Tell me about your late speaking baby

[papie]

Anna was speaking in full sentences at this age. Sophia too although less sophisticated. Alex is 19 months and barely speaks. At 18 months I asked my pedi about the whole 18 words at 18 months that I read on here (lol) and she was like : oh no! That's too many. As long as he says 10 or so you are fine.

Here are his words. I am counting as I list. We are speaking three languages to him which I hear slows speach development. It wasn't an issue with the girls, but I know each child is different.

Mama
Dada
Anna
Alla (Alex)
Daga (tiger)
Ah-ka (encore)
Done
A ma (à moi)
Na (greek nai means yes)
No
Balla (greek ball)
Bana (banana)
Baya (bye bye)
Uh-oh
Nana (that's for anything that goes in his mouth, boob, paci, food, drink. Made up word but he uses it all the time, lol)
Pana (Greek for diaper)
Baba (bum bum)
Backa (backpack, thank you Dora)
Bobo (French booboo)

I think that's it. I might be forgetting one or two. The pedi was REALLY not worried a month ago, so I feel like calling her now to ask is kind of overkill, right?

So tell me about your kids. He also rarely uses his words, he'd rather point and yell/grunt).

[miso]

My kid was born at the end of January 2014.

She is older than yours and probably has about the same number of words.

I have no idea.

I haven't counted.

Maybe I will count now and update.

01 A-yi (auntie)
02 Baba (Daddy)
03 Baby
04 Bah (short for bottle)
05 Bai (short for Bailey, the L.A. Kings mascot)
06 Bao (bun)
07 Beep beep (her version of car)
08 Bird
09 Bye bye
10 Cap (like a bottle cap)
11 Chee (short for cheese)
12 Daddy
13 Do do (bean)
14 Fei ji (airplane)
15 Go
16 Gong gong (grandpa)
17 Gou gou (doggie)
18 Hi
19 Hockey
20 Mama
21 Mao jing (towel)
22 Mao mao (kitty)
23 Mimi (her version of Mickey Mouse)
24 Mine
25 Monkey
26 Nai nai (milky)
27 Name (her actual name, not the word "name," LOL)
28 Niao (bird)
29 No
30 Oh, too (short for Oh, Toodles from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse -- shameful!)
31 Paci (short for pacifier)
32 Pee pee
33 Please
34 Poo poo
35 Ready
36 Toot
37 Uh oh
38 Wah (short for water)
39 Wa wa (dolly)
40 Xie xie (thank you)
41 Ya ya (duckie)

Writing this out has convinced me that I am a terrible parent. In her very limited vocabulary, she knows how to reference a hockey mascot, farts, and an imaginary tool-giver on a cartoon.

[Deleted]

I've heard boys are slower to speak than girls.

My mom also said my sister was slower to speak and she's pretty sure it was because she didn't have to- us older two did it for her.

[SpartanGirl]

My middle 2 kids didn't have more than a half dozen words by age 3 and those words were only understood by H and I. They both qualified for Early Intervention speech services through the school district. DS is in 2nd grade and DD2 is in Kindergarten and both are still in speech, though they will likely be done after this year.

My 2 cents on speech issues is that it is free and relatively easy to get them evaluated. If they don't qualify - great. If they do, you have gotten a jump start on receiving services. We waited longer than we should have with DS thinking that he would eventually have a word explosion (he didn't) and because we could clearly understand him (no one else could). It didn't ruin his life by any means, but we could have started services that much sooner.

[cinderbella]

We had Lucy evaluated at 22 months and she didn't say shit. Maybe 10 words tops.

Three weeks later, she pointed to a letter on my shirt and said 'I see E'..... I quizzed her on the other letters and she told me almost every single one. She literally has not shut up since then. The little shit knew all this stuff but was too stubborn to talk. It was like a light switch turned on and she decided she wanted to start communicating.

[usm]

Mine started speech at that age. He had 2 words and didn't babble or make any sounds. I had to fight for an evaluation because they said at that age there is a huge range of typical.

That's a lot of words. Also, look at how he communicates. Good nonverbal, does he make sure his needs are met?

[balletofangels]

He is a boy
He is trilingual
He is the youngest of 3

Each one of these on their own would make him slower to speak than your daughters. If you are concerned there's never any harm in evaluation. I'm not sure how it works in Canada. My non-professional opinion is that he's fine.

