Almost 17 month old not talking yet

How is your little one doing now? My daughter is 2 in February and is barely saying any words. She prettt much just babbles “mama” “dada” “baba”. She has started saying “ta” when passing something to me. I don’t feel like she understands simple instructions like “get me your shoes”. Although she will do simple actions like blowing a kiss, clapping etc x

My dgs is 19 months, He can say bye bye, uh ho, ta, football, car. He can make a noise like a dinosaur 🤷🏼‍♀️ And lion, car and dog. He follows our instructions very well. We're not at all worried.

My little girl was like this (despite her brother speaking by 12m. So we’re clearly a discrepancy haha) she was 2.5 and nursery referred her for speech therapy. By the time the appointment came round she was speaking fully and clearly, just basically overnight! The speech therapist was very confused by the referral.

She 5 now and never shuts the fuck up 😂😂

His fine, on track perfectly. Don’t worry. I had the same fears because my friends DS was 2 months younger than my DD & saying loads!

I don’t think they would even look into it until he turned 2 anyway. Once DD hit her 2nd birthday it all cane spewing out & much like everyone else has said here - she now does not shut up!

Ears testing? DS had severe glue ears and enlarged adenoids, yet never had an ear infection. Still has problems with glue despite being 6.

It's reassuring to hear all the comments on this, the guidelines are just that, a guide. My 2yo understands lots of instructions/words but only babbles, ma, da, ga etc. We have a speech therapy appointment booked but even they don't sound too concerned. If there are no issues then excellent but if there is then we can catch it early. I was interested to read a pp that said their child was largely lip reading. If in doubt doesn't hurt to ask health visitor/GP.

He’s still a baby, I really wouldn’t worry. If in a years time he’s still only saying three words, then they might start giving it some thought.

Lots of kids barely speak until 3, others are taking in sentences at your ds’ age. My friends ds didn’t speak at all until 3, where as my dd2 who is the same age was speaking in sentences at around 15 months. She worried there was a problem, but she read to him loads and by the time he could speak, she realised that he could also read. They are now both almost 12, dd2 and her ds are in the same set for English and her ds is a set higher for maths and science. So being a late talker made no impact on his future potential.

Please don’t stress about it.

My now 9 year old didn't say anything until he was nearly 3 (and then suddenly started with full sentences!) at the 2 year check they weren't particularly worried about it.

I think you should bring it up at his 2yr check but he sounds within normal limits to me. Dd was an incessant babbler and even now at 4 tends to supplement her speech with babble in the right tone if she’s not sure of what word she wants. She’s just in too much of a rush to speak without thinking about what she wants to say.

I think you’ll find he’ll have a leap when he’s in a different setting (probably preschool or other childcare) when he’s surrounded by people who don’t understand his cues or anticipate his needs so closely and he has to communicate.

@Forgivenandsetfree not stealth bragging whatsoever - she said they should be saying around 50-100 words by now. It is her job but understand where you’re coming from as well.

DS said about 10-15 words at 18m, the dr (we were there for another reason) said he was doing really well and they'd expect mummy/daddy plus one or two others at that age so it sounds like you DC is right where they should be.

I understand the worry though, DS1 didn't walk till 15m and almost all his friends were walking by the time they were one and I used to worry too.

@BlueVeins the there is not a hint of stealth boasting tone in her post! It must be horrible being so negative! Hope you're ok!

@MustStopSnacking28 22 months and says 25 words and you're worried?
Either your friend is setting the bar way way way to high or you're stealth bragging here. Absolutely don't go to the GP and waste his time!

I mean boys are a little further behind girls as children. Just as bright and successful, but usually take a bit longer to catch up.

Btw I have two children both boys. My elder DS is 5.5 and wasn’t a great speaker until he was 2.5 and suddenly couldn’t stop talking for love nor money. Seems like he just did it overnight.

My younger ds is 20 months and understand instructions with more than one part...”get your shoes and bring them to me and then get your coat” he’ll follow that no bother but still just babbles and repeats words.

They all get there in the end

@CathyandHeathcliff

Don't worry. Boys are always a little further behind girls. My DD started yakking at 10-11 months old, and I haven't been able to shut her up since! And DS didn't say much til he was 2, then it was ba ba ba.. No real sentences til he was 3.

They are both successful university graduates now. Both bright and clever and academic. (Stealth brag sorry not sorry...)

Don't worry! Perfectly normal that your boy is not chatting at 17 months old!

Remember speech and language covers so much.

Speech is only a part of it. His language skills are developing to such an extent that he understands you. The speech will come

Ds1 didn't start talking till he was 2.5. Then he chatted all the time. Now he's 18 and has gone back to saying nothing 😅

I listened to similarly reassuring comments and I so much wish I hadn't. Everything might be absolutely fine with your son. My son though was largely lipreading although he could hear a bit. The GP completely missed it. The ENT specialist told us that the very first thing to suspect with slow speech is a hearing problem. Try standing behind him so he can't see you and offer him some treat you know he'll respond to and see if he reacts. Even if a child responds to speech, they may hear well enough to understand but not so well that they can easily learn how to say the sounds.

More than 50 years ago, the benchmark was three words at 15 months. He is now 54 and never stops talking.

Do you think your DS can hear properly?
If there isnt a concern and you are sure he is understanding well make sure you speak to him lots. Do one to one speaking games in a quiet room rather than having tv on. Try to use correct speech modelling that your son can copy and learn from. Play copy and ryhming games as these all help.
Hopefully the word explosion us just around the corner ...then that dreaded word will haunt you for the next 5 years.... "WHY?"

Dd could speak fluently by 2, ds could only say no and tractor. He’s now 12 and never shuts up.

Sounds like what he is doing is exactly as is expected for his age. Please don't compare your baby to others and worry, there is a fairly large range of normal when they are tiny.

My eldest skipped the babbling part, could say a few words at 2 but no more than one at a time, he had speech therapy and used Makaton, by age 5 he was assessed as having better than expected speech. However he walked at 10 months - he didn't see the point of talking when he could do something himself and whatever the experts said, couldn't be tricked into talking when he didn't want to.

Youngest one did babble, and spoke earlier and his 'first word' was actually 2 words. But he didn't walk until 14 months and was just a more chatty chilled out baby. He also didn't nap and needed a minor op before his 3rd birthday, so was a worry in a completely different way.

They are all individuals, don't worry. However if you are concerned (and being told not to worry is, when you are worrying, the most patronising thing)... do some reading on supporting early speech. And use Makaton.

17 months I wouldn't worry he's still little.
my 2.7year old is still not talking he's only recently started babbling.

After ds 2 year check he was referred to speech therapy he's had 2 assessments with them now and will start speech therapy sessions soon. But I'm not worried still because dd was a late talker too.

My youngest hardly spoke until he was three , hasn’t shut up since . I wouldn’t worry just yet but keep an eye on it and seek help if you’re still concerned when he’s older .