her 9 month appt on friday and are going to talk to the ped then.  I think I'd like to ask about early intervention (it would be nice to have a professional take a listen even if there isn't much to be done at this point) andalso ask for a hearing test. 

DD generally seems bright and developmentally on track, makes lots of noises, and is very responsive to us, so I guess it's likely she's just a bit behind in this one area and will catch up. Hopefully!  But we will get her checked out anyway.

jaw1009

You have nothing to lose by getting an evaluation through early intervention. Best case scenario, nothing is wrong and you go about your life with less worry. If there is something wrong than you can start intervention early, which will lead to better results. A lot of pediatricians will want to wait and see since your LO is so young, and then you wind up with a 2yo who isn't talking yet, when you could have had a year of therapy already. I would push for an evaluation if you have any concerns. Again, you have nothing to lose.