18mo checkup - word count?

posvane

When the nurses ask me how many words LO is saying, I"ve counted the number of things she says - even if they don't come out clear, but DH and I know what she means.

She's got about 30 words now but not all of them come out right. Like "balloon" she points to them and says, "ba-oon"  Does that count?

I know, I feel kinda dumb for asking this. I just don't want to go into the appointment saying that my LO can say all these words when really, they don't count.

Thanks.

katlizabeth

I believe these count.  If they are consistently used (correctly) then it's part of her vocabulary, even if he speech isn't perfect.  I'd just ask the doc or nurse.  (I never had this problem...at 18 months I was saying..."no, he still doesn't consistently say "mama")

AutumnBride929

Yes.

emberlee3

It counts if it is consistent, even if it is not "correct."  DS calls a slide a "whee."  I consider that a word. 

If your count is up to 30, you have nothing to worry about, anyway.  Your LO is on track.  

mrsolsenk12

They count as words. My LO was at 32 words at 18 months. Now we are over 100 words!

katekirschner

At our 18 month checkup my pedi didn't ask a number but asked if she was starting to string 2 words together " all done" "thank you" . I wasn't worried though b/c at that point she had a ton of words and was saying "charlie where are you" to our dog when he was not in the same room as she was.

KYmama9286

Yep-- we were just talking about this w/ DS' speech therapist the other day. Their goal for him is to be at 30-50 words by 18 months. She said that includes environmental "words" too such as honk honk, animal sounds, etc. She said also words that arent 100% correct in pronunciation but definitely have meaning to them (like the pp said, whee meaning slide as long as the child is consistent and you can tell thats what they mean). Oh and the long term goal is 200 words by age 2. She said that honestly you can count words that arent used reguarly either. If you hear them say a word, can tell they understand what it means but they still rarely say it then it counts. She said you will be surprised how many words your child actually has once you start writing out a list. HTH!