19 month old doesn't talk - help!!

[saintshar]

My 19 month old ds2 doesn't talk much - at all. I have tried not to worry, or compare - my ds1 could say LOTS at this age. All he can say is Mum, Dad, Mamar (grandma). He can say a few other things that only myself and my dh know what it means.i.e ra-ra is what he calls his brother Ryan. But that's about it. Am i being too much of a worrier? When did your kids start talking? The thing is, he stared 'talking' about five months ago, but it hasn't progressed at all. HELP!!!!

He says more than my ds2 who is 22 months. That's not quite right my 22 month old says lots- just all gobbledegook.

At this age you do not need to worry about actual words. If your child is pointing (this is the big one), not losing words (and your ds is saying the right sort of words- they should start with mum dad and grandma) and generally communicating well you do not need to worry.

I did have a chat with ds1's speech therapist last week about ds2. (All his words are variation on "da"- very limited speech sounds). She said that there is a wide variation in the productuion of speech sounds. I said I wanted to leave him until he was 2 before putting him on a waiting list and she thought that was sensible.

Big thread here about speech development here.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=8&threadid=12591&stamp=031029180745

Our DS2 'failed' the speech part of his 2 year check because he wasn't saying enough. I could understand alot of his waffle but no-one else could, not even DH.
Anyway he's now 2 and 4 months and we can't stop him talking, like his big brother he even talks in his sleep
I know it's difficult not to compare them as at 1yrs old our DS1 could say loads, so much so infact we took him to London zoo for his 1st B'day and I think he asked "what's that" and "where's it gone" about a billion times, in his language anyway. DS2 couldn't even say Mama or Dada at a year old.
I'm sure your little one is fine, but if you are concerned ask you HV what she thinks.

its funny because we were watching video of ds2 last night and he still hardly spoke recognisable words at 2.5 altho i thiught he did at the time. Memory eh?

we cant shut him up now - 3.5 and I still think some waht he says is only inteligible to me

certainly at 2 they suddenly start picking up a lot of words. gor us this always conincided with summer holidays and I always wondered if it was the consatnat input or just being 2.

19 months is still a baby!

sorry baby in arms

thanks eveyone. Feel much better now. He understands EVERYTHING. You can see him looking at people when they are talking. I could say something like "come on, we have to go to the shop now" to my ds1, and he will go and get his shoes! I feel sorry for him though. A lot of his tantrums are because he wants to tell me something - but all he can say is ta (another word I forget he could say). He then throws a wobbler because I dont know what he wants.

Wow, your 19 month old can say Mum & Dad? My kids didn't say those until 22-24 months (DD managed Daddy on her 2nd birthday; she was saying sentences before she said Daddy (as "Deedee", like her brother before her).

My 20 month old ds has only really started saying more than this in the last couple of weeks - all of a sudden his vocab has increased. I was worried about it as dd was saying so much more at that age. I have figured out that it is partly as he has ne need to talk - dd does it all for him 'Aidan wants a bisciut, Aidan has a smellly nappy .......' etc etc. Its only this week he said 'bisssisss' himself and I think it was biscuit, though he does say 'POO' very loudly every time you take his nappy off, especially in public!

My 23 month old wasrecently diagnosed as having the language development of a 10 month old (she only says dog). We were advised to try speech therapy and after only 2 sessions, she is making great progress in making different sounds and trying to communicate. I know everyone will say that she would have done it in her own time anyway but I am really glad we started the therapy. It has made us so much more aware of how to help her to communicate and how to encourage her in making certain sounds and she is already a lot happier as a result. She also started walking this week and is now racing around so I really feel she is making progress.

Speech therapy is eye wateringly expensive but I am hoping she will only need a short sharp burst to get her on her way. In her case, she seems to have an oral motor delay as she physcially can't make a lot of sounds.

susamt funny how they pick up such attractive words!!

My ds is 26 months and doesn't talk much. He is a lot slower than most of his peers. I have noticed some of them speaking in sentences already. I think it might be because he is being brought up to be billigual, but so was my dd and she started to talk a lot earlier. I am not worried about it though, I am sure the range of "normal"is quite wide at that age.....

