Poll: How many words does/did you 18mo have?

CheezeFace · April 2013

DS is coming up on the 18 month mark and I've noticed some language differences with him and others around his age...some a bit older, some younger. It seems as if his language skills aren't progressing at all. In fact, we had a playdate today with a friend the exact same age - we haven't seen him in a month - he wasn't speaking before but today he pointed at the pool and said, "Go swim".

He really doesn't say any words other than "no!" and he's mastered that one. He's said "mamamamama" and "dadadadada" forever but, really, not another word. If I ask him what sound a car, cow, puppy, cat, etc...make he'll mimic the sounds but he won't say, "cat" or "dog".

He understands quite a bit: "go upstairs". "Let's take a bath!" "Find your shoes." He follows through with the appropriate actions.

There are some language issues on my H's side - his parents as well as my H tend to struggle with reading/grammar and I recently found out that H was in resource classes when he was in primary school (behind in reading as well as comprehension and I would guess speech issues).

I don't like comparing my kid to another kid but I can't help but be mindful of this potential issue. Oh... And then I, stupidly, Googled what an 18 month old 'should' be saying. Then I came here to talk to real moms

So, does this sound like something I should wait out for a bit more before I become concerned? Should I be more proactive considering H's history? Should I be working with him in some way other than just talking and naming things? Did your LO's have a major leap and just wake up one morning and start communicating?

TIA

mwd · April 2013

I was very concerned about DD when she was the same age, as she was not talking as well as her brother was at the same age. I talked to my doctor, and he was fine with her speech. The pedi did say, she needed to say at least 10 words that you can understand by age 2. My suggestion is to talk to his doctor, and ask him what is a good milestone for your son to reach. It's really easy to compare your child to others, but each child develops at their own pace. And DD gives me a headache now because she talks so much!

Haribo1 · April 2013

I am in the exact same boat you are. DD1 hardly has any words - dada, yea, no, uh oh, this, that and dog. She understands quite a bit and can follow direction. She mostly babbles with intonation, but we have no idea what she is saying or if she is even trying to say anything. Her appointment is in a week so I will be curious to hear what her pedi has to say. At her 15 months appointment, I was told that there is more concern about a child's ability to understand and follow direction vs their speech output. Hopefully our little ones are ok, but if the pedi recommends speech eval, I think I will go through with it.

anchiba · April 2013

I worried a lot about my son too, since other kids his age seemed to be talking a lot more. But our pedi said it was nothing to worry about since he was developing well for his age, both emotionally and in other ways. He said also that it's quite common for children exposed to 2 or more different languages to be slightly delayed in speech. I spoke to one of our school-parents, a speech pathologist, and she said the same thing.

But I still worry, lol! I think it's just the nature of parenthood to worry about everything.

kristennd · April 2013

This was an issue for us. We had zero words at 18 months. Well, we weren't concerned and our doctor wasn't concerned. He's in the wait until 24 months camp, which is apparently a more recent trend than the 18 months thing. But there were many people on my BMB adamant about how if you don't go in for EI by 18 months, you're a horrible parent. And since everyone was hitting the same age, it was a constant topic.

He started talking at 20 months.

shelley1002 · April 2013

He has tons of words and even uses 2 and 3 word phrases. His latest is "airplane high in sky"

ETA: He has had a huge language explosion over the past month. He was saying words before but talks non-stop now and most of it is understandable. He does spend most of his days at daycare with 3 3-year olds and an almost 5 year old so I think that has helped with his language.

If your pedi doesn't seem worried I wouldn't worry yet. It will come.

itsmevkb · April 2013

Most pedis want them to have a couple words at 18 months, which it sounds like your son does have. I know that all of my kids have almost seemed behind at 18 months and then had huge language explosions at two years. Like, my now 6 year-old started talking on his 2nd birthday and hasn't stopped since!

I don't think I would get really concerned until you're past the 2 year mark but certainly talk to your pedi if you have an 18 month appointment coming up.

Scramblersmom · April 2013

DH and I were just talking about this yesterday. Our DS is 18 mos old. In the past he would learn a word or two, say it a lot then it would just vanish from his vocabulary. It does seem to us that over the last month he just suddenly started saying a lot more words out of the blue like star, cracker, kitty, what's that, who's that, truck, duck, etc. He will also do animal noises for duck, cow, dog, kitty, and owl. He seems to understand most everything we say.

I always wonder what it means when "they" say that they should be able to say 20 words. Do those include words he said in the past but has now dropped from his vocab for awhile? Does it include animal sounds? What about when it sounds like he may have said a word but we are not certain? I have no idea! What about the words that he doesn't say because he signs them like thank you, milk, please, water, etc? I don't expect anyone to answer these questions but it just shows how confused I am.