[Gato]

DD1 said exactly three words before 20 months: doggie once and "I too" (maybe?) once.

Then at 20 months a veritable flood of words came out.  She added about 200 within a matter of weeks.  At seven, she is doing great in school and I actually think she's a little smarter on the whole than her little sister who started talking at 8 months.

I really think speech development is so individual for each child - there's no "correct" way for it to progress.  If your DS seems aware and attentive in other ways, I really wouldn't worry about it.

[Deleted]

I didn't speak at all until I was three and a half. 

I pointed at everything. 

[trafficgirl]

Nov 16, 2015 18:42:59 GMT -5 balletofangels said:

He is a boy
He is trilingual
He is the youngest of 3

Each one of these on their own would make him slower to speak than your daughters. If you are concerned there's never any harm in evaluation. I'm not sure how it works in Canada. My non-professional opinion is that he's fine.

These are my thoughts too.

My boys didn't have a lot of words at that age either. I think part of it was them being boys and part of it was them being twins - they understood each other well enough

[underwaterrhymes]

Late speech is common with bilingual and multilingual babies from what I understand, as well as with the second or third child.

I wouldn't worry unless your pedi thinks it's cause for concern. I'll bet he has an explosion of language soon.

[moolarkey]

My cousin was a late speaker. Often he'd start a sentence and stop. Off to the speech therapist my aunt, uncle, 2 older cousins and the slow speaker. Speech therapist talks to all of them, observes them with him. Then told them:

Stop finishing his sentences for him, especially his older brothers. Everyone got impatient waiting for him to say something they would speak for him. True story.

My older grandson (turns 4 on Christmas eve, seemed to be slow at speaking. DDIL took him to a speech therapist, she told DDIL to wait just a little longer as she thought things were fine. They were. 6 weeks later he was speaking in full sentences. DDIL told me she was probably stupid for taking him. I told her not at all, I'd have done the same thing - what if there had a been problem? Better to to catch it earlier if there is a problem.

[Narwhal]

Nov 16, 2015 18:46:53 GMT -5 underwaterrhymes said:

Late speech is common with bilingual and multilingual babies from what I understand, as well as with the second or third child.

I wouldn't worry unless your pedi thinks it's cause for concern. I'll bet he has an explosion of language soon.

All of this.  I was keeping a close eye on my kids because they are boys, were 11 weeks premature and twins, so 3 strikes. Haha. They had a handful of words at 18 months and I decided I wouldn't worry until 2. They slowly added words and in the last little bit have really exploded. They say 50+ words and 2 word sentences, sometimes even 3 word sentences. I wouldn't worry until closer to 2 personally, especially with the bilingual, boy, youngest combo . 

[missbella]

my DS is just about 18 months.

He regularly says:

Mama (calls everyone this)
Bewa  (Bella the cats name)
uh-oh
yah (yes)
choo-choo (train)
ah dun (all done)
buh-by (bye-bye)
mmm ( milk, accompanied by sign)
uh (up)
ut (out)
bawk bawk (chicken)

He sometimes says:
bah (ball)
something that sounds like diaper
dada (we are working on this)

That is really it. I am wondering if he should be able to say his name (or at least try because it has a lot of tough sounds) also, he only can do M, D, B, and short a and u sounds. I am slightly concerned and plan to bring it up at his appointment but he also understands everything we say and can easily follow directions and instructions. 

[papie]

Thanks everyone. I think we will wait. He has an ENT appt in December because of his ear infections, so I'll ask then about hearing. He is also the youngest in the toddler group at daycare so when I compare him with his friends they all seem to talk so much more...

[TrudyCampbell]

That list is totally fine for his age!

[rugbywife]

I think E was born the same month and I don't think she has much more than that really...she is attempting sentences but it is garbled and inconsistent.

Tonight in the bath she said ba-ba at least 50 times before we gave up, took her out of the bath and she pointed at the tv, which we then deduced meant she wanted to listen to music while in the bath. NO FUCKING CLUE how I was supposed to figure that out from ba-ba.

[miso]

papie, your kid knows how to say "encore," and you are worried?

I think all is well!

[formerlyak]

Nov 16, 2015 18:35:55 GMT -5 miso said:

Writing this out has convinced me that I am a terrible parent. In her very limited vocabulary, she knows how to reference a hockey mascot, farts, and an imaginary tool-giver on a cartoon.

