I am still worried about DD's talking

[Deleted]

After ALL OF THAT she has seemed to regress.

I can't get her to say "Kitty" anymore. She would not say "Owl" last night either and she always says "owl".And since the week of word explosion she hasn't said anything new.

She understands EVERYTHING though. Like - I can say "go get me the book about monkeys" and she goes and picks out the right one.


I was watching videos of DS last night and when he was just a little older than her he was saying things like "where did it go". I feel awful for comparing them but I did.


I am sooooooooooooooooooo over worrying about this. But I cannot stop.

[Kristinmo]

Don't compare. My kids developed at very different paces. Stringing multiple words together is a 2 year milestone so you are still fine:

www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/milestones-2yr.html

[Kristinmo]

And both of my kids would drop words they had for a short time while they learned knew ones. Their brains can only concentrate on so many things at one time.

[cuddlyevil]

Don't compare!! You'll get stuck in a trap of "OMG, what's wrong??"

If she's understanding you, then it will come with time. Just keep talking to her, holding conversations, and speaking in a normal tone of voice--she'll get it. I promise.

[bittybomb]

My kids also developed at vastly different ages. My oldest spoke first and was very strong verbally. We were concerned when our daughter didn't seem to be where he was at the same age, but now at 3 1/2 she won't shut the eff up. And then the baby, who is 2 1/2, really only started talking within the last few months. The younger ones have the older ones to do their bidding. Lol.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:39:16 GMT -5 @booby said:

if i am reading your sig correctly - she is only 18 months, right? i know it's easy to worry, but i personally don't think you've enetered the danger zone. make the appointments now if there is a wait for services in your area, but i still don't think you need to worry at this stage.

Yeah - she will be 18 months next week.


I actually have been in touch with EI and they did a preliminary evaluation of her and said she was on track. But I think that she should be showing more interest - it is like she does not even care to communicate. LOL.

[Deleted]

I don't have kids but I do know my nephew didn't talk hardly at all until he was 2.5 years and didn't string words together until almost 3.5. Now he is 4.5 and never shuts up. I wouldn't worry about it just yet.

[lizrd7579]

Don't compare!! I know it's hard, though! With DD#2, she's just so stubborn. If I try to get her to say something and she doesn't want to, there's no getting it out of her (or any other word for that matter).

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:41:24 GMT -5 @licia said:

This has been pretty normal for us. DD is a month younger than your DD, and words come and go, but they're always sort of 'there'. Right now, she's stuck on "no", "stop", "don't". Before that, it was "socks", "dada" and "cat". I don't know how to describe it better. Like I said, they're all there, but some lose popularity. And, too, DD isn't really receptive to repeating stuff. Sometimes she will, but most of the time, I get toddler 'tude.

EI said they didn't think she needed help at this point, right? I don't think you can stop the worry, once you have it, but I would focus on not letting it consume you. Do the things they suggested. Keep focusing on repeating and pronouncing words.

She is very similiar to yours. She was allllll about "kitty" for a week and now nothing. Then she said "ball" mutiple times, now nothing.



She did once say "HI BUBBA" when I prompted her. But now she won't say hi or bubba. LOL.

Sigh.


EI did say she was not "at risk" or whatever. They did say she could be saying more though. So I am supposed to watch her and maybe ask for a re-evaluation later. Prompting me to evaluate her made me worse than I was before. Heh.

[Deleted]

Will she sing songs? Sing along while she dances or something? Could be a fun way to draw words out of her, but could also be way out of her developmental league. I forget what kids do at 18 mo.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:47:02 GMT -5 @jezebel said:

I love ya, Laz, but you need to relax. You already went to the EI people, right? And they said she was fine? Kids are all different and she may just be busy working on other things right now.

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to stress about it so much.

I agree with you.


I am breezy about everything in my life except my children. HA.


I wish I could turn it off.

[sewf]

We're (again) in the same boat. DS is 18 months, and randomly says certain words, but then seems to forget them later. I'm trying not to worry about it. When we were at the doctor last week, he came out with "blocks", which I had no idea he knew. He wouldn't say it for the doctor, so she asked him where the blocks were, and he pointed at them. She seemed pleased with that and doesn't have concerns.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:50:06 GMT -5 @bigtowlittletoe said:

Will she sing songs? Sing along while she dances or something? Could be a fun way to draw words out of her, but could also be way out of her developmental league. I forget what kids do at 18 mo.

No singing yet - but she does the motions (like isy bitsy spider) and she makes "sounds" to them. And she loves to clap for herself after the song is over. Stinker.

[CloudBee]

Jul 23, 2014 10:40:16 GMT -5 Kristinmo said:

And both of my kids would drop words they had for a short time while they learned knew ones. Their brains can only concentrate on so many things at one time.

