18 month old not speaking much

[sophiebbb]

We are bringing up our 18 month old DS bilingual (I am English and my DH is Italian). He understands both languages (obviously the basic things in both languages) and when I ask him to point at a photo in a book eg where is the boat, he will do it - and is building up his vocab nicely. He can also point to the same photo when my DH says 'where is the boat' in Italian. He understand simple commands eg hold Mummy's hand, go and get your shoes, help mummy change DD2s nappy etc

However, he is not speaking much at all and I am worried about this. He says mama, daddy, dac-ta (tractor!) and ba-da (pasta!) but nothing else.

He had frequent ear infections when he was younger and did have a bout of glue ear. The consultant has said it is not worth doing a hearing test until he is 2 years old.

Is his speech above normal??
Should I push for a hearing test now?

[frazzledbutcalm]

My first child was an excellent talker. 2nd very good, 3rd and 4th not so good. dc3 and 4 both started nursery and could really only be understood by family. However, after few weeks at nursery their speech came on wonderfully. dc3 now in reception class and talks just like all her classmates.
your ds will be just the same, just go at his own pace.
If you're worried about his ears then persist with gp for hearing test.

[margoandjerry]

OK I can confidently answer this one as I was thinking of posting the same two months ago. My DD was exactly the same as yours in terms of understanding except that she actually said no words. All the books say they should have 4 or 5 words by 18 months and she had none. Not even mama.

Literally in the last week (20 months) she has said apple, cake, car, teddy, ok, yes, no, up please, ok, oh dear, and - very clearly copying my sister - "you bet"

She's still not really much of a talker as in she just doesn't feel the need to say these and other words very often but it's all coming together.

[TheApprentice]

hey, please chill!

My ds is almost 18 months and the only thing he can say is hiya! I'm not worried, he can point to some things and he's advanced in other areas (physical, spatial etc) so I think he's bright enough. Don't think theres anything to worry about at this stage.

If it helps, my nephews are being brought up bilingual and were slow to talk too - I beliebe this is very common initially. The older one is nearly four and now speaks better than a lot of his English speaking only nursery friends, despite not talking at all until he was two.

[Tutter]

add a year and you might be allowed to worry

seriously

ds1 didn't say anything other than mummy/daddy/yes/no at 2.6yo

6 months later and he doesn't shut up. ever.

[sophiebbb]

Thank you - feel better now. Some days I am completely chilled about it but others I get cold feet about the whole bilingual thing and just think christ maybe we are overloading him and he will be completely confused and grow up saying nothing, zilch, nada.

Who says mums worry too much........!!

[TheApprentice]

No, bringing up a child bilingual has HUGE advantages, he will benefit in the end!

[MumOfOne73]

Don't worry at all ! My DD was not saying anything at 18 months. She is now 2.2 years and it is only in the last month or so that she has started saying a few words.

[PrettyCandles]

You don't need to worry. If an18m bilingual child is clearly understanding and responding to language, then he is doing fine. The bilingualism may (probably will) hgold his speech back a bit, but when he eventually speaks - wow!

And I speak as a child who was brought up bilingual .

[PrettyCandles]

ERm, I'm not a child, I'm an adult. Not being a good advertisment for bilingualism, am I!

[mejon]

We're bringing DD up bilingually (Welsh/English) with most emphasis on Welsh I guess as I am with her most and find it very odd speaking to her in English. She is nearly 23 months and has only a few words (mami, daddy, na, oh no and sometimes teddy)but clearly understands most of what we say to her/ask her to do and is constantly babbling away in her own little language. I'm not concerned as yet .

[MummyToOneForNow]

My 18 mth old dd has no recognisable words at all although she clearly understands a lot of what we say (points to pictures in books when I say the names of the objects, goes off towards the stairs when I say it is bath time, shakes her head when I say it is time for her nap etc). Not worrying too much yet - she does some general babbling (especially when on her own e.g when she wakes up in the morning) - I think when she does get round to talking it will all happen quite quickly...