17 Months not talking

melissademello

My DD is 17 months old.She has not said a single word until now.She babbles babababa dadadad nananana but not very often throughout the day.She is full of energy and very mischievous.She loves to climb sofa's chairs etc.She understands simple instructions.But when I try to teach her things like body parts etc she just gets irritated.I feel she knows it but just not interested as she wants to do her own things.I do not think she has any hearing problems as when we call her she responds also if we say No to something she starts crying but obeys.

We are both working parents and we have a caretaker.DD is all by her self at home so there is no much interaction with other kids and other new faces.Even when we take her out she does not mix with other kids or look to play with them

At times we feel she will not improve but there are times we also feel she is doing good.Many people say that each kid takes their own time and that we should be patient at least till she turns two.We are really worried as other kids of her age are already talking.

Please suggest if we need to take her fr evaluation or speech therapy...or should we wait for sometime???

ashiscute

My DD started babbling around 7 mos or so with mama and dada but it never really progressed from there.  At 15 mos she had no words, did not imitate, and was mainly quiet.  She did point and grunt but "eh" was pretty much the only sound she made in an attempt to get needs met.  Needless to say I was terrified that something was wrong because she was just so quiet.  We talked to our pedi and he didn't seem concerned but we were so we pushed for an EI evaluation.  She did qualify and started speech therapy at 17 mos.  Her first word came at 18 mos (dada) and by 2 she had about 5 words.  

She did not have any issues with receptive language.  She understood every word we said but was unable to respond.  A lot of people said she wasn't trying to speak and we should not give her things until she asked but that seemed harsh.  She has since been diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech which is a neurological disorder where the brain has trouble tranpsorting messages to the mouth.  So she knows what she wants to say but struggles getting her tongue and lips in the right spot to produce sounds correctly.  

I have to say I loved speech therapy.  Someone came to our house once per week and basically played with DD with me.  She answered my questions and assigned me homework.  She gave me things to work on and different ideas on how to elicit speech and communication with DD.  I really was so grateful.  Now DD is 3 and is in preschool and still receiving speech therapy.  She has made tons of progress and is a regular chatterbox.  

Most people did not think I should have gotten her involved in therapy at that age but I am so glad I did.  I would have felt much worse waiting for improvement and not getting it than being proactive and finding out she didn't need help.  There is no downside to having an evaluation.  Good luck 

wholenewworld

I agree with PP, there is no downside in having an evaluation. The earlier, the better IMO. The CDC recommends consulting a physician if a child doesn't have at least 6 words by 18 months.

Beth.1212

OP, I agree with PP, get her an EI evaluation. Best case scenario, they tell you she's fine and you have peace of mind. Worst case, they tell you that she needs some help - and then you can actually get that help. You don't have to tell the whole world about it if it makes you uncomfortable - I know that we worried about our DS being labeled / though of as unintelligent or something, so we really only told our closest family. 

Actually, come to think of it, the worst case scenario is skipping the EI evaluation and her needing help and NOT getting it. 

"Even when we take her out she does not mix with other kids or look to play with them"

OP, I think this is normal. My DS is also 17 months, and he doesn't play with other kids. He's fine being around them, but he plays by himself. I think that they call it "parallel play," and at 17 months I think it's still normal. 

emberlee3

I agree with calling EI. It can't hurt. Teaching a few simple signs was very helpful for my LOs before they started talking. It's easy. You can find a book at the library. We have a board book called "baby signs" with about 10 basic signs. That's all toddlers need to communicate basic needs and wants.

nikkisun54

melissademello I echo the sentiments of PPs. I was having concerns about DS at one year and called EI. He ended up not qualifying for services, but they gave me incredible piece of mind, educated me on his development and provided me the reassurance I needed. 

If you have an appt with EI, most likely they will evaluate her on ALL levels. I found this helpful because while I was correct in the concern that DS was behind in his verbal and communicative development for a 13 month old (he had rated 11 mos), but he was far ahead in his physical and motor development. They were able to then elaborate further on how children develop, portraying different strengths and weaknesses depending on their personality and strong suits. 

It can sometimes take a while to actually receive the evaluation - I believe it took us about a month. I would recommend calling and making the appt now if you're considering it - you can ALWAYS cancel if you decide it's not necessary, and who knows where she'll be at 18 months! 

Good luck, Mama. I KNOW how hard it is to not worry, but you're doing all the right things.

jonesie2010

Don't really have advice but we are in a similar boat. DD is only 14 months and people keep saying "oh she's just a late talker, don't worry so much." But my gut is telling me something is not right. She doesn't say mama or dada or even babble, really. Her receptive language is good but her expressive is definitely behind. We are having an EI evaluation next week so we will see if she's behind enough to qualify for services. If not we are going to look into assistance from PAT, a local speech pathology clinic, and a developmental pediatrician. I'm sure some people think I'm crazy but I'd rather overreact than under react in this situation. If something is wrong, the sooner we start therapy the better.

honeydew01

I echo others about getting your daughter evaluated by EI. My daughter wasn't babbling until 12.5 months and I was concerned. Everyone told me she'll be fine, she'll talk when she's ready but I felt like she was trying but couldn't do it and I didn't know how to help her or this was normal, it is her serious and quiet personality or what..(FTM problems). 

My Ped is proactive and said that it'll give us a piece of mind if I get the evaluation done, if there is nothing wrong, then great, but if she needs help, it'll be available to us and the sooner we receive it the better. So I got her evaluated, it was really painless. A speech pathologist and an Occupational Therapist came over (we are also concerned about her walking/muscle tone issues) and apparently they always do the evaluations in pairs. DD really enjoyed both of them, they were very nice and friendly and I felt really comfortable with them. 

I'm so glad we did it. She was 12 months and a week when we had it done. She scored very high, above average for receptive language, but below average for expressive speech. We are a 2 language household, and the speech pathologist was amazed that she understood so much and did all the commands without any prompting. For example I asked her in Farsi if she could grab x and put it in y, without gesturing to things or pointing at them..she did it right away and I always knew she understood a lot but again I don't know what is normal for her age. Our problem was that she was not repeating or imitating voices..so we could said mama 500 times she would just look at us and not even attempt to say it...

She is 14.5 months now and is babbling and saying some words from both languages..so we have slowed down on the speech therapy but are focusing on her motor skills..

Also, about getting out, definitely get her out, specially now that it's nicer. I've seen a HUGE improvement in DD since I started taking her out to parks, play areas, the library, etc. She used to be very quiet and serious, and now she is still slow to warm up to strangers, but is much happier and she is learning by watching other kids..