Helping LOs talk

Telyco

I can't talk to my DH about this because he gets all freaked out that there is something wrong with Evan.

He has been babbling non stop - but we can't get him to say any words! He doesn't repeat after us...and he'll say Dada and Mama...but not really on demand. He has said kitty and hi...but stopped once we started to keep the cats out of our living/dining room so he barely sees them.

I coax him to say "baba" and "all done" and "up"....and while I know he knows what they mean (like when I say up he raises his arms, etc.) I get nothing back from him.

Do they get to this in their own time or should I be doing more?? 

JenJar

Honestly, I was really worried, too.  He babbled, and would say dada and dog dog....that was it.  I heard other babies saying more words and tons of animal sounds and I was worried.  Then I read somewhere that language skills take off between 18 and 24 months.  So I thought if he wasn't talking much by 18 months I'd ask at his pedi appt.  I just kept talking to him a ton, labeling things for him, helping him put feelings into words, etc.  And it did just take off!  All of a sudden he was repeating things and saying so much more....but not until around 17/18 months.  Be patient and just keep talking to him!

sunnygirl05

I'm trying to think back to Justin at Evan's age...not like that was so long ago )  Anyways, I don't think Justin was saying too many words at that point either.  He babbled a ton but just said a few words.  He just recently (at 18 months) started saying a ton more.  I don't think you have anything to worry about but you can always mention it to his Pediatrician. 

Stellabella125

Me too. With Bells it was like someone flipped a switch all of the sudden and now she repeats pretty much anything and is a talkin singin little girl

Stellabella125

shoot i meant to quote JenJars post

wendyj

Ian was just like that at Evan's age - actually worse. He babbled, but no real words. Our pedi's thoughts were that he was on target for other things (socialization, comprehension, etc), so he said he wouldn't be concerned unless Ian had less than 5 words by his 18 month appt.

We have done the same things you are doing - giving names to objects, actions, etc. Fast forward to a month ago - still no words. Pedi suggested that I call EI, so I did. About 2 or 3 days after making the call, Ian started saying "please", followed by "ball", "dada", "kitty", and just the other day, "key" and "mama". We're still going to go through with the eval, even though he is making progress, so that we can learn of other ways to help him. He gets pretty frustrated that we don't always understand what he wants, and I don't want his behaviors to get worse because of that.