No words at 18 months...

[ThatsNotMyCherry]

Did anyone else have a child who had no words at 18 months? My son babbles all day long and makes eye contact but he doesn’t have any words and only understands one instruction (let’s clap). I’ve tried to get him to repeat words after me (eg the words we want him to call me and my husband) but he gets annoyed and will refuse

Does your HV know about this? They may want to arrange a hearing test.

My DS didn't say anything until he was two. He did have a slight speech delay but has pretty much caught up now.

Try the word MORE. When you give him food, put a bit on a spoon and try to associate the word more with getting a reward. If he says even the sound MMM praise him and repeat the word More. It's a really good word to learn as it is associated with a reward and it creates a good association in their brain. 'If I say MORE I get food'.

Same with the word 'again'. Blow bubbles with bubble mixture, before doing it again say 'AGAIN' or the word 'BUBBLE' if he tries to say any sounds praise him and blow more bubbles. Lots of praise. He'll get it eventually.

Other words are 'UP' when he wants picking up, 'down', 'one-two-tree GO' when doing something fun. And 'JUMP'.

I think his hearing is fine as he immediately responds when we say his name even if it isn’t very loud. I suppose we could have a test but I would be surprised if it’s his hearing

@QueenBlueberries thanks we are actually speaking to him in our heritage language

DS 18m says mamma and occasionally daddy but that’s it. He does generally follow instructions (well I think he knows the instructions but throws himself on the floor in a strop instead) he does some animal noises but otherwise everything he points at he says what sounds like ‘gay’ which I think may be ‘that’ or ‘they’ but either way is embarrassing in the supermarket. he has a consultant (because he was slightly prem and doesn’t walk yet) and she’s not at all concerned.
Always best to get these things checked though as gut instinct shouldn’t be ignored imho.

Try to find simple, short words that can be associate with something fun or food. The same principle applied. I speak French to my kids and DS1 first word was 'dehors' which means 'outside' - used a lot when he wanted to go in the garden which he loved.

My toddler is now 26 months and can only say 10 words, everything has been delayed with COVID only have just got him a referral with speech and language

Yep. No words until 19 months. He's 23 months now and has around 50 words.

Receptive language is most important at this age. Does he appear to understand what you say - even if he doesn't follow instructions? If you say 'Daddy's behind you' does he turn around to look? If you say 'There's a biscuit on the table' will he go get the biscuit? Definitely have a hearing test. He won't be completely deaf but he might have difficulties that make it more difficult to distinguish sounds.

If he's being being exposed to more than one language that can delay beginning to speak (I was an expat when my youngest was a toddler and lots of his bilingual friends were later to say their first words but caught up quickly).

I would get an appointment with SLT if you can too. If there is a speach issue early intervention is really helpful.

Check out Gemiini systems, it's a speech therapy that your kid watches. It's good for speech delays and autism, my 20month old started watching it and now can say Go and Cow, he already has a few other words but not a lot. It worked with my 1st son and now we are using it with the 2nd, plus we are bilingual.

My DD had no words till about 20 months and at 2 and 3 months had about 50 words that were very unclear (only me and my mum could understand her) she's 3 and a half now and speaks fine

I second having a hearing test. My younger daughter wasn't talking much at a similar age.

She had a hearing test and it turned out that she had glue ear. It had never occurred to me that she wasn't hearing well, because she seemed to hear and respond normally.

If he's exposed to more than one language then it would be pretty standard for him to have a bit of a delay.

How does he communicate with you? Does he point to ask for things?

DS is 20 months and is only beginning to get more words. He has maybe 5 words he consistently says.

My boy wasn’t speaking at 2 when we had health visitor come and do check, he used to point to anything he wanted, would do anything you asked and watched tv. The health visitor was concerned and said she would ring 3 months later to check. We stopped just getting everything and asked him what he wanted and by the time she rang, I let her speak to him on the phone, he answered all her questions. He walked at 11 months, they all do things at different stages.

I would ring and speak with the health visitor. I know a friend of mine was concerned and the hv said at 18 months if he still wasn't saying another she would make a referral.

They do all do things at different stages though, my son was 10 months when he said his first word but didn't wall till nearly 16 months

My son didn't get his first proper word until he was 2 and that was bye from watching and copying teletubbies.

He is now 2 and a half and understands instructions and have not got about 15-20 words and yes he is behind but from the conversations I have had with speech therapy it's not about him catching up overnight but showing progress so that is what we are focusing.

We did research and found most health professions are not bothered before 2