to not know how many words my toddler can say?

[ikeaismylocal]

Ds has his 18 month check up this afternoon, lots of his friends have recently had it and say they were asked how many words their child could say. I often read on mumsnet parents who know their child can say 100/200/400 words 50 verbs 20 adjectives and so on. Some of my friends even have lists!

We counted and wrote down the words until ds could say about 30 in both of his languages but I have given up counting now.

Aibu to not know exactly how many words he can say?

I have no idea how many words our DD (27mths) can say, I only kept track at the very beginning. Best guess is LOTS.

Oh I've no idea how many mine can say! Who has time for a list?

I know that he can say quite a lot, and some small sentences, like 'want more' 'sore bum' 'in there' 'come on' that sort of thing. But actual number? No idea!

YANBU. I think that probably if you needed to know how many words your toddler could say, you'd know that you needed to know. If the person checking really needs to know, they'll have ways of working it out - eg talking to your child or talking to you about it.

Yeah I gave up counting after a point too. I did make lists but that was when he had much fewer, it's quite nice to look back on.

I wonder if when people say their DC have x-hundred words, that they know what it sounds like when a child has a vocabulary at that level, for example they work in speech and language therapy. I wouldn't have a clue.

I think you probably really need to know if you think there's a problem and he appears to be behind other children around his age.

I knew for DS1 because he was delayed and it was pretty obvious. But I had to write them all down and then count them up, instead of just knowing. And I counted small phrases like "there it is" as one word because he perceived it as one word - he wouldn't have been able to use "there" "it" "is" in any other combination.

DD is 20 months, around 18 months out of interest and probably boredom I counted the words I could remember she could say. Was about 60, way more than I thought. God knows now, over 100 I guess. No 18 month check offered here though!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't specifically know how many words my child can say.

We found it hard to count as we weren't sure if we should count the words twice if he could say them in both languages, also we weren't sure if we should count the word twice if they were pretty much the same in both languages but pronounced slightly differently.

It's a good point about the people who know the child can say 100/300/500 words possibly have a speach therapy background, that would make sense.

I didn't count. Both DDs were gabby so seemed pointless.

Be warned though that the following will happen:

HV "how many wowks can x say? "

You "oh loads, can't really count, not worried about speech really"

HV "x what's this? Is it a ball? X? X?"

X " "

YANBU. I started off with a list but lost it when I reset my phone. I had got to 50 before he was 2 and I thought that was probably ok. He's 26 months now and I have no idea, I know that he can put together 2 and 3 word sentences so that's good enough for me

I figure most people approximate. That's what me and DH do - we did start counting at first but at some point it just got kinda pointless. If some one asked me I'd estimate but tell them it was an estimation. If it's a nice rounded figure like 100, 200 etc. then I'd figure the parent was estimating rather than genuinely counting.
I also wonder when people say how many words their child can say whether they're including every single word their child has ever said even if it's only ever been once and never again, or if they just count the words their child can use consistently (which is what to me makes more sense).

I had a check the other day and wasn't prepared for this question. The dr said did i think DS said 10 words and i said 'no, it's more than that', and he said 20? and i said yes, thinking 20 is loads. Then the dr said can he name parts of his body and i said yes, and the dr said 'where's your arm? where's your leg?' and DS looked blankly at him and the dr made some notes. Then told me his language was delayed at a 15mo level (DS is 21mo) and i was really shocked.

On the way home i counted up all his words and there were over 50 and I realised we'd never used the word arm to him. He says feet, toes, knee, hand, fingers, head, hair, ears, eyes, nose and mouth (oh and weasel for his penis ). So i wish i'd said something and been more prepared now.

Do people do this, I counted 50 words then gave up. They gain new words everyday, how on earth could you keep up?

Easier to record brag to HV when they start saying two words together, then three, then sentences.

DD sorted any potential uncooperative behaviour by saying "Caterpillar" as soon as she walked into the room for her development check. Never mind that we've been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to her since she was teeny, and it was one of her earlier words. HV was impressed so it didn't matter that she didn't talk for the rest of the check up.

My hv is a bit unobservant, she asked my at ds's 12 month check if he had started trying to move around at all, he was running around the room climbing up onto the chairs

Are they supposed to know all the parts of the body?! We must start trying harder with ds!

My 16 month old says no words at all - I'm a bit worried after reading how much other toddlers can say!

I wouldn't be too worried at this point, Inspiration. There's plenty of time yet, and you'll probably find that your LO starts talking all of a sudden. I think they only worry about it from 2 1/2 or so. Language development is a very individual thing.

We only have 2 year checks round here and only the if you're concerned about something.

The HV sends home a sheet saying some achievements that your child can do including saying x number of words.

We were concerned that we didn't think DS could say that number and so started a list. We very quickly realised that he was saying more words than would be a concern and stopped counting.

He's now 3.9 and I wouldn't even be able to guess how many words he knows.

Good luck but I expect it will be fine.

Inspiration for ds it happened all of a sudden, he went from saying nearly nothing to trying to say lots.

We met up with a group of mums who all had babies in December 2012 yesterday, the range of their speach was really wide.

I used to know, as DS2 didn't have any words until about 20 months, then 10 by 2-year check, rising to 30 by 28 months, when he started SALT. I stopped counting when he reached 50 & started putting 2 words together, at 2.11, as this eased my worries somewhat. He still has some catching up to do & needs to work on pronunciation, but he now regularly uses 3-4 word sentences & sometimes 5 words . He is now 3.2.

I had a list at the beginning, but stopped once DS hit 100 words since most of the early thresholds talk about 10-20-50-100 words. I've no idea how many he can say now, or even if he knows them in both or one of the languages.

Our next check up is at 2.5 years and at the last one HV (or similar, we're in Norway) said they'd be looking for an active vocabulary of around 30 words.

I'm hoping to be able to write down some of his funnier utterances once he's a little bit older again. My memory is shite, and I'll probably forget them before I manage to write them down, never mind remember when they're older and can be embarrassed by them!

I think its important to have a rough idea how much your child is saying,

If there are any issues at this age, then there is a strong chance they can be rectified and worked on whilst the brain is so malleable.

Seeing as boys seem more prone to issues I would be working even harder with them.

If you've lost count of the words, it's probably fine. I do remember us sitting down and counting to see if they'd met the milestones (late talkers) and SALT ended up being necessary.

They asked me to tell them all the words he cold say! I clarified with her that she wanted to know ALL the words, and she said yes, it gives an idea as to how he communicates ( which words he chooses to use) after about 50 words I asked her if she wanted me to continue, she said no, it's fine, she only expected him to have 8-10 words as he is a bilingual boy.

She did ask ds where his nose was and he refused to show her but I told her he does know where his nose is. He also asked for boobie after his vaccinations which is technically a body part ;)

He had to do tower building and drawing, his drawing isat the level of a 3 year old apparently, who knew there were levels of scribbling, all a bit daft really!

Not a clue. Spot the second child.