Speech

bumpuser8448316

DD is 14 months and has 0 words. I'm having trouble remembering how many words DS had at 14 months. He said his first word at 10 months so he had at least 1. I don't want to jump the gun on speech therapy (kids all develop at their own rate blah blah blah) but she was already in PT/OT as an infant due to delays so I want to catch it early if she's got a speech delay. At 14 months should 0 words even be a concern?

claridiva

DS had 0 words at his 15-month appt and doesn't really babble and I asked the pedi about it and she referred us to EI. He had his eval at 16 months and qualified with a 50% delay in expressive language and has been in 1x/weekly speech therapy for about a month (he's almost 18 months now).

I know that some pediatricians don't worry until they are 2, but we are happy to have the help now. We've been signing with him since he was about 6 months old, but he had picked up a ton of signs lately and is starting some different sounds since starting therapy. Talk to your pedi and see what he/she suggests. Good luck!

bumpuser8448316

We do sign with her. She signs more, milk, all done and down. She occasionally babbles

kcisthebombdotcom

I remember this from asking ds's speech therapist and really the only way they'll get nervous at that young an age is if your child isn't babbling, seems to not respond to her name (or other red flags for autism), or otherwise shows signs that hearing is a concern. If she's using nonverbal communication like gesturing I think you're fine to wait it out until 18 months. The one downside about evaluating too young is the standards at that age are incredibly low and you'll have to potentially wait 3-6 months for a re-Eval. If lack of words is your only concern I'd prob wait a few more months.

bumpuser924057

Both of my 14 month olds are at that same point - my girl says mama, dada, and makes a guttural "aaaaaaaagh" sound that means "animal that resembles our cat." My boy says mama and dada, but not as frequently and doesn't babble as much as she does. I'm planning to ask the pedi about it at their 15 month appointment in a couple weeks. DS1 talked so much so early that my barometer for this is a little skewed.

dizzycooks

I was told signing counted as words fwiw.  That said, I have yet to experience the 'language explosion' people speak of.