Should She Be Talking More?

Hi This is J.! I have a 14 month old son and he doesn't hardly talk either. I am starting to worry to. He says Mom and Da da. He might say Hi once in a while. The best advice I can give to you is to ask her doc.. Yeah also my son's not walking yet either.

J.

Hi S.

I wouldn't worry just yet. If there's one thing I've learned about children and milestones is that you should never compare one child to the another. All children are different and develop at their own pace. She's not even 2 years old yet, and she is saying some words. According to my "baby bible", she should only be speaking in one or two word sentences at this point. She should, however, by the age of 3 be speaking in 4 to 6 word sentences.

One thing you might want to try, if you're not already doing it, is reading to your daughter every day. That will help her in understanding language and should enhance her speaking capabilities.

I had First Steps evaluate my daughter's speech at 15 months because she was saying (ok, not saying) things the same way my son did. His speech problem wasn't caught until almost 3 and it was really bad... he'll continue to be in speech therapy for a few more years. :( I want to catch any problems with daughter early. Anyways.. at the time she was saying 2-3 words clearly and that was borderline. First Steps had just changed their guidelines... under the old ones she would've qualified for speech. I was told what to look for.... she should have 20-25 words, clearly spoken so strangers can understand her, by 20 months. She's not quite there yet.. she has around 16-19 (yes, I write them down and keep track) that she can say very clearly. She's 19 months now so if she doesn't say a few more words by next month, (she probably will at the rate she's going now) I'll call First Steps again and they'll come do another evaluation.

If you ever had any questions about speech development, just call First Steps and talk with someone. You can request an evaluation and a speech therapist will come to your house and do an evaluation (takes about an hour) for free. They also check other developmental stuff (stack blocks? run? pretend play? etc) while they do it. It's free, so it's worth the call.

I think it sounds like she is right on track. Don't worry too much about it! My advice would be to just bring it up at her next Well-Baby check up (which is probably at 18 months, right?)

Be sure to praise her when she uses her words, that might encourage her to learn a new word here & there!

Yeah, I agree with the others. I wouldn't worry. She should know 10 "words" by 18 months. So she's doing pretty well. See if you can get her to repeat after you. Tell her to say some words. See if she starts getting more interested b/c you are engrosing her in new vocabulary. Take care, and she should be fine.

P.S. One of my friends has a little boy who turned two in Dec. and he doesn't speak any words.... not even mama and dada. :(

I wouldn't worry. One of my good friends is a speech therapist, and I used to work in a peds office. We say, a child should be saying approx 50 words, 20 understandable by everyone by 2 years old. and also starting to put 2 words together like...new bag. Remember first babies get 100% attention and we tend to "work" with them more, whereas 2nd babies here a lot more conversation from parents and big sibling, not so much baby talk "at" them. Don't worry, she will be unstoppable before long:)

I have two girls (3 and 20 months). My 3 year old said her first sentence when she was 15 months old. By the time her sister was born, I could carry on a conversation with her and she was only 19 months. My youngest it a different story. She didn't say mama until she was 15 months old!! She is now almost 21 months and she has really started to talk. I was really worried because my oldest was an early talker, but they just move at their own rate. My youngest really started to say more at 20 months...so just wait and she will start to use more words!

I would not be concerned at all. She is saying some words, that's great! My third child didn't say anything until she was 2. They all go at their own pace. If at 2 she isn't saying anything more, you might talk to her doctor about getting her evaluated.

J.

We were concerned about my good friends' baby for a while. At age 1 he barely said anything, now that he goes to HeadStart at age 3 they have greatly helped him with his talking. Some kids just don't say as much as fast. My oldest son started talking at 7 months "ogen it!" aka 'open it!' but his brother didn't talk til he was around a year. I wouldn't worry toooo much just make sure she gets good help when the time comes for school.

