17 month old - what is normal speech wise?

[ilovejonty]

I read that by this age many babies can say about 10 words recognisably.

As far as I can tell, my son can only say three: Teddy (when he sees Teddy), Baby (when seeing a doll or, bizarrely, a knitted toy clown he has) and Bus (pronounced 'Buh') when he sees a bus or van. These are apart from the vague DaDa, MumMum sounds he's made for ages. Does this sound 'normal' for his age?

(Oh, and he sometimes also says 'beep beep' and 'wheeeee' when pushing his toy cars along.)

Worried I should be reading / talking more, though I do already.

[Chatkins]

It can vary hugely, so please don't worry !
He sounds absoloutely fine to me.
My dd1 was very vocal, and chatting away by age 2, and ds, who is also 17 months at the mo, is heading the same way, picking up new words daily.
But dd2, who is 4.5 at mo, was totally different. Only had a few words by 1.5 and by 2 not that much more. Even now she talks well, but is not as conversatonalist as her sister, if you know what I mean, just not as naturally chatty ?
But anyway, he sounds, fine, they are all different, so don't worry !

[Pannacotta]

Have no idea what the norm is but I wouldnt worry if I were you.
DS1 didnt say anything at this age and DS2 only has one or two words and is is 18 months, both boys bright and healthy, in fact it is hard to get DS1 (nearly 4) to stop chattering now...

[snickersnack]

ds is the same age. He doesn't even really have 3 words I don't think - sort of, maybe. We have "dox" for socks, "dere" for "there" (as in "where are your dox?" "dere") and "da" for absolutely everything else.

But (crucially) he understands everything. Really everything. "Can you go and find a nappy for me sweetheart?" and he reappears dragging his mat and a clean nappy. I'm determined not to worry about it. I'm going to give him another four months before I decide to do anything, as he's so obviously on track in other respects.

His favourite activity is having stories read and his sister jabbers on to him the whole time - so I'm not convinced either of those make a difference.

If you think he can hear you and understand you then I wouldn't worry at this stage about the words - they'll come. If you're not sure about the hearing and understanding then it would be worth getting him checked out - even something as similar as wax build up in ears can affect their hearing and hence their undertanding and speech.

[ilovejonty]

Yes, good point, he can hear and understand, as he will run off and fetch things if asked! We are not at the interaction stage of question and answer yet though! That sounds very impressive.

[LackaDAISYcal]

The range of normal is vast from no words to stringing two or three together.

As snickersnack says the level of their understanding is a good key to their development at this age; some babies take it all in and store it for later use where others pick up new words like carpet fluff.

Just keep repeating words to him when he says them (or what you understand him to be saying) and he will start using them himself when he is ready

[AMamaForObama]

Having had a dd with complete speech delay bar one or two indistinct sounds, understanding is the key
Dd had total understaning of complex instructions and great non verbal comms
At age 3 she just became very verbal now 6 has well above average speech and language skills.

Slow and steady wins the race ;)

I have 19mth old ds2 too for comparison
Very verbal
They vary madly.!

[colander]

I was told by HV (about 5.5 years ago...) that "normal" is doing these things at 18 months:

walking
saying 3 words
knowing 3 parts of their body (e.g. pointing to head if you say where's your head)

Therefore your DS is normal.
I know a boy who didn't start talking until he was 2.5, and then suddenly said loads of words. I wouldn't worry.

[woodstock3]

ds is 17mo and said bugger all up until about about three weeks ago despite lots of reading and talking etc while everybody else's child seemed to be practically forming sentences. then all of a sudden in the space of about three days he got about ten words. then that pretty much doubled in a week. he's now repeating the last word of practically every sentence he hears. he was like your ds in that he seemed to understnad a lot just not verbalise it and i think with children like this it often all comes in a big rush. my nephew didnt really say anything until later than this and he is now madly talkative.