My 20-month-old daughter has a lot of words and seems to be progressing very well, but lately I'm starting to worry that her enunciation is not improving at all. She has words for pretty much all the stuff she interacts with on a daily basis, but it's garbled. For example, Daddy is Da-yee, water is wah, milk is this mangled nguh sound (which I think she just made up and stuck with) and spoon is poo. I know it's normal for toddlers to not speak clearly, but should I be worried that she's been saying these words wrong for months with no improvement? I'm always careful to say the word properly after she says it and to enunciate clearly. Could this be an ear fluid thing? She seems to hear well otherwise -- can hear her dad's key in the door when he gets home from the other side of the house. But other kids her age are speaking a lot more clearly. Any thoughts?
It becomes clearer after their second bday. By 2.5, other people can even start to understand them. Don't worry about it. It sounds like she is doing great.
If you have concerns I would check out the Early Intervention in your area and have her evaluated. It's free no matter your income. If she qualifies for services they will provide them until her 3rd birthday. It's really worth it and all visits are at your house!
Has her hearing been tested? if so and all is well then I wouldn't worry. if not ask her pediatrician so you can have her tested.
My little guy really took off around 2, at 2.5 he's now he's a linguist virtuoso, I am amazed at the words he can say and use correctly! Just continue to talk to her and read to her so she can hear the words pronounced properly and if you don't see (or should i say "hear"?) a change by her 2 year check-up you can mention it to her doctor.
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I agree with momof3. Early intervention is free and it will ease your mind. You should go with your intuition.
I don't know what kids you think are speaking more clearly that age, but I assure you that MOST are NOT speaking very clearly at this age. By age 3 only about 50% of what most kids say is understandable by others and by age 4 about 80-90%...plenty of time for improvement.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/toddler-speech-developme...
My own daughter is 26 months and water is "wat-ee" any word that starts with and "H" she drops the h, all words that start with "f" sound like they start with "s" instead. She's just now started saying diaper correctly, until about 2 weeks ago it was "Die-dee", she frequently drops second syllables and ending sounds...it's all normal. however if you are really that concerned maybe you should address it with your pediatrician.
Get her hearing checked and have your states early intervention evaluate her. We had our son evaluated around 20 months and they worked with him ever sense. Come to find out at age 3 1/2 we found out that everything sounded like it was under water and he couldn't hear anything. Get a good testing by an ENT or audiologist done because our state screening didn't pick it up. We would have sworn he was hearing perfectly and we were wrong.
I have a 20 month old, too. His speech articulation isn't great, but he pronounces the words in your examples more clearly than that. That being said, I don't think you can judge by comparing two 20 month olds.
I have a 3 year old daughter who is in speech therapy for articulation. Based on my experiences with her, I highly recommend taking your daughter to be evaluated. We took our daughter in when she was almost 3, and I regret waiting so long. Speech delays are really common in young children, and speech therapy really helps. If you think she might even possibly have an issue, I would recommend getting her evaluated. There is a good chance they will tell you her articulation is fine. But if she does need speech therapy, the earlier she gets it, the better. And it certainly doesn't hurt to get her tested.
Sounds normal to me. She is only 20 months. I am sure within the next
several months you will see a change. If by 2 1/2 she is still having issues,
I would then get her evaluated.
My son is in early intervention for speech. Our therapist tells us all the time that they don't work on articulation until age 3. Before age 3, as long as they are trying to verbally communicate, they are on track. So as long as your daughter has a lot of words (should be 50 words by age 2), then it sounds to me like she's fine. And you are doing exactly the right thing by repeating the word correctly after she says it.
My comment would change if your pediatrican has told you that she consistently has fluid in her ears. If so, then she may have trouble hearing some sounds and you may need to think about tubes in her ears. But that is a conversation to have with the pediatrician.
sounds like she's on track....have her ears checked if you're really worried.
I think this is pretty normal but if it gives you peace of mind to get her hearing checked, then by all means...
But--if it's any consolation, my DD is 19 months and has not "mastered" words completely and I'm fine with that. I don't think many kids this age do.
For example, balloon is "boon," spoon is "poon," milk is "mulk."
It sounds "clear" as a bell and rather "advanced" to me because she is only 19 months.
Her pediatrician and daycare providers are pleased so I'm at ease.
my 3 1/2 y.o. son didn't even talk until he was 2. I think he could only say 2 one-syllable words and that was hi and more (which he said as 'moy') and right around his 2nd b-day he started daddy (but pronounced 'da-eee') and I didn't even get a 'mama' until about 2 months after he turned 2. He gets speech therapy because he is hard to understand and has problems with pronouncing words and letters. Your daughter sounds fine to me but you should ask her doctor if what she's saying is normal. It's possible that she may need speech therapy like my son is getting.