You could get her evaluated for free there is a federal program under different names in each state that will evaluate her and get her therapy. My 10 yr old was speech delayed when she was 18 months and within a year of therapy she was chattering away. People used to tell me she would outgrow it but my theory was why not get her help if it was there and what if she hadn't caught up enough by school age I didn't want it to make school harder for her. Also I could tell she had a problem understanding a lot of words. I was taking child development in college at the time so I saw she was not making her speech milestones. Now don't get me wrong it was a mild delay but the therapy really helped her catch up and advance. Also all the doctors and therapists said I did the right thing to be better safe than not get them help and they develop more significant delays. Always seems scary but better to do something early and it might not be anything, my advice just get it checked. I have 5 kids now and yes they are all different but it doesn't hurt to make sure.

yeah it's normal. All children talk at different times. My son was like that a few months ago. She will eventually hit a point where she starts saying a lot of words at once. I wouldn't be too concerned with it until she gets to be a lot older, but never the less, it never hurts to talk to your child's doctor about it

My children are 10 and 6. My daughter (10) seemed to do everything right away. She was saying words like bye bye, baba (bottle), mama, and dada by 6 months. She walked just before she turned a year old. My son (6) on the other hand seemed to not do anything quickly but once he started he didn't seem to need all the practice. When he was 14 months old he took his first step and in no time he was walking around the room without help. He only said da da and day day(davi his sis) before he was 2 years old. Then just after he turned 2 he started talking and in no time was speaking in complete sentences. I think each child does things in their own time. Currently we are trying to learn how to read all over again at my house. My daughter read well before kindergarten started. My son is over half way through kindergarten and is still struggling with letter sounds....I am praying that it is very similar to the rest of his milestones and he will just get it one day! Hope this helps. Have a great week!

Hi, my name is M. and I have a two year old daughter. She really didn't start talking too much until after she was two and some months. I have a friend who has a son who just turned two this past week, and still is making a whole lot of sense with his words. It just really depends on the child. Also, be careful to avoid giving in to pointing and grunting. As this, like I found out, will slow down the process as well. I had to learn to MAKE her say the words first!! Its all just up to her! I wouldn't worry yet!!

I think everyone is right, let her go at her own pace, she's fine! My son didn't talk a whole lot, at least not in audible sentences or anything like that at that age. Remember they understand a lot more than they say.
He had a ton of ear infections as well though and after his first set of tubes in his ears he started to talk a lot more. If she has had multiple infections that may be something to consider, otherwise she's just developing at her own pace!
My son also didn't walk until 15 months...and then wouldn't stay out of anything. They just do as they do until they are good and ready to do something else. :)

I wouldn't sweat it they all do things in their own time, my middle child didn't walk until he was almost 18 months, not because he couldn't but because he didn't have to, he was in daycare and he was being carried everywhere by the provider and the other kids. When he finally started walking he took off running! My 17 month old says about as much as your and I figure when he's ready he'll talk. Right now he coos and points and we understand what he wants so he doesn't have to talk...

Kids do things in their own time, he doesn't say much but he is way more advanced in his motor skills than my middle child was at this age. There's a lot of things that my be keeping her from talking and at this age I wouldn't start worrying yet.

Hi S.! First off, remember that every child is different and will do things on their own timeline. That being said, I think you have cause for concern. My now 4 year old son had a vocabulary of less than 10 words at 18mos old and we, and his doctor were concerned about the lack of speech. Contact your peditrician and express your concerns, he/she may want your girl to be evaluated. They'll want to check her hearing, sight and speech to rule out any medical problems that are affecting her speaking ability. Kentucky has a program called First Steps, I'm sure Indiana offers something similar. We got involved in First Stemps (a low to no cost program, it is all income based) and a speech therapist came to our house weekly to work with our son until he turned 3, and when he turned 3, because of his speech delay (his problem is called apraxia, which is something you may want to research) he was automatically admitted to the headstart preschool program where he sees a therapist daily there. My son is now 4 years old, and although he still has quite a few problems getting his words out, it's amazing to see the improvement. There's nothing wrong with being concerned about your daughter, you're just being a good mother. The sooner you act on this though, the sooner she can get help if she needs it.

As a mom of four, I would have to say don't worry. woth her having an older sibling, she probaly doesn't have to talk to much. My oldest was always saying and doing things for the younger kids. Once she starts being more independant, she will be unable to keep quiet.