What I recommend is that if you are worried then bring it up with the pedi and see what they say. Maybe keep track of the words your DS does say because maybe it is more than you think. It sounds to me like he may be doing just fine since he is speaking some words and fully understands what you are saying. NOW STOP GOOGLING! Big Smile

stever · April 2013

I think at 18 months DS1 was had 10-20 words or so. I can't remember the specifics, but mama, dada, may - his way of saying meow, uhf - his way of saying woof, and some food stuff. His language aquisition happened in fits and starts. He'd be advanced, then he'd be behind, then advanced again etc.

It's normal to worry but I'd try not to. Your pedi will let you know if there's cause for concern.

yale · April 2013

At age 2, DS could say mama, dada and no. Our pediatrician at the time mentioned calling early intervention to have him evaluated, but didn't push it. I wasn't going to call, but the more I started to notice other kids, the more I started to worry like you are. It was an easy phone call to make. An easy evaluation that took place in our home. And a great experience ever since. He sounds a lot like your son. Understood everything but couldn't speak. DS was diagnosed with an expressive language delay/apraxia. We had EI services in our home for a year and then services continued into preschool. We're almost done with our first year of preschool and DS has learned so much. He qualilfied for another year of services too, which is awesome.

Your son could be in the same boat, or he could be just a late bloomer. Your pediatrician will probably ask you about it around the 2 year mark. Don't be afraid to call if you think it's necessary. Early intervention is very important for speech delays.

mommytoconnor · April 2013

My son only said maybe 1 or 2 words at 18 months. I was extremely proactive and pushed for an early intervention eval, even though his peds wasn't terribly concerned at that time. EI eval agreed with me that he was delayed in both receptive and expressive speech. He has been in ST for just about a year and what a difference. My ST told me that thank god I pushed for the early services because at around 2 years kids brains kinda go thru a big change and if you start therapy before that time, it's much more successful than if you take the wait and see kind of approach. So I am so thankful that I stuck with my gut and pushed. My son is still in ST and is still behind some of his peers but has had a huge improvement. I would go ahead and get an eval, it won't hurt.

CheezeFace · April 2013

smit5009:
NOW STOP GOOGLING!

Very good advice. LOL.

Something else has come up as well...He has stopped signing or seems to have completely forgotten signs he's known forever. We worked on relearning "please" this morning - one blueberry at a time. He's known this sign and used it for at least 6 months.

He still uses "more" regularly and the sign for "food" but he's completely stopped "drink", "please", "hungry", "milk", "water" and "good". It's just odd.

I made an appointment for his well-baby check-up and I'll discuss it then.

Thanks for calming me down, ladies

CheezeFace · April 2013

mommytoconnor:
My son only said maybe 1 or 2 words at 18 months. I was extremely proactive and pushed for an early intervention eval, even though his peds wasn't terribly concerned at that time. EI eval agreed with me that he was delayed in both receptive and expressive speech. He has been in ST for just about a year and what a difference. My ST told me that thank god I pushed for the early services because at around 2 years kids brains kinda go thru a big change and if you start therapy before that time, it's much more successful than if you take the wait and see kind of approach. So I am so thankful that I stuck with my gut and pushed. My son is still in ST and is still behind some of his peers but has had a huge improvement. I would go ahead and get an eval, it won't hurt.

I'm so glad to hear of a happy/healthy outcome for you! One question: Did your son do a lot of babbling? DS is constantly "talking" with tone, expression, arm movements, etc...but no real words.

I'll push for an evaluation for sure if I haven't seen any improvement by his appointment time. A simple evaluation certainly couldn't hurt anything, right?

cecilia1898 · April 2013

My DD is in PT ( -initially for torticollis (which is fine now) and now because a foot turns out a little when she walks). A few weeks ago,her therapist wondered about her speech after a session where my DD was quiet the entire time (somewhat unusual for DD- but she hadn't seen the therapist in 2 weeks and hadn't slept well). I counted up her words and she had over 15- I counted the sounds and words she'd repeat, even if she didn't say them on her own.

The therapist also asked her daycare teachers about it. They confirmed that DD knows at least 10-15 words and the newest teacher has made it a priority to work with my DD on the speech. I think that little extra attention has made a huge difference because all of a sudden my DD is repeating words and saying "hi" and "bye" where before she seemed to prefer to just wave.