Don't feel bad. My kid was born in March 2014 and while he can point out all his body parts if you ask him where they are, the only ones he can actually say words for are nose, eyes and balls. Yes, he says "ball" and grabs his junk. Thank you, DH!

To the question at hand, I think at our 18 month visit last month, the doctor just wanted to know that he used at least 10 words regularly. I think you are fine.

[lattelady5]

Ds is almost 2and has a handful if words. We recently had him evaluated and the ST said 50 words by 2 and she wanted to see unpromoted words. Also, 2 word phrases.

I had him evaluated through early intervention (access in my state). If you are in the US your state should have this program or something similar. It is no cost in my state, regardless of income level and they come to your home. You also do not need a pedi for an referral. You can refer yourself. DS doesn't have a well check until Jan and I didn't want to wait for the pedi. I had a call from EA less than 24 hours later.

All chikdren develop different tly, but IMO, it never hurts to get an opinion from a professional. The ST gave me a book with ways to help him work on speaking and we're already seeing improvement.

[Elsa]

M didn't speak till late- I was pretty freaked about it. She did baby sign language (taught to her at school, but we used it at home too) so she just didn't need words.

Anyways. She moved to a new school/daycare 3 months before her 2nd bday and her language exploded. So she didn't really start talking much till 21 months.

Now her vocab blows me away. She uses different adjectives correctly, etc. She still has issue with tense, but I think that's normal for her age. I'm not worried about her anymore.

Don't stress yet!!!

[miso]

Nov 16, 2015 19:21:29 GMT -5 lattelady5 said:

Ds is almost 2and has a handful if words. We recently had him evaluated and the ST said 50 words by 2 and she wanted to see unpromoted words. Also, 2 word phrases.

Shit. 50 words is a lot!

We don't have much time left. LOL.

[FastHands]

Yours is a few months older than mine, but I worry about this too. DS is almost 15 months, and I'm not even sure how to count his "words" in terms of what counts as a word. He says "muh" for milk/water/gimme-that-thing-right-there, but that's the only thing I could even spell/duplicate. He has sounds he makes for "socks," "shoes," and maybe "puppies," but they're more like grunts/mutters. I think the dr said they wanted 5 words by 15 months, so we'll see what she says.

[BirdGirl]

Both of my kids were late talkers and had a handful (like 5) of words at 18 months. Both are in speech therapy, but are doing really well. DS will likely "graduate" before he is 3. DD is still getting services at 5, but only for articulation.

If you're concerned, you can have him evaluated. Or just give it a few more months.

[BirdGirl]

Nov 16, 2015 19:28:37 GMT -5 miso said:

Nov 16, 2015 19:21:29 GMT -5 lattelady5 said:

Ds is almost 2and has a handful if words. We recently had him evaluated and the ST said 50 words by 2 and she wanted to see unpromoted words. Also, 2 word phrases.

Shit. 50 words is a lot!

We don't have much time left. LOL.

I've never heard 50 words. The 2 word phrases at or near 2 has consistently been referenced with my kids (neither of whom were doing it at 2).

[hopecounts]

I always say to err on the side of getting an evaluation if you are even a little concerned.
If he is fine you get professional reassurance and can KOKO knowing that.
If there is an issue the sooner therapy starts the better the outcome.

[miso]

Nov 16, 2015 19:33:43 GMT -5 BirdGirl said:

Nov 16, 2015 19:28:37 GMT -5 miso said:

Shit. 50 words is a lot!

We don't have much time left. LOL.

I've never heard 50 words. The 2 word phrases at or near 2 has consistently been referenced with my kids (neither of whom were doing it at 2).

I'm going to count "Oh, Too" (as in, "Oh, Toodles" from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) as a two-word phrase.

IT'S ALL I'VE GOT.

[Deleted]

DD just turned 2 and she just started spewing out the words a couple weeks ago. She's juuuust starting with two word phrases. She's our second child - DS started with words around 19 or 20 months and was up to two and three word phrases at 22 months.

I vote to not be worried.

[stephm0188]

At 18 months, mine had 0 words and did not babble, coo, point, or use other non-verbals to communicate.

Your list seems pretty good. Try not to worry.

[mommytutu]

My 3rd is a boy and definitely doesn't speak as much as his sisters did. He's 2 1/2 and I know he needs speech therapy. He'll start at 3. I'm not sure if it's him being a boy or if it's just him being the third or a combination of both that is making him delayed.