To think WTF? Speech development

[starfishcoffee]

DS is 14 months. This is pretty petty and could be meaningless but something the HV said has stuck in my head and I'm wondering if there's any truth in it or if it's utter crap.

In May DS had his 1 year check. The HV was happy with him, told me to keep an eye on his "talking" and that by 14 months he should be putting together 2-3 word sentences and to watch for delayed speech. Is that true?

DS spends most of his time chatting away, but I've no idea what he's saying. He says 'Dada', and 'no' but only after I've said it - so repeating what I say. He's been walking since April, he waves, high fives, kisses etc. so I've never felt there's an issue but the comment about his speech won't leave my conscious.

I had this at 1 year check as DS only saying a couple of words, I explained my oldest was same and is usual in bilingual children but she would have none of it.

It is also completely usual for monolingual children too!

@coffeeaddiction my (just) 2yr old can talk in 6/7 word sentences. We were told that is around what's expected in NT kids at 2 when kids have proper consistent input. Only have 2 words at 2 is not right.

having* bloody phone

My sons 18months and not saying any words. Still just baby babbling

@Andysbestadventure Such long sentences are quite advanced for children that age. Most start to combine 2 words around their second birthday. After they started combining words, they often develop really fast and may be up to longer sentences after some months.
What does "NT" mean?

Bahahahaha NO

DC1 was speaking at that age, in clear 2-3 word sentences

DC2 was just grunting and pointing at that age

DC3 also just grunts and points

By the age of 2 they should have around 50 words and make 2 words sentences. At 14 months I would only expect a handful of words. Perhaps she was referring to when he's 2

My son was coming up to 18 months and I just knew that his speech was delayed already by then. He is now 29 months and still not talking. Whilst the specifics may be bollocks, I do think it can be picked up early. There's no harm in keeping an eye on things and taking some advice early.

I spoke to a speech therapist friend and she told me some things to look out for which would indicate other concerns (he hasn't shown other signs of autism, hearing loss, global delay etc and that has helped me not to worry about those!) She also gave me some tips for encouraging early speech which has helped me know that at least I've been doing everything I can to help.

Try not to worry unnecessarily but no harm in keeping an eye out.

Andy, you seem to have misunderstood. Yes having only 2 words at 2 would be considered below average. However coffeeaddiction's post was about 2-year-olds talking in 2 to 3 word sentences, (as per the OP) which is very much the norm. Your own 2 year old sounds to be above average.

HV is a nutter. Don't listen to them. 9

also @Andysbestadventure omg get over yourself. My kid can do that to buy that is NOT the norm. And also Who cares?!?! No one
Absolutely no one. So go humblebrag elsewhere

op your kid is perfectly normal.

I was told this too.

Holey moley.. some bad typing going on there oops

Rubbish. My youngest was barely saying a word at 2.5 years old and even then I only got some ECAT support for a few sessions. She suddenly found her voice and now I cant shut her up most of the time. kids develop at different rates

I wouldn’t be concerned. This is a useful chart (sorry, no idea how to make it clicky)

www.talkingpoint.org.uk/sites/talkingpoint.org.uk/files/stages-speech-language-development-chart001.pdf

At 14 months? Erm, no.

Oh! It did all by itself

Nonsense. DD finally said mama at 2 years old. She had a limited vocab at 2 and a half and many words sounded the same. Many people couldn't understand her.

I was worried and no one really took it seriously,turns out they were right actually since it all evened out by the time she was 5 and now won't shut up. One HV though really pissed me off as according to her "she doesn't understand either,if she did she would be talking".

DS is 2 next week.
He was early for every physical milestone, rolling, sitting, crawling and walking.
Speech wise I think hes probably really behind. I've tried talking to him, trying to get him to repeat, singing.
If I say high five, or kiss, or fist bump with no actions, he knows what I want. So he can understand, hes just not talking much yet.
He knows mom, dad, baby and bye.
I dont really know what else I can do but I'm sure the health visitor will have lots to say at his 2 year check up.

All children are different. When my daughter was 2 and a half she was referred to a hearing clinic because all she would say was mummy, Daddy or Lee. We were in with the consultant, and he asked me if she tried to repeat words when I read to her. I hadn't noticed, so he passed a book to me to try. We managed to drop it between us, and my daughter said "Whoopsidaisy!"

This is rubbish OP, you have nothing to worry about. Are you in the UK? At our recent 15 month check, they expected them to be able to say between 2-5 words and that's it. Even if they couldn't they weren't that worried, they would just keep an eye on it. At my older DCs 27 months check, they were expecting sentences of 2 or more. I'm not sure what your HV is talking about, your DS is doing fine

I raised issues with our HV at my twins two year check, she told me the age two guidelines don’t differentiate between only just two and a day off three. Mine did have problems but they certainly weren’t manifesting at 14 months.

@Andysbestadventure by the sounds of it from every other poster on here your child sounds like a exception and on the more advanced side of normal

She is talking bollock. DS was saying about the same when he was that age. His speech has exploded over the past couple of months. He is 21 months now and I’ve lost count of how many words he is using and is putting sentences together and numbers 1 - 10 etc

Was she getting confused and thinking it was a 2 year check??

Sorry reading my post back - it sounds a bit braggy

What I mean is that your child may not speak more than a couple of words until 2 or 3 or whatever
Or their speech may rapidly develop over a short period of time
Or they may develop more slowly over a long period of time.

All are normal!

I have no advice as my twins are turning 2 in October and DD is babbling with a variety of sounds and DS just burbles, and says “Mamamama”, “Dadadadada” a lot (we got a nim and ungee from him yesterday though!)

I do agree that the HV assessments can be utterly soul destroying and some of the HV we’ve seen are so strict on “what the books say” that they don’t take into consideration much else.

Mine said that if DS isn’t saying at least 20 words by 2 years old and if DD isn’t putting short sentences together by then - we will need speech therapy referrals and assessments for ASD.

When I took them to their hospital paediatrician she looked gobsmacked and said we knew there would be delays as your DD and DS were two months premature, low birth weight, spent the first four months of their lives in NICU and are twins!

It doesn’t remove the chance that one or both of them may be on the spectrum. But the paediatrician said 2 was far too early to tell with them and so far says that, whilst they’re behind on age based milestones, they’re on track and developing well.

My HV thankfully listened to that. Even though I explained all of what the paediatrician did when she assessed them 😩