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.

Yeah, that sounds like a mix-up. My friend's kid was putting 2-3 words together at 14 months and his mum was consistently told by professionals that his speech was ridiculously advanced. It's certainly not average, let alone the minimum expected.

Incidentally, my friend's kid is now at school and he's very bright, but not freakishly so. He wasn't reading by the time he went to school, whereas his younger sibling (whose early speech was much less advanced) went to school able to read. So all kids really are different and early milestones aren't necessarily an indicator of anything much.

Ridiculous. I’m a nurse and some of the things health visitors say are atrocious!

Thank you for all the replies. Interesting to read. Honestly I don't know why the HV said that. Had she not said anything, I wouldn't consider DS to be behind at all. He was an early crawler, started walking at 9 months and can follow requests like "can mummy have that?" and also nods/shakes his head if asked a basic question. He does babble non-stop throughout the day. I just found it a bit disheartening.

She also claimed that I should put DS in front of the TV more so that I can keep the house tidy. Bloody strange. Living room was fairly clean, but naturally toys & books were strewn around.

Wow well that's just rude , really don't think it's the hv job to tell you to tidy your house ! Fair enough if it's filthy but nothing wrong with toys and books about !

Sounds like she's extremely old fashioned

If anything OP, it sounds like he is more ahead!

This makes me cross! I'm a speech therapist working with under 5s. We are looking for words by 18 months and joining 2 words by 2. Of course some children say a lot more but children who are joining words at 14 months are the exception.

We also spend lots of time talking to parents about age appropriate time limits on screen time. Suggesting more TV to clean is a ridiculous suggestion for a professional to make!

"She also claimed that I should put DS in front of the TV more so that I can keep the house tidy."

Why the fuck are idiots like that allowed to be health supervisors?

At 14 months my son was just starting to produce his first true words. He's almost 2 now and starting to string a few together, though most of his utterances are still single words. He's bilingual but even if he wasn't I think he's developing entirely typically. Your health visitor is on another planet.

starfish, your DS sounds delightfully normal, and possibly quite bright, whereas the health visitor sounds crazy and downright rude. I wouldn't be letting her into the house again (however messy or tidy)!

Unfortunately there is a large inconsistency amongst health visitor checks. In fact the government have recently invested money into training health visitors especially regarding early language skills so that they know when it is appropriate to make referrals for speech delays.

But your child sounds fine to me. There is alot of websites including communication trust and iCAN that have information about what level to expect for ages but important to remember it is only a guide.

DD spoke very early, easily putting together long sentences by the time she turned 2 BUT this has led to its own problems. Because she was so young, she didn’t learn how to form some of the sounds properly and now, aged almost 5, she is having speech therapy to correct some of her pronunciation. Early speech doesn’t mean anything really and can bring its own difficulties.

Thank you all, feeling reassured. He seems perfectly on target for milestones etc. so I do think HV is a bit bonkers. What health professional tells a parent to put their baby in front of a TV more?! Weirdly enough, I actually really liked this HV when she first came - she seemed down to earth.

I'll make sure my house is scrupulously tidy in time for his 2 year check.