Speech milestones?

ashleymarie512 · September 2014

Hello, I have a 30-weeker who is now 13.5 months. Wait, let me back go and preface this by saying that I know all babies hit milestones at different stages, especially preemies.

Ok, so, I'm just curious where everyone else's LOs are with speech/verbal development. LO can understand what we're saying and even does some signs correctly and in the right context. She says "dada", but no "mama". We've sworn that we've heard "kitty" multiple times but not consistently, as well as "book" and "dog" a couple times too. At what point do you worry? We didn't use EI because our pedi said we could always get a referral later if she thought it was necessary and she's always done well with hitting milestones on time, or even early. I'm just worried now bc it's the first time she's seemed delayed in something.

Other stories/thoughts appreciated

carrotcake06 · September 2014

My oldest is FT (37w1d) and only had a handful of words - like maybe 5 - until 20mo. He understood us and could follow simple commands but words were very slow to come.

A lot of people talk about a "language explosion" and it was true for him. We were finally through molars (which were horrendous) and he was way ahead on gross and fine motor - he just needed time to work out the words. He's always been on the later end of language related milestones.

I would have worried if I didn't think he understood what I was saying or if he got to two without many words. Once he started, he never looked back. He won't shut up these days.

The twins are 15mo (about) and have very recently started to show me they understand - I ask them to throw something in the trash, respond to their name, get a ball, find their shoes. But no real words. They vocalize differently - it's really interesting.

Since they are showing me they understand, I'll wait it out.

ashleymarie512 · September 2014

@carrotcake06‌ Thank you for your reply! I know everyone is different, but I do like the reassurance that there's no real cause for concern yet!

carrotcake06 · September 2014

ashleymarie512 said:
@carrotcake06‌ Thank you for your reply! I know everyone is different, but I do like the reassurance that there's no real cause for concern yet!

I honestly wouldn't worry. The speech/language milestones vary so much and as they get older, the range of typical gets wider and wider.

The earliest that I'd be concerned w zero words would be 18mo.

mmooki · September 2014

Dd is a 33weeker. She is 2.5. A year ago she had a handful of words. Less than 10. But she would babble in her own language. Around 21 months she exploded with words and 2-3 word phrases. Then around 26 months the same thing... She is still surprising us with what she says now. Dh and I have always done a lot of talking with her and to her, explaining things and telling her what we are doing. I don't know if it helped or she just wasn't ready to talk until she did.

KTZ17 · September 2014

DD was born at 31 weeks 3 days and is now 16 months old. I must preface this by saying we speak Spanish to her at home and she hears English everywhere else, so that can contribute to a delay if she were to have one. She says bye bye, uh-oh, nena (girl), mama, ball, mum mum, and she signs more and eat. At her 15 month visit I asked her pedi what she should be doing in terms of language and she said if she has 3 words we don't worry about it. I am going to give her a lot of leeway with language because of the preemie situation and because she hears two languages. Just to give another perspective though, our nephew at his 18 month visit didn't really say anything so the pedi said to bring him back at 21 months and he still really only said dada and mama I think, so they got him evaluated for speech and he scored really high for receptive but very low for expressive so he qualified for speech. Now he's 2.5 and is putting short sentences together. It was definitely necessary for him. I would assume the doctors probably do give them a bit more time to catch up as preemies though.

ashleymarie512 · September 2014

Thanks guys!

I appreciate all the responses. I've had friends tell me that their kids (full terms) had very few words until they were closer to 18mos, so not to worry too much until then as well, since she's only about 11mos adjusted at this point.

chicagobride_07 · September 2014

I have a 34 weeker who will be 16 months (14.5 months adjusted) next week. She completely understands when we speak to her, but doesn't say anything more than mama and ya ya ya. Pedi had us take her for a speech evaluation at 10 months, and she has been in speech therapy ever since. I can't say it is really helping. At our 15 month appointment, pedi said we'd discuss further if she still hadn't made progress by 22 months.

ashleymarie512 · September 2014

chicagobride_07 said:
I have a 34 weeker who will be 16 months (14.5 months adjusted) next week. She completely understands when we speak to her, but doesn't say anything more than mama and ya ya ya. Pedi had us take her for a speech evaluation at 10 months, and she has been in speech therapy ever since. I can't say it is really helping. At our 15 month appointment, pedi said we'd discuss further if she still hadn't made progress by 22 months.

Thanks for the reply. What does speech therapy for a one year old consist of?

chicagobride_07 · September 2014

The speech therapist does things (bubbles, swings, toys) to try to elicit sounds from DD. She also tries to engage her in repetitive sounds. She's given us ideas which are supposed to stimulate speech like the z vibe, etc. As mentioned, I don't think it is helping much, but it certainly isn't hurting. GL!

ashleymarie512 · September 2014

@chicagobride_07‌ Thanks and GL to you too!

gault530 · September 2014

My 26 weekers both said their first words around 15 months actual (12 adjusted) and just now are starting to add new words into the mix at 18 months actual. If your LO is saying a few words at 13.5 months, you should be pleased. I know many term babies that didn't say that many words until 18 months. The PT for the twins are happy with a few words by 18 months (pedi said 5-7 words is typical for 18 month olds) and she said that they will likely be able to speak 200 by two years old. She said once they get walking down, typically speech takes off.

ashleymarie512 · September 2014

@gault530‌ Thank you for the response! I appreciate the information.

takmjs · October 2014

We had a 30 weeker. She had zero words until 21 months but signed a lot and could understand us, and it was one word for a couple weeks, then 4 words for another few weeks, then 8 words. It seemed very slow, but she finally figured it out and would repeat lots of words we'd say at around 25 months. She got EI services (scored high on receptive, low on expressive) since about 17-18 months. It's so impressive to me how far she's come now that she's almost 3 (in January). She says full 6-9 word sentences, sings lots of songs, asks questions. She does still qualify for and will be starting early childhood once she turns 3 in January, because of her articulation errors. It sounds like your LO is saying enough, and I probably wouldn't do an EI referral yet. I did, because there were zero words at 17 months.

ashleymarie512 · October 2014

Thank you @takmjs‌ for your reply. Glad your LO is moving right along!

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