Talking... or lack thereof

Joshua is 17 months old, but isn't really talking yet. He has a couple of 'words' he uses - ie we can understand him but others wouldn't, but according to a few sites I've looked at he should be saying 5-20 words by now.

Should I be concerned do you think? What were your childrens language skills like at 17 months?

Thanks Rach. I do tend to be a bit of a paranoid mother, but when I read that he should be using up to 20 words I was very concerned!

I'm not worried about his hearing - he understands us just fine, and can follow instructions well - like, "Joshie, please go and put that back in the cupboard" or "come and get your shoes on" so I know he can hear. But I am paranoid about autism as I have 3 first cousins who are autistic and anything that is slightly heading towards that tendency totally freaks me out.

(((hugsd claire))), rhiannon is excatly the same, she isnt talking much, she can say some words and not others, but she understands fine...we are taking her to get her ears checked on the 18th though via a specialist due to her being really clumsy and because im a paranoid mother...lol

I think as long as you are talking to him, and telling him what you are doing that he will be fine, and one morning he will jsut come out with something.

p.s I am still awaiting your return phonecall...lol

I don't think you should worry at all Claire. My neighbour's little man was about 2 and a half before his talking really took off (he could understand clear as day what you were saying and would nod or shake his head, but didn't string words together).

I think if you were worried about his behaviour, other than the talking thing, and he was showing autistic signs such as being anti-social or fixated on certain things (I think these are signs of autism, too lazy to look it up again) then maybe you'd have cause to get a professional opinion.

Seriously though, once he starts learning words he just won't stop. They seem to have big bursts of learning/talking, Hannah's ECE teacher had a word for it but I can't remember. If he isn't spending a lot of time with other kids then maybe that might spur things on...?

McKayla started saying nanna for mamma at 3 and a half months. At 6 months she could say daddy and only did it if Grant was there. Called the 3 cats by name. Called the dog by its name and then started saying mamma (the afrikaans for mommy.)

She went on and said Christmas tree and belly button before 1 year. And a few other words.

She then totally stopped saying anything except mamma or mommy until about 15 months. Then the odd word came in as such. But not much. So I was freaked out. She had an ear infection but that cleared. In Grants family his dad was a later talker and his brother was so late that he actually had to go for speech therapy. On our side my sister also had to go. (but that was due to a nightnurse overmedicating her each night so she can sleep through and she had an attack which left her brain without oxygen for a few minutes)

So I was really worried. Specially when I hear that some kids can say like one and two. And can start saying 2 sentence words. And that other people understand them. And they know the parts of their body or face and animals and animal sounds and some even with colours.

I did work a bit with her as I think there is some weeks that I am too busy with studying and we dont play as much with educational stuff. She was still happy and just took in. And about a week later the words just came out. Watched the show zoo with daddy and she just started with words like giraffe ect and surprised us.

I really wont be worried. Unless he doesnt totally understand what you are saying with basic commands. (that means that he might not be hearing so well) But if he does then he is hearing find and just taking a bit of time.

Compare to some kids McKayla is still behind but jeepers they cant always be ahead with everything now can they? I think they seriously teach us some patience. (and I have like zero. Okay lie I do have a tiny weeny bit now)

Quinn didn't talk until a month before his second birthday, and even then it was only to say no. I never worried about his talking although he was late.

There is no shutting him up now tho...

I wouldn't be worried. It's usually 2 word sentences at about the 2yr mark, and usually boys later than girls. At 2 you'll find that he'll pick up a couple of words a week most likely.

At that age Miya wasn't saying much at all just the real basics but as soon as she hit 20mths she really took off with her speech, I started repeating a lot of words back to her eg. when she was clearly wanting a drink I would said "would you like a drink? can you say drink?" just simple things like that helped hurry things a long. Now at 23mths I still have to encourage her to use her words went she wants to tell us something rather than just pointing and noises. I felt with Miya she seemed almost like she didn't see the point in using words when she could get what she wanted but showing us or making baby sounds that only we would understand.
Each child is different, some just need to be encouraged more than others. My older daughter Chloe was so fast to talk and now she never stops I think in some cases it's more about personality than it is about development. If he listens and follows instructions then I wouldn't be worried.

lizzle wrote: boys really don't have as much verbal skill area as girls (of course there are exceptions) - does he have good gross motor skills? they usually make up forit in that department. I figure it to be that girls stay seated longer and therefore have to ask for stuff, hwile boys just get up and get it for themselves.

my 2 are an exception.....jack didn't crawl until after his 1st bday but was saying alot of words, charli has been crawling since 10mths but only says a few words........i wouldn't worry too much at this stage, i know a couple of kids who are just over 2 that don't speak very well yet

Spudling wrote: gosh i wouldn't worry at all. My DD hardly said anything until she was 2. Even at 2 she only had a few words, and never put two words together. The past month though she has gone mad and we can not shut her up Its like she was just storing all those words inside her head until they couldn't fit anymore so they all came exploding out all at once BTW, she is 2 years and 4 months

same as my emma she is 2 years and 3 months and every one comments on how much she is talking now