16 month old DS only says 3 words

fcflroida

Should I be worried? I know this is not an area of development which has a set schedule to follow. But I still worry he only says dada, mama and ya.He use to say no a lot but that has mostly fadded away. He points at all the things he wants. We constintly repeat words to him and play with him repeating words. He seems normal other wise.

Autism is such a scary notion to think about and it just makes me worry

JARbaby

At 17m the average boy can say less than 5 words but girls can say 20 or more. These are just averages so there is a huge normal specturm.

DD has advanced language but we work with her and don't allow her to point for stuff. We say the word, work out the phonics and have her repeat it.

LoveEeyore

It sounds normal to me.  Let go of the autism scare for now.  With ones that little these are the ONLY thinkgs that raise my autism heckles:

1. Avoids social interaction- or does not acknowledge when someone new comes in.  Looks through you- not at you.

2.  Play repertoire extremely limited- plays with only 1-2 toys, or plays with everything in the exact same way.

3.  Has 3 or more sensory issues- over or under sensitve. ie- still eating only baby food, cries at odd sounds, flicks fingers in peripheral vision, only wear a couple outfits b/c of texture, rapid blinking....

My DD has lost words as new ones were acquired, and stopped acquiring new words for awhile when she started crawling.   I think you should keep up what you're doing, sounds like he;s perfectly normal.

fcflroida

Thanks ladies..DS does none of the things LoveEeyore post about.. I feel a bit better.. I'll just keep work on repeating words and hopefully he'll just start talking

wellfleet04

That sounds not that far off for a boy at that age.  I wouldn't let few words lead you directly to autism.  There are much "better" signs (like the ones posted above) than language/words to indicate early autism.   Having few/no words is MUCH more likely to be a) normal, or b) a speech delay than autism.

lldags

My son is almost 16 months and doesn't have a lot of words either.  In fact he really only says "All Done" and sometimes Dada (but usuall just calls my husband "Da!").  Has said mama a few times, then stopped.  Says "Dog" but it sounds more like "Duhhhh" and makes that sound for a lot of things.  I am not too concerned yet (I am trying hard not to be worried) b/c he is trying to talk a lot and there is a TON of babble all the time.  He is getting tubes in his ears next month and I am hoping that will help.  His ENT said his hearing is not bad based on the hearing test we did, but it might also sound like his own speech is gabrled to himself b/c of all the inflammation and fluid in his ears.  Good luck, it is so hard not to worry but I'm sure he will just keep saying more and more words.  Boys definetley are slower with learning to talk from what I have heard!

jlw2505

My older DD was a late talker and really did not say more than a handful of words until after her 2nd birthday and then she just took off talking and now at 2y9m, amazes me with how much she says and her complete sentences.  She is behind some of her friends who can say the alphabet and stuff like that but considering when she started talking - I am amazed at how well she does.  My DD was involked with EI and we were always told that she had a minor delay but not to worry because at age 2 and younger, they are looking at communication as a whole and not just the verbal word.  If you child has a way to communicate with you, responds to your directions, then he is doing fine.  If you are really concerened, you shoudl ask your ped what she thinks or call your school district and have someone from Early Intervention come out and see what they think.  We got some great tips from that.

JillAly

My ds is the same way.  I think he has 4 words- mama, dada, cat (cah) and dog (daw).  5 words if you count uh-oh.  Is that a word?  Everyone tells me not to worry too.  I still worry- as I'm sure you do too.  But I keep reading over and over that boys are often slower with language and better with physical motor skills.   I keep telling myself it's like crawling and walking.  They all end up in the same place but some are just faster to get there.