Late talkers anyone?

fancynewbeesly

I try not to worry because I didn't say one word until 16 months, but I have a lot of friends whose toddlers are talking a lot more than my little one. I also always said she was going to be a later talker, because whenever she met a milestone--she was the one that did it perfectly the first few times.

As of now she has 3 words: "hi," "uh-oh" and "muh (more)". Everything else is bah or completely babbling. She follows directions when she feels like it.

She does seem to hit more of the other milestones early/on time (climbing, running, scribbling, mimicking behavior, throwing, initiate play) but it just seems like her language is lacking. The doctor told me that he will wait until 18 months to decide if she will need speech, but as a teacher, especially once that works with the autistic class part-time, I get overly anxious and worried.  

Any helpful ideas? We sing songs, read books and I point out every single object/item to her.  

LoCarb

Try sign language and talk when signing. DD's speaks a lot of words she also signs:more,ball,dog,milk.... Of course, she knows more sign than spoken words but we can still understand her.

buggybear87

DD is 17 months and still hardly talks. She's got about 4-5 words that we know she's trying to say and then everything else is 'ba'.  I try not to get to upset by this, knowing that she understands us full well, she just doesn't want to talk yet.  Whenever I get down about it, I just remind myself that Einstein didn't talk until he was almost 4 years old.  She'll do it when she's ready.  I know I didn't really give you any helpful ideas, but hopefully this helps ease the worrying a little

saturdaynightdoubletree

DS didn't walk until closer to 18 months, and only said Mama, Dadda, Bella (sister), hi, and bye until that point. Once he hit the walking/running milestone his language development soared. I too, am a teacher, and was somewhat paranoid, but as a reading specialist I knew I could just keep supporting him and give him time to do it on his own. By 19 months we discovered he was tongue tied, and at that point he had a lot of words, but they just weren't cleared. He had a quick surgery to snip the frenulum under his tongue and has been talking up a storm since then. Just start to get more strict, if you know LO is pointing or wanting water tell her "say water... water..." even if she makes a noise, that is good enough to start, she's trying to communicate. Then when you hand her the water say the word again. This will ensure she has the vocabulary and will get her used to needing to use words to get what she wants. You can also use simple picture flashcards to help increase vocabulary and make saying words more of a game. GL!

misskris927

My DD is 18 months and only has a couple of words. I worry all the time but the more people I talk to, the more I realize it's completely fine. She understands everything we ask and tell her, so that at least makes me feel better. She was an early crawler/walker, so I guess she's just taking her time with speech.

lisamoe

DS doesnt say many words, either.  I plan on asking the pedi at his 15 month appt.  I'm not too worried but at times I wonder if he should be saying more.

 He tends to say words for a while then not say them anymore.  It seems like he "forgets'' them.  He only says things when he wants to say them, not always on cue.  Ex: he walked around saying bye bye all day for a month.  Now barely says it, waves, but only about half the time (maybe less) actually says it.

BabyBoyNYC

DS doesn't say much either (doggie, mama, and dada) but his two other friends do and one is in daycare so of course she is going to talk early because she is around it all day long 5x a week. I try not to compare and actually as he gets older i'm finding myself not worrying as much as I used to because everytime I worry he does whatever it is I'm worried about. Like I worried he never really points to anything and then when I asked him to show me the dinosaur in a book he pointed right at it. I just think there are somethings that they can do that a.) they don't care about doing b.) will get to it on there own time or c.) have the know how but are interested in other milestones

twirlyjack73

Ditto this & fyi my pedi said she wouldn't consider speech therapy until 22 months.  In other words she said to give it 4 more months when I asked at 18 months.

ncbelle

I wouldn't worry if it seems like she understands what you say.  Callum didn't say a single word until he was 2 (also only used "da" in babbling and didn't mimic anything); shortly after that he went straight to complete sentences.  Now at 3.5 he has an above average vocabulary (according to his pre-school teacher and never shuts up.