To be very concerned about my 18 month old son

[holsieboo]

My son has just turned 18 mo and is still not talking very much. He can only say a few words (I just counted seven words that he regularly says) but he misses the end consonants of words. I.e. Ball is bah, Dog is doh, Bath is ba, Bottle is booh etc. I am really worried about this and I don't know what to do to help him. My DP thinks he is fine and that IABU to worry and stress so much.

All kids are different, according to my mum my cousin was saying words at 9 months !! He's not overly intelligent so has no relevance in that respect.

HVs can be very conservative. But with waiting lists variable that is not necessarily a bad thing. It is no trouble to cancel an appointment later if it isn't needed.

No other concerns? Social interaction? Sensitivities? Diet? Repetitive behaviour?

Trust your instinct. Not all DC can do things bang on schedule.

As/a mother with a non verbal four year old who has a diagnosis of ASD I can understand your worries but at 18 months I wouldn't worry too much does your son point ? Clap? Understand things you say to him ?my neurotypical child had very limited vocabulary at this age too but by three he was fine if you are still concerned at two mention your concerns to your health visitor who can refer to all the appropriate professionals.

My DD only had about 5 words at 18 months. By 20 months she had a large vocabulary and was talking in sentences. I really wouldn't worry yet.

Was so concerned about my ds2 hardly saying anything at 18m and being slow to walk (stupidly comparing him to ds1 at the same age) that I got myself in a state, contacted the HV, got his hearing tested etc.

She had resolutely refused to get unduly worried and 17 yrs later he's doing his A Levels, but still has a tendency to communicate in grunts!

Try not to worry. The HV 'keeping an eye on progress' is more likely meant as a reassurance for you, rather than a sign that she suspects anything is wrong.

I worried at 18 months too as DS didn't really have any words, at almost 2 he's using phrases and has loads of new words. He missed out parts of words and I've found that the words he was saying correctly are now being mispronounced in this way too. The dr explained that it's because he's doing everything in a massive rush - he's desperate to speak and wants to use words for everything which is why it's all gobbledygook. She told me not to worry and that if things were no better in 6 months she'd look into it.

My friends' little ones are all fantastic talkers, they've been speaking for months and they are the same age as DS. One of them didn't walk until after 18 months and was told that this was completely normal too. It's good that your HV is keeping an eye out but I wouldn't let this alarm you. It's more good practice than anything else.

It's hard not to worry.

Progress isn't linear, I expect you're imagining "he has a couple of words now, it'll take a few months for the next words, then the next" but it isn't like that. Our DD went from no proper words (just sounds me and dp understood) to 3 word sentences in a matter of weeks! Honestly. It was so quick. He might be biding his time and taking it all in. Being around new/other people helps as he might find he has to speak more to communicate with them. The toddlers I know all range so much in their speech, it's fascinating and lovely as they all develop differently.

it's totally normal. I was starting to get worried about my niece as at 18 months old the only word she had was dada but didn't use it to call her dad it was just a sound to her. two months later and she is saying mom mama nana Granada hiya shoe bee No. they will all get there don't worry

I have rolled this anecdote out on MN many a time, so I am sorry for the repetition. DS didn't say an understandable word (not translated by family) until he was over two. His first word was 'Helicopter' and he has never looked back.

My DS didn't say a lot until he was 2, but he walked early so we just thought he was using most of his brain power for action rather than words :) I know it's hard not to worry, but it's a good thing that the health visitor is monitoring his progress. It doesn't necessarily mean there's a problem, but at least if there is he will get the support needed.

If you are concerned at all, google I CAN -they're a charity who specialise in children's speech. V v helpful when I dealt with them.

Ds1 was still like this at 3 when he started nursery. He had speech therapy from 20 months and was assessed for autism (with my grudging consent, to shut them up) more than once. His vocabulary grew and grew, but his pronunciation barely improved from age 14 months - 3.5.

He would rattle out 'Muh cah I tah ma bahh teh a parr? Ah ca ah hah a drih plee?' at age 3.5 [Mum can I take my ball to the park? And can I have a drink please?']. I was his constant translator and it used to worry me hugely.

He's now age 6 and his pronunciation is perfect. When he's tired he slurs his words a bit and I think he'll always be prone (when tired or distracted) to a 'lazy' form of speech, but for 99% of the time he speaks perfectly now.

I had this concern and HV told me that they look for 5 words said in their own way. E.g. They won't necessarily sound like we would say them but are understandable nonetheless.

DS says dada, hi, bye and up. Occasionally cat and head. He is 19 months. I'm not worried as he seems to understand everything I say and follows instructions brilliantly.

I was also told boys are often slower at talking and might be more physical to make up for it. DS fits this.

