Hi Lovely IM's, my 17mo is only saying about 5/6 words max, he is the youngest of three very talkative boys, and he does understand simple commands i.e. where are your shoes, bring mummy a nappy, lets go to the bath etc. but I am starting to get a little worried as my two older boys were very early talkers, so I guess I'm not really sure what the norm is? When did your toddlers talk and when do I start thinking about seeing someone about it?? Thanks x
Toddler talking
Saturday, 7 December 2013 - 11:04
Toddler talking
Posted in:
Baby & Toddler, Relationships & Marriage
8 Replies
Hi Julia, 17mo is still very young to have a wide vocab. My daughter was like your older boys, a massive range of words at 18mo and full sentances by 2, but that really isn't the norm. Especially since your little boy has big brothers that probably do a lot of talking for him, maybe he finds he doesn't need to talk! My daughter, though she has an amazing vocab, has a pretty prominent lisp, so I spoke to a speech pathologist for her (recently, now 2.5yo) and was told not to even worry about bringing her in until she is 3 as they still have so much learning to do and need the opportunity to get there on their own. She said they generally don't work with kids under 3 anyway. Give little man some time, and make sure the kids aren't talking for him all the time, and read to him lots, im sure he will be talking your head off in no time!
My son didn't say much until about 2 1/2yrs, he understood everything just didn't say much. Now at 4 he talks so much and is so loud he was sent for a hearing a test!
I think as long as he understands what you ask him and says a few words the rest will come with time.
I only have the one but he only had a handful of words up until he hit two. He was pretty cruisy and didn't want much. So I put it down to his needs being met as he wanted. He's a month off three now and is now speaking just about perfect sentences. He narrates everything that he is doing, you can have a proper conversation with him and is only quiet when eating or sleeping! Don't worry he'll get there. It's also possible the others are "talking" for him so he doesn't need to himself. They're all different and find their own things to focus on in their own time.
My 20 month old is very limited in his vocab as well.. He only says half a dozen or so words the rest is grunting, squealing, screaming etc. If you are worried it is never too early to seek help. My son is starting group speech therapy in January as he has been assessed as being 6 months behind in his expressive language. The speech therapist who did his assessment said it is better to get in early and get help than wait until they are almost school age as they are more open to help and less likely to be set in their ways at an early age. I hope this helps. Let me know if you need any more info :)
I also have a 17 mo who is youngest of 3 and he doesn't have too many words in his vocab either. He doesn't really need to though - he definitely understands and gets his message across. Plus his older siblings happily do the talking for him and are happy to do everything for him without the need for too many words. I wouldn't stress. Your little one would be due for an 18mo check up soon so maybe have a quick chat to the gp or chn then to ease your mind. But I say relax, he's making the most of not needing to talk and most likely be talking your ears off before you know it :)
My daughter suffers from a Speech disorder, she was finally diagnosed at 3yrs old, after 6mths of testing. From this i have learnt that their is a HUGE range of speech/ communication issues. I would suggest start at a developmental paediatrician, they can test to see where he is for his age my daughters testing took 1.5hrs to complete. Then from their the paediatrician can point you in the right direction on what if anything your son may need such a speech therapist. We thought our daughters issue was only speech but ended up having motor skills issues aswell. Also you may get told not to test so young ect and to wait and see, i was told this but my mummy instinct was saying otherwise when i first bought it up with our GP i was told wait till school starts, BUT i felt if i waited till then she would just keep falling behind and never catch up with her peers.
My girl is more of a watcher then a do-er. I think her word explosion came at about two. Not much before then.
I wouldn't be too worried! My boy is nearly two and although he does say a pretty good amount of words he still doesn't string words together.
Im sure your older boys do a lot of talking for the younger one! Its a good sign that he understands everything and I'm sure he will talk in his own time :-)
A coworker of mine has two boys the first of which was an early talker and she said her youngest (about a year and a half) doesn't say many words yet and the oldest does a lot of his talking for him.
Hope this helps!