We were watching a video of DS from when he was 8 months old.  He was clearly say "dad, dada, dad, dad".

He hasn't said dad in probably 4-6 weeks.

He learns a new word, focuses on it, then drops it like a hot potato.  And this month he's dropped pretty much EVERY word.  So he must be working on some other skill that we're not yet aware of.  Seriously, he's not talking much at all right now.  He'll say "dat, dat", grunt, throw in "baby" or "beeee", but not use them appropriately.

I understand how stressful it can be, because some of DS's friends are chatty, and he doesn't use all of his words on any given day.

ETA: My DS is 16 months.

[CloudBee]

Jul 23, 2014 10:52:19 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

I'm sorry that you are worried.

I was just talking to my coworker about how her DS2 (just turned 2) is finally starting to string words together into simple sentences. I've heard that second children often talk later b/c they have the older kid talking for them.

Man, everyone seems to have a different opinion on this.  Our ENT said 1st kids often talk later because they don't have a sibling at home to mimic.

So really, there's no realm of normal, OP. 

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:51:28 GMT -5 sewf said:

We're (again) in the same boat. DS is 18 months, and randomly says certain words, but then seems to forget them later. I'm trying not to worry about it. When we were at the doctor last week, he came out with "blocks", which I had no idea he knew. He wouldn't say it for the doctor, so she asked him where the blocks were, and he pointed at them. She seemed pleased with that and doesn't have concerns.

YES. DD will do this allllll day. H said "fan" the other day and she pointed at the ceiling fan - I shit you not.

But she will not say those words.

I read. I repest. I spend 30 min a night on the ground with her every night doing nothing but talking and going over things - like "where is your nose" "who is bubba" "what is this?" *(and hold up objects - book, toy, shoe etc)

[CloudBee]

Jul 23, 2014 10:49:27 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

Jul 23, 2014 10:41:24 GMT -5 @licia said:

...

She did once say "HI BUBBA" when I prompted her. But now she won't say hi or bubba. LOL.

Sigh.

What you're explaining is us to a tee.  DS would say "hi dada" for a week or two, daily, when DH got home.

Now nothing.  Not even ball.  Kids are weird.

What was the EI eval like?  Do you go to them, or do they come to you?  We've been overwhelmed with drs appointments lately, and the thought of having to take time off for an EI appointment is making me cringe.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:54:20 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Jul 23, 2014 10:53:44 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Man, everyone seems to have a different opinion on this.  Our ENT said 1st kids often talk later because they don't have a sibling at home to mimic.

So really, there's no realm of normal, OP. 

lol. I was going to say I don't know how true it is. Both theories make sense to me.

Well, I think with DD she can't get a word in with all of us.


DS is SO loud and animated. He talks non-stop. I think she justsits back and listens to us. And yes - DS gets stuff for her. Like her blanket, milk, toy etc. He is constantly helping her (be still my heart) so I think she is also used to getting waited on.

[nadasteph]

Does your ds do a lot of talking for her? Maybe she isn't interested because she didn't need to speak for herself yet. My brother was a really late talker because he'd point to something and my sister would say it for him. He didn't speak until she went to full day school.

Eta- I see you've just answered that.

[sewf]

Jul 23, 2014 10:54:31 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

Jul 23, 2014 10:51:28 GMT -5 sewf said:

We're (again) in the same boat. DS is 18 months, and randomly says certain words, but then seems to forget them later. I'm trying not to worry about it. When we were at the doctor last week, he came out with "blocks", which I had no idea he knew. He wouldn't say it for the doctor, so she asked him where the blocks were, and he pointed at them. She seemed pleased with that and doesn't have concerns.

YES. DD will do this allllll day. H said "fan" the other day and she pointed at the ceiling fan - I shit you not.

But she will not say those words.

I read. I repest. I spend 30 min a night on the ground with her every night doing nothing but talking and going over things - like "where is your nose" "who is bubba" "what is this?" *(and hold up objects - book, toy, shoe etc)

H will tell him to go get his shoes, and he will. We were asking him where things were while we were out to dinner last night (lights, chair), and he pointed them out. He understands EVERYTHING, just doesn't verbalize them. It's SO frustrating.

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 10:55:49 GMT -5 CloudBee said:

Jul 23, 2014 10:49:27 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

She did once say "HI BUBBA" when I prompted her. But now she won't say hi or bubba. LOL.

Sigh.

What you're explaining is us to a tee.  DS would say "hi dada" for a week or two, daily, when DH got home.

Now nothing.  Not even ball.  Kids are weird.

