How many words can your 12-18 month old say? And what are they?

[RitaMorgan]

I have read that children should have 20-50 words by 18 months, though I guess there is a big variation in this. 15 month old DS seems pretty average compared to other young toddlers we know, though there is no sign of Mama/Mummy yet

At the moment he says about 11 recognisable words:

Dada
Ta
Yeah
No
Hiya
Bye-bye (buh-buh)
Boo (buh)
More (muh)
Again (geh)
Woof (wuh)
Quack (gak)

He is yet to have a developmental check with the HV so I'm assuming he's developing fine

i'm so relieved. I came on this board to post a "should I be concerned" thread about my 17-month-old, and saw this thread.

She understands so much of what you say to her; can follow directions, point to people in photos, or body parts. But her own words are:
hi and bye
the cat's name
mommy
daddy (although i think sometimes she mixes this up with doggy, which in turn she uses for the cats as well - so daddy can mean daddy, or dog, or cat.)
lots of animal noises - moo, quack, hiss, bow-wow, roar, growl - for the appropriate animals
her brother's name
down
bubble
ball
glug-glug (for a drink)
gone
yummy (for food of course)
mami-yami - or maybe this is 'mommy yummy' - i have begun to suspect that this is a reference to nursing!
hat
shoe
twinkle
and my favourite - happy - which is accompanied by patting her head. She once said "i'm happy mommy" but i will concede that it may have been a fluke.

My 16mo DD2 can say:

Da (yes)
Dada (daddy)
Da-da (bye bye)
Da (dog)
Dak-dak (duck)

Anyone else sensing a theme? strangely enough we usually know what she means! Oh, and I forgot, 'dista' for her sister!

She also does a mean elephant impression (complete with arm gestures and a big 'wooo' noise)

And she can sing twinkle twinkle little star (though her version goes "da da da da da da daaaaa")

Oh yes! DD does the elephant thing with her arm too

howcomes
my sister is an early childhood learning specialist in the US- her job is to evaluate under 3's, and she works with a team including physical therapists and speech therapists.
i emailed her yesterday and asked her about my DD, i also mentioned what your dr had said.
she wrote back As for the 18 mo old. you would expect him to have a handful of words besides mamadada, and using those words to label objects and people and to request objects/food, also does he combine gestures like waves or points with words or word approximations? Does he point to pictures in books when asked or to get someone to name for him.
I actually spoke to her on the phone afterwards, and she made a point of saying that a recommendation of speech therapy at this age is not at all a drastic thing. That it may just be a matter of evaluation and ruling out a problem, then sitting back and waiting for him to catch up.

DS2 is 20 months.

He can say:

duck

my dd (15 months) can say
illya - her version of ds name
muma - though seems to have no idea what it means and uses it randomly
gaga - everything from animal to daddy to toy
bye bye - with a wave but not in context
baby - to refer to herself as in 'I feel you are not paying enough attention to baby please rectify this situation'

Mostly she roars, growls and hisses.

She understands a lot more than that and is very good at making herself understood. Am not worried. Ds didn't have many words to start with but caught up and overtook most his peers by the time he was 3yo.

I agree - there's a real range of normal. At 18 m.o. DS had about 400, maybe 450 words. Others of his friends at that age had none, or one. 4 months later they're gaining words fast.

Dd is 16 months and has no words. Not one. She started saying 'cat' when she was about 12 months, using it for any animal or bird, but then stopped saying it about a month later and that was the end of it. We're bringing her up to be bilingual so that could be the reason she's a bit, erm, slow.

DD is 17mo and she says 'mama'. thats it. i am concerned. we were having full on conversations with DS just after his 1st birthday so its a shock that she says nothing (apart from the most important word, obviously ). unless of course its because DS (now 4) never shuts up so she doesnt get a word in . i am hoping that she will catch up soon - i cant take the pitying looks much more...

Good to see there are others in the same boat as me. Got the HV coming on Mon so will see what she says.

brdgrl
Thanks for your post, ds does wave and point out things and makes a range of noises, mostly excitable ones! It's reassuring to have heard the info from your sister, I've since asked about speech therapy and it seems there is a 8 month wait list so I'm feeling reasonably confident that ds may be chattering away by then :)

My ds didn't speak at all until he was 16 months old. He then said three words. At 19 monthds he still said three words (although understood a lot more). He then very suddenly said a great many more and started speaking in sentences very quickly.

He is now nearly 11 years ols, and one of the most articulate children you could ever meet. So I wouldn't worry.

An 8-month waiting list! Hah - he'll have your ears talked off by then.

(presume the waiting list for ear transplant is even longer...)

I have 4DCs. No4 is still newborn but the others are older. It varied hugely, yet you wouldn't know it now.

DS1 started saying single words around 12mths and had about 40 words by around 20mths. He was well over 2yrs before he started putting them together though and even later with sentences. He's now almost 8yrs and a very bright, articulate child.

DD1 was talking in sentences at 14 or 15mths. It was scary and freaky. She is very bright but in terms of speech, she is no more articulate than her brother despite being so much earlier.

DD2 had less words than DS1 but they were clearer. Despite having less single words, she started putting them together into sentences much earlier.

By the time they reach 3 or 4, you can rarely tell which child was an early talker. It really doesn't matter as long as their non-verbal communication is in place and they seem to be understanding then I wouldn't worry too much.

I love seeing what different toddlers can say. It kind of shows whats important to them!! DD is 12.5 mths and can say:

Dada
Hiya (said with the most frequency)
Yeah
Ta (taught by nursery)
Cuddle
Gandad (Grandad also he's deaf and never pays her attention so I don't know how she picked this up so quickly)
Again
She said her Auntie's name the other day with Auntie attached. Then after spending 2 days solid with her cousins started calling me Auntie ....... No sign of Mama.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahhahhahaahahahahahhaha!

Nothing yet.

Fascinating thread! So many 'words' I recognise from my DS (14mo).

He says:

Up- first word, been saying this for months and is still all time favourite. It is usually used to mean 'light' (even if it's not up), but also tree, the sun etc. Oh, and now firework
Mum/Mama
Foot (Doot)
Shut (Nyut) - anything that won't move
Out (At)
Hot (Ot)
Dog (Dg) - Any four-legged animal
Yeah (Nyeah)
Grandma (allegedly... )

He has also said pop, bump, bird (dird), cat (ca-ta), bahby (baby)

He says 'mmmmm' for moo (cow) and also makes the same noise for shoes and hoover (oo sound i guess!) Baa for sheep, oo-oo for monkey.

Sings row your boat (Rw rw rw rw rw) and twinkle twinkle (ba ba ba ba, UP! a ba ba ba etc..!!)

Also understands tons (bring me your shoes, where's the cow etc)

Over the last couple of days, he seems to be attempting every new word you encourage him to say. Really incredible to witness. (PFB)

Well DD will be 15 mo later this week and is limited to bob (in response to everything!) and the occasional hiya, to be honest I haven't even started to think about her talking habits but maybe I'm just a lazy mother......