I would echo checking in with the pediatrician, but not stress too much about it if he's repeating sounds or other words and comprehending. I would also recommend buying and using a 100 Words book if you don't have one already. My DD and her cousins love looking at the pictures and every so often, my DD will repeat after me when I point to a picture a say what it is. I think it must be really stimulating to her and her cousins just looking at the pictures. They're mesmerized by it.

Dr.Loretta · April 2013

At 18 months DD said one word. Her old dr wasn't worried, her motor skills were always ahead of language. Then we moved, and her new dr (who was crazy, but that's for another day) freaked out. Wanted me to "teach" her to talk, said we should consider EI, etc. By the time I found another dr a month later, DD was up to 10 words.

Bottom line: it's child-dependent. Ask your pedi, see what they think. My guess is they won't really worry until 24 months. The old wives' tale is that boys tend to talk later anyway, and at least in my family, some of the boys didn't really get going until 3.

NurseKMM · May 2013

Promise not trolling, accidentally hit this page from the crafty moms board. Your post intrigued me though. I work as an ENT nurse. How is babe's hearing? Does babe have lots of ear infections or fluid in the ears? Fluid can trap behind the ear drum if a child has infections an the ear isn't draining correctly. This will block the sound the children hear and can cause speech delay. Some children have so many ear infections they don't even know what it is like to have normal ears, and thus won't fuss when in pain. Speech delay and hearing loss at this age is all reversible with placement of tubes. The tubes eventually would fall outon their own, and the ear drum is likely repair itself. If needed, It is a minor procedure, that makes a huge impact on a child's hearing and speech.

Every child's development of speech is unique to that child. At 18 months watch for regression of speech and comprehension of what you are saying to them. Speech can also be delayed by other simpler things, like if they have an older, 3-6 year old brother or sister who is doing ALL of the talking for them. By 2 Yeats old, for sure, they should be stringing 2 word simple sentances together. If babe is not doing this by then get their hearing tested. If hearing is normal, follow up with speech and language therapist. Your school district can help you find a speech therapist. Speech therapy will most likely require hearing to be tested first, thus the reason I recommend starting with that.

Good luck!

CheezeFace · May 2013

NurseKMM:
Promise not trolling, accidentally hit this page from the crafty moms board. Your post intrigued me though. I work as an ENT nurse. How is babe's hearing? Does babe have lots of ear infections or fluid in the ears? Fluid can trap behind the ear drum if a child has infections an the ear isn't draining correctly. This will block the sound the children hear and can cause speech delay. Some children have so many ear infections they don't even know what it is like to have normal ears, and thus won't fuss when in pain. Speech delay and hearing loss at this age is all reversible with placement of tubes. The tubes eventually would fall outon their own, and the ear drum is likely repair itself. If needed, It is a minor procedure, that makes a huge impact on a child's hearing and speech.
Every child's development of speech is unique to that child. At 18 months watch for regression of speech and comprehension of what you are saying to them. Speech can also be delayed by other simpler things, like if they have an older, 3-6 year old brother or sister who is doing ALL of the talking for them. By 2 Yeats old, for sure, they should be stringing 2 word simple sentances together. If babe is not doing this by then get their hearing tested. If hearing is normal, follow up with speech and language therapist. Your school district can help you find a speech therapist. Speech therapy will most likely require hearing to be tested first, thus the reason I recommend starting with that.
Good luck!

He's only had one ear infection that was treat successfully with antibiotics. I believe his hearing is fine.

I have his 18m well baby visit scheduled 2nd week of May and will go through my concerns then. Since I wrote this post he's started to say "hi" to everyone which is new.

I may have just been a bit jumpy because his best little friend made this huge leap and I really started to notice that he hadn't progressed with any new words since he was around 12months old.

I appreciate you stopping by, though. We don't consider it trolling if the advice is helpful:)

ridesbuttons · May 2013

Both my boys had zero words at 18 months.

DS1 had a severe tongue tie which was corrected at 18 months surgically and attended approx. 6-8 months of speech therapy at which point he caught up with this peers/the published expectations of his therapists. Now, at age 6, you'd never guess he was ever behind.

DS2 had no physical impairments but still had zero words at 18 months. He attended speech therapy for nearly 2 years and really didn't start talking until he was nearly 3. Now, at age 4, he is a typical talking (never shuts up) preschooler.

Speech therapy was a wonderful tool for both my kids and me and I don't regret any of the time or money I spent on it.

junebugrbig · May 2013

DS didn't really start talking until around 2 years old. DD on the other hand saidher first word at around 15 months. Now she says a handfull of words other than mama and dada. She seems to be picking up a new word every few days. She understands a lot more than she can speak.

Dr.Loretta · May 2013

Dup

Poll: How many words does/did you 18mo have?

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