What was the EI eval like?  Do you go to them, or do they come to you?  We've been overwhelmed with drs appointments lately, and the thought of having to take time off for an EI appointment is making me cringe.

They come to your house. Ours was very quick.

They shouldn't have even came out - she was at 7 words by 18 months and they only wanted to see 4 at that time. I think I am over stressing about this but DS was an early talker and has an amazing vocabulary. I am just lost with trying to bring words out. I always tried to keep my DS from talking. This is new to me. LOL.

[nannersp]

Your gal is just a few days older than mine, and mine doesn't like to repeat words I request, even if they're words she uses frequently. And like a PP mentioned, mine also likes to rotate through words. She's said a lot of words, but likes to focus only on certain words. Recently everyone was DADA, including me, and I couldn't get her to say MAMA. Now everyone is MAMA, except for dad. But her sister, her grandma, the gym daycare gals, the random man walking down the street? They're all mama.

The only two words she strings together are when she pretends to call my husband on the phone. She'll say "hi dada." But that's it.

I'm not worried about it all, though, so neither should you. (That's totally how that works, right?)

She understands a ton, like yours. I read recently that babies like to practice in their head before they start using their words aloud, if that's any consolation.

[craftyone]

Can you get an evaluation by a speech pathologist other than your county's EI? Most insurances will pay for the evaluation other than a co-pay.

All my children were speech delayed, but with my middle son who has Autism, I completely skipped over EI since I knew he had other issues. I feel like our county does an "okay" job evaluating, but again they were looking a multiple areas and needed to be delayed in more than one to qualify since ours does a sliding scale etc. They didn't require insurance

With private insurance all you need is a prescription from your pediatrician for a speech evaluation. I've always felt that the evals from non-EI were just a little better.

[Deleted]

@tambcat what is going on with EI for the muscle tone?

[Deleted]

Jul 23, 2014 11:08:39 GMT -5 craftyone said:

Can you get an evaluation by a speech pathologist other than your county's EI? Most insurances will pay for the evaluation other than a co-pay.

All my children were speech delayed, but with my middle son who has Autism, I completely skipped over EI since I knew he had other issues. I feel like our county does an "okay" job evaluating, but again they were looking a multiple areas and needed to be delayed in more than one to qualify since ours does a sliding scale etc. They didn't require insurance

With private insurance all you need is a prescription from you pediatrician for a speech evaluation. I've always felt that the evals from non-EI were just a little better.

Great idea. Her 18 months well visit is in early august so I am going to see what the pedi says.

[lilac05]

Try not to stress about it. She'll pick up on your stress, too. I'd say do to compare your kids, but I was up last night worrying about whether my lack of taking vitamins while Breastfeeding DS2 is why he isn't hitting milestones as fast as DS1 did (ridiculous, I know).

Keep exposing her to language through play. Try to back off of the requests for her to use her language for a few days and see if she naturally starts to use more. Some kids won't "perform" when they're asked to do tricks (say words), and some will. Praise the ever loving crap out of her when she does say words.

[underwaterrhymes]

Try not to stress out.

If you ask my kid, "Where is mommy?" he ignores you.

But if you ask him, "Where are mommy's boobs?" he pats my boobs.

We think it's hilarious, but obviously it's not something we can show off to prove his clearly superior language skills.

[craftyone]

I would also contact your EI's list of providers that can come to your house. I know most speech therapist that have a practice want you to go to their business but it's a PITA for me.
I know for mine, I checked and found one that could do both my 22 month old and my 5 year old at home.

[thatgirl2478]

Jul 23, 2014 10:45:44 GMT -5 @lazerus24 said:

Jul 23, 2014 10:39:16 GMT -5 @booby said:

if i am reading your sig correctly - she is only 18 months, right? i know it's easy to worry, but i personally don't think you've enetered the danger zone. make the appointments now if there is a wait for services in your area, but i still don't think you need to worry at this stage.

Yeah - she will be 18 months next week.


I actually have been in touch with EI and they did a preliminary evaluation of her and said she was on track. But I think that she should be showing more interest - it is like she does not even care to communicate. LOL.

I understand the concern. My dd didn't have a lot of words until she was 18 mo. Before that it was maybe a handful. So long as she understands what you are saying to her, I think you are fine. If she doesn't seem interested in talking, do her older siblings do a lot of her communicating for her? I know my brother spoke less and later than I did because I spoke for him a lot.

[Tacocat]

My DD is about a month older, and she was the same way about 2 mo ago. She hadn't added any new words in several months, but could point or get almost anything I asked her to. About 3 weeks ago, she started saying tons of new words and she's repeating us like crazy. I bet your DD is learning a new skill or will start saying a bunch of new words any day now.