21 month old girl not talking much.

[user1488481370]

We have a few words like mama, daddy, baby, tractor, boobies, mote mote (for remote), nana (banana) bath, ear, uh oh (when she drops something) and boobies but that’s about it.

I’ve noticed that she spins a lot (usually when dancing to music) she also likes to jump a lot as opposed to walking.

She points to things and knows what things mean

She will point to body parts if I ask her to, takes her plates out and puts them in the sink when asked, follows commands well. She babbles a lot but it’s incoherent and will mimic ‘get down’ when we tell her to sometimes. She’ll put a blanket over here head, we always say ‘where has *** gone?’ And typically when she pulls the blanket back down we say ‘there she is!’ She has started saying the last part for us but not sure if that’s just mimicking too.

I’ve been in touch with her HV but haven’t heard anything back yet.

[Cormoran]

How much screen time is she having? Screen time , especially hand held devices such as phone and iPads are the main cause of speech delay.

[Jannt86]

Screen time is NOT the main cause of speech delay. It's crap like that which make parents anxious wrecks and feel like failures when their kids aren't reciting shakesphere by age 1. I think the pp might be a troll so I wouldn't feed them. Yes excessive screen time might have a bit of an impact but the evidence is actually that when there is a serious and persistent delay in speech it's normally a pathology not a parenting issue.

Does your daughter point? Does she understand what you're saying and follow instructions? Does she find other ways of letting you know what she wants and socialising eg mimicking actions to songs etc? Does she play imaginatively? Jumping on the spot at 21MO is fairly advanced I'd say. My LO is good physically but had only juat started jumping off sofas etc by that age. Could your LO be focussing on physical skills etc right now?

[Jannt86]

Sorry I just noticed that you said she follows instructions well.... it doesn't sound like there's a major issue tbh. Mine wasn't saying tonnes at 21MO, sentences by age 2 and never shuts up now at 34MO. I wouldn't be too worried but I'd flag it up with the HV if there aren't significantly more words and making simple sentences by age 2. A website called //www.teachmetotalk.com is a good resource for explaining speech and things you can do to help. Xx

[Jannt86]

The spinning sounds like literally every toddler ever so I wouldn't worry about that

[user1488481370]

@Jannt86 thank you. She has more screen time than she ever did thanks to having my 7YO (and sometimes 10YO DSD) learning from home as well as a 3 month old. We’re in a small house and it’s hard to get away from each other, I try to suss out activities that she can do quietly in the background while I help DD’s with their school work but sometimes I struggle to find the time. She likes books and will sit and pretend to read to her dolly.

She’s good at following instructions and often points (especially when she sees a bird at the bird feeder) she has this dolly that she loves and she will put it on the changing mat grab wipes and nappies (sudocreme if I’m not watching too!) and try to change dolly’s bum. She will point at animals and certain foods in a book.

Yes she’s quite physical, she can climb like I’ve never know and has been jumping for quite a few months now. She can also walk for long distances and catch a ball intermittently.

Thank you for the website link! Im going to have a look when I get the chance later!

[user1488481370]

And she doesn’t have access to any phones or iPads.