Dc didn't walk until 18 months either. They were definitely the last of their group, but I just kept carrying them around. Ds now plays lacrosse and walks and runs just fine :)

Yanbu to worry but I think that sounds perfectly fine for 18 months, dd was similar to this a couple of months ago but now at 20 months she's suddenly got a lot more words, I'd say give it a couple of months and then see how he is, if you're still worried then make an appointment with your health visitor

DD2 is 18 months and is a whirlwind of activity. Has no attention span at all, has the knack of creating chaos out of order in seconds, I dare not take my eyes of her for more than a few seconds. She says mummy, daddy, shoe, wow and oh dear. Mostly, hearing wow and oh dear is not good... So 2/5 of what she can say indicates trouble

She's a world apart from DD1 at this age who was chatting loads, would sit for extended periods of time and generally was easy to look after.

They're both normal, just different.

The website Talking Point is very useful for normal speech development at various ages and stages, and has suggestions on how to help your child move to the next level.

My nephew picked up words like a sponge at that age but missed off some out the sound and the gp picked up glue ear. He was saying what he could hear. Might be worth checking?

I think he sounds like hes doing totally fine and I'm surprised that your HV said to keep and eye. It's hard to describe how much their language expands much closer to their second birthday. It expands hugely all of a sudden and the bog standard average child is saying three word sentences on their second birthday and is much clearer.

Ds1 was slow to pronounce the end of words. I was told it was part of normal language development and they would only be concerned if he got stuck at that stage. He did get referred for hearing test at his 2 year check which was sensible but all fine. There is a huge difference between 18m and 2 years so I wouldn't be worried yet. Also a huge variation between children the same age (I remember a 19 month old girl saying 'I'm sitting on the green chair', I was gobsmacked) but now at age 5 they are all the same.

At 2 years and 3 months the speech therapist (open drop in session at children's centre) said they weren't concerned at that stage but to come back in a couple of months.

At 2 years 6 months one day he said juice not ju, and that same afternoon said bus not bu and that was it within a week he was talking properly.

When ds was 18 months he could only say dada, mama (only when he was upset) and every other noise was a scream, grunt or he pointed at something and said uh. He's 22 months now and has picked up a few more words and is constantly babbling, trying to talk and join in conversations. I don't have any concerns at the moment as he still is very young. Dd was the same although even quieter than ds is, but she seemed to transform into a fabulous talker. Now a very chatty 5 yr old!.I remember as a first time mum worrying about her as she was quiet. Obviously if you are worried speak with your hv and see what they say. My nephew didn't walk until he was nearly 22 months, I remember Sil frantic with worry about him. He's a strapping active nearly 7 year old now.

I really clocked all 4 of my kids development on their second birthday. When my 4 were 18 months, they were all very quiet actually though and I can remember being worried. Role on 6 months two were saying two-to-three word sentences, one was saying 12 word sentences and the other 6 word sentences. They all struggled with pronunciation of some sort for a couple more years but were ok by the start of school.

If you want to help your son you could always get him hooked on books. Read, read and read, it will be a great foundation for his future.

So there's receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary. Receptive is how many words you can understand, expressive is how many you can speak.

Receptive vocab develops much earlier than expressive - infants & toddlers can understand a lot more words than they can speak, because, well, speaking is complicated! It requires the coordination and maturation of brain, facial muscles, throat muscles, diaphragm, tongue, teeth... its a lot to master.

If his receptive vocabulary is fairly big - if you ask him to point at something, or to get it, or you ask him questions he can answer (maybe with a nod, or a number of fingers) then it is less likely that it is a problem. Some children are just slower to develop an expressive vocabulary - maybe a little bit of apraxia, maybe just a lot of the self-conscious emotions, or maybe neither - and then they have their "vocabulary spurt" (when most children begin to pick up in expressive vocab, around 18mo) a bit later. But if his receptive vocabulary is small - he doesn't seem to understand when you say what should be familiar words, like bottle or mommy or nap, then you should definitely take him in for an assessment.

Like KinttedJimmyBoos said, this is the age when some developmental issues begin to become apparent, just because of how the infant brain typically develops. Typically, though - there are lots of differences between individuals of any age, so there's no reason to panic yet.

I hope this helped, and I apologize for any typos.

On the other side of this, my daughter 2.6 and is seeing a speech language therapist. She does have hearing loss in one ear but I believe it is genetic as I had sever speech language problems as a child.

Your son may catch up or he may need some help. If he does need extra help, try not to worry so much. He will learn and will speak. It just take them a bit longer than other children. The waiting list to see a speech therapist is months so a lot of toddlers have this problem.

How advanced are his motor skills? My son has always been ahead with walking/running/climbing/riding bike etc, and lagged behind a little with his speech until he hit 2yo (no two word sentences, didn't speak much, had quite a few nouns and was asking about new words but wouldn't use them much after he'd figured out how to say them etc). Almost the week he turned two, his vocabulary began to explode, we had mini sentences and he was talking all the time. At 2.1 yo he never stops talking now, and has pretty much caught up with his 'early talker' friends. He'd just been focusing on something else first!