To be worried that my child can’t talk at all?

[Difranco123]

My DS is 18 months and still has no words. Apart from “baa baa” when he wants us to sing his favourite song. I’m not even sure that counts as a word. He shows signs of understanding, will follow basic instructions (when he feels like it 😂). He’s very sociable and loves “talking” to everyone we meet, but while his little friends are saying lots of actual words he’s still yet to say anything. Should I be worried?

At 18m, one of my kids has no proper words. The other was taking in full sentences. I wouldn’t worry as long as your dc is engaging non verbally.

Had not has! They are both tweens now

@Mumatoo Thank you for the tips! It's so good to talk to other mums who have experienced similar things, I worry at times that I'm doing it all 'wrong' & find it hard not to compare!

On her second birthday, DD had no words, not even mummy or daddy. She’s now a perfectly normal 14 year old.

MaryLou thanks for sharing, our ds sound alike. I can definitely relate to feeling like I’m getting it all wrong!

Mumatoo thanks so much for the advice, it’s very helpful. I’ll definitely try talking in a more deliberate way tomorrow with ds and reinforce words more.

No I wouldn’t worry at all. If by age 3.5 he has no words, that’s when I’d worry and so would the Plunket nurse.

I have 3 sons and not one of them spoke before they were well into their second year.
Sounds like you are doing great. Just keep loving and supporting them and ride he road! X

My DS was like this.
By the time he had his 2 year assessment he wasn’t saying anything. We paid for private speech therapy and within 4 sessions he was speaking in 3 words sentences. What was weird was that he could say the alphabet and make the noises but couldn’t say words. He also knew all the letters in lower and uppercase.

It was so frustrating as he would have the most crazy screaming fits as he couldn’t communicate.
By the time he was 2.5 the screaming had stopped and he was talking.
By the time he was 3 he was reading.

DD was talking very early and is now 3 and a little chatterbox. She’s nowhere near reading. When DS was her age he was coming him from preschool with reading books.

My point is they’re all very very different and reach milestones at different time. There’s prob stuff he’s doing that most other 18 month olds aren’t xx

Speech and language therapists also advise making language more meaningful I.e toys out of reach so they have to ask for them, having two options for snack naming both objects to him to model speech and waiting for some sort of indicator as to preference which will hopefully turn into speech.

If he is having bottles, dummies or alot of screen time then it would be well worth stopping these as they can impact on speech. Plenty time yet though, just treat every activity/task as a language opportunity.

Or non spill cups/bottles (basically the sucking affects the speech muscles).

DD at this age had two words: "hello" which was for people, and "look", which was for objects. Six months later, she could go through the alphabet and give you a word beginning with each letter. She couldn't read fluently until she was nine. She has a degree, but no English GCSE. All this is inside the normal range.

Conversely, I spoke fluently at 2, could read by 4, failed my last spelling test at 6. I didn't learn how to be human until my 30s.

Sociable is better.

Oh Op, 18 months is really very little. Your dc is well within the expected age, if I remember correctly.

My ds had his two year check at nearer 2years 3 months, and I spent the night before racking my brains trying to come up with the ‘correct’ amount of words he’d uttered in worry that there might be a problem.

As previous posters have sagely advised, be careful what you wish for! 2 weeks later he was talking in full sentences with good enunciation and a vocabulary beyond his years. He hasn’t stopped since, he’s now nearly 7 and I have earache 😳 I think most just do it in their own sweet time. At 18months, I would say as long as they appear to be understanding, everything else will follow

I wouldn't worry OP - completely within normal age brackets. It's hard but try not to compare to others, they all develop at own pace and when they get to secondary school you won't know who walked first and who spoke earlier than who.