18mths old & hardly talking, little hair & 4 teeth

[beck79]

Hi all,

I'm hoping for some reassurance from you all.

My daughter is 8 days off being 18 months old and really doesn't have many words in her vocabulary. She has probably said around a dozen words in total, but it seems that once she has mastered one she won't bother to say it again. The words she uses on a day-to-day basis consist of Daddy and hiya. I'm sure is incredibly stubborn as I know she can say other words, like bubbles, but the more I say the word the less inclined she is to say it. Then I might be talking to someone else and mention that she said bubbles and she'll suddenly say it again.

We read books to her and are constantly pointing things out and telling her what words are, over and over again. We use flash cards etc. Her understanding is excellent! I feel she is an extension of me and I know what she wants so she rarely has to ask for anything as I get there first (spoilt?! or not giving her a chance to speak?!)

I'm just getting concerned that all the books say she should have around 50-100 words in her vocabulary (not sure if that is spoken or understood words?) and all the ante-natal babies in our group are saying more than her and they're boys so I think it's an old wives tale that girls develop quicker than boys!. I know we should never compare our children and they all develop at different rates, I'm just making this bigger and bigger in my head.

As a by the by point, her hair has never really grown much and she has only just cut her 4th tooth, so she is really late on those things too. Physically, I have no concerns, she was walking by 14 months and now I remember those days wistfully when all she could do was lie in my arms!

Can anyone put my mind at rest, as when I googled this I got results about autism, dyspraxia etc and my Health Visitor is now out of the office until the middle of next week! I will have made this into a mega big problem in my head by then!!

thanks

I have a 23 month old and he had no words at 18 months - just gabble. His words are just starting to come in the last month but there's only me that can understand them and only when they are said in context!

My daughter didnt say proper words as early as some others and was probably about the same as yours at 18 months. Now at 2.3 she chats away in 5 word sentences and can argue the hind leg off a donkey. Enjoy the stage she's at :)

The norm at 18 months is about 50 words. Many children talk later than this, but the norm is between 20-50 by 18 months. Many children have a "burst" of vocabulary when they reach the 50 word milestone.

Lots and lots of babies are later to talk, but although the anecdotes here may be reassuring, it isn't something I would just ignore if you are genuinely concerned because there are many reasons someone can be late to talk and though the most usual reason is that they are just a "late bloomer", you should always trust your instinct as a parent.

Have a chat with your HV when she returns to see what she thinks as an objective person, there's no rush, and you can get a referral to speech and language therapy.

I was having just this conversation with DH. DS is 14 months and only says 'dada' and that is it, not even 'mama'. A baby up the road is 2 months older and says 'cat', 'woof' 'ball' etc. DH reminded me that our DS is 15% younger than the one up the road, and at this age it makes all the difference.

I think they develop at different rates. A friend of ours told us how they were so terribly worried about their baby boy, when he was 4-5 years he never said a word. He never said a single word at all, he started at after 5 with a sentence,. His first ever words were 'mummy, josh hit me'.

he is now 24 and a medical student.

SummerLeaps, that is not normal.

Well the NHS book given out by HVs says the milestone is 6 words at 18 months. My daughter is not a 'late bloomer' she was just more physical earlier in so didnt need to talk. They all do things in a different order 50 words at 18 months is a lot.

I am a speech and language therapist and the HV book is inaccurate if this is what it says. I would like to know where this milestone has come from.

50 words at 18 months is recognised as typical but a child is expected to have at least 20.

Words do not need to be clear. The definition of a word is a consistent sound pattern that is applied to the same thing and bears some resemblance to the adult form e.g. tat for cat, nana for banana. It also includes things like "baa" for sheep.

Here is a progress checker from ICAN, the national charity for children's speech, language and communication

Also, it is not necessarily a problem at all if a child doesn't meet the milestone, in the same way it is not a problem not to meet other milestones. However, if a child isn't meeting lower-end milestones it is worth keeping an eye on and getting advice as for about 6% of the population, late talking is a sign of longer-lasting difficulties.

At the risk of sounding pedantic the website says they will use up to 20 - that is not the same as a minimum of. The OP's child is not even quite 18 months yet. There is a big difference between 20 and 50. Of course some children have issues but the majority just do things in different orders. It is also 'typical' that a child will walk at 13months but no-one in their right minds would suggest that they should or that it is a problem if they are a couple of months behind this.

This is my job, brettgirl2, and I am telling you that the norm is 20 - 50 words at 18 months. The post title refers to the child being 18 months and indeed, they are about to be 18 months in 8 days.

The website progress checker says "at least 20 words, even though they are not clear". If you answer yes to all other questions but this one, it says:

^"You answered no to some important questions about your baby?s communication development.

You should talk to someone about their communication development. Contact your local speech and language therapy department or talk to your GP or health visitor. They may reassure you that at the moment things are fine, but it will be helpful to talk it through. "^

It is typical that a child will walk at 13 months, but while some may walk much later, a child that isn't walking at 18 months should be checked out.

I am not suggesting anyone has a problem. What I am suggesting is that a certain threshold hasn't been met and as you can't really judge from words on a screen what a child's language is actually like, that it's worth monitoring. In the first instance, I would discuss with a professional who has seen the child.

The best bet would be someone at nursery if the child was in nursery or else a HV. Someone who has seen a child will be able to give an objective idea of whether it needs to be pursued or not.

6% of the child population will have persisting speech, language and communication difficulties that they do not grow out of. 94%, obviously, go on to have normal speech, language and development regardless of when they first talked.

This means it is more than likely that everything is okay. However, I can't tell from reading posts online whether it is or not and I think that quoting accurate norms is important. You don't know who's reading this and there will be people lurking and reading whose children do need to seek professional help who can easily be deterred because they read that it is typical to have 6 words at 18 months, and reason that because their child is using none, that's a bit like a 15 month old not walking yet. Even worse are anecdotes about rare people who didn't talk til 5. This is just not normal and not something to gain reassurance from just because there are rare exceptions to the rule (and I doubt a lot of these stories, to be honest. There are two such in my own family but on closer questioning it's not quite as dramatic as all that, they were just quiet kids or spoke to siblings more than adults or had unclear speech).

I work with secondary language-impaired students in a specialist unit. All children do not grow out of language difficulties. Anecdotes can seriously delay people from accessing help they need.

Sorry and to SummerLeaps, "That is not normal" was about the anecdote about the medical student, not your dc. I had written a longer response but it truncated on my phone and I posted send by accident.