Bells, that's great about your dd . We missed you at our farm meet up last week, maybe next time?

saintshar - your ds2 sounds a lot like my ds who said very little until about 6 months ago (he's now 2yrs 10 mos). We even got to the point where friends were commenting on how "quiet" he was, and my sister gave me a book called Babytalk by Dr Sally Ward. It a good book, although a bit scaremongery, I think. However there were a few useful tips in it about how to talk to your child so they are happy to reply and I did a bit of it with ds and it was quite fun. Helped me realise that I was always in such a hurry that sometimes I didn't take the time to talk carefully to ds and all he got was a blur of words. Anyway, partly by me modifying how I spoke to him a bit, plus just nature I'm sure, his speech is now fine for his age (according to his nursery), and if you want to know anything about Thomas the Tank Engine, he's your man. Sigh. I'm sure your ds will be just fine, but if you want to do something, you could look at Babytalk and see what you think.

After all that worry, he has said two new words this weekend alone. He looked at some mud on his shoe, and then looked at me in disgust as he said "dirty." He also saw my sister, his Auntie(obviously!) and shouted Debbie!!! We couldn't believe it. Sis was crying like baby!!!!!!!!!

bells, that is good news!

Nearly took my ds to a speech therapist at 2 because he was hardly talking. dh said i was just being a paranoid parent so I held off. All suddenly started a month or so later. But it is hard not to panic expecially when you sudden;y hear a younger child say something much more clearly and articulately!

Don't worry, my dd is 17 months old and can say mum and dad but not much else. We are teaching her baby sign language as well and she can do the signs for animals,like cat, dog and bird, as she loves animals and can't get enough. She can't say the words though.

My ds sounds similar to yours saintshar and was only saying about that much at 19 months - he was certainly nowhere near the "20 words at 18 months" that seems to be quoted a lot as an expected milestone. Like you I was naturally worried about it - especially as in other respects he seemed to be developmentally ahead of schedule.

However since then he suddenly picked up an awful lot very quickly. It was almost as if he'd decided to skip the saying single words phase and go straight to sentences like (on spotting a squirrel) "Look Daddy, up that big tree there" and "Mummy, my Daddy loves you" . Last night (he's now just 26 months) he said to me "Good night Mummy. Turn the light out but leave the door open".

So much for my worries - at his 2 year old check the HV even commented on how good his vocabulary was! So in the space of 5 months we'd gone from being well behind in what he could say, to ahead of expectations.

Really - don't panic yet, chances are he'll probably surprise you soon by taking a real leap forward, and in a few months time you'll be wondering what on earth you were worrying about.

saintshar,

that was so sweet (i.e your ds2 calling your sister by her name and her emotional reaction). My 15 month old, nearly 16 month old is not saying much either. Obviously she is younger than your ds2 - but its reassuring to hear that there is such diversity about when they start talking and how much they say.

According to my mum, my brother didn't say a word until he was 3. All the 'professionals' said that there was something majorly wrong with him, although he seemed alert and to be understanding what people were saying to him. His hearing was tested, but there were no problems. Then all of a sudden he started producing complete sentences at 3.

He was the youngest of 3, and both my sister and I talked a lot, so maybe he didnt' need to, or couldn't get a word in edgeways.

He's now 30 and an extremely bright and articulate city lawyer. Interestingly, he's still not a big one for talking, preferring the written word. Also, his whole approach to learning (particularly languages), suggests that he needs to understand the whole concept and how it all fits together, before he can express himself. So maybe that's what he was doing all those years ago.

HTH

Hi Saintshar, my ds1 is also 19 months (his birthday is 15th March).

I've been a bit worried about his speech also, as everything you read tells you they should have a vocab of about 50 words by the time they're 18 months, but he only says things like 'Lala' for all the Teletubbies, and 'mama', 'dada', 'nana', etc., though not always in the right context.

The HV told me not to worry, they come on v. fast between the ages of 18 mths and 2. I work with nursery aged children, and and I know most of the the toddlers I've looked after, especially boys, didn't start talking 'properly' until they went into the next room at 2 years old.

But still, you worry when it's your own!

Thanks elena2, and everyone else.
I think i worried more because ds1 could say lots at this age...he could count to ten at this age.!
Today alone he has said two more words. When i was cleaning the bathroom, he tried to eat the soap. I said "don't put that soap in your mouth" and he said "soap!" He also said din-dins when i asked if he was hungry!!
It's funny isn't it, post something you worry about, and it suddenly gets better. I'll have to try this more often.

Glad your worry is easing, sainshar.

My DS2 only says Hello and Bye, and he's also 18 months. My speech therapist friend tells me it's very common in second children, so I don't worry. I know he understands, as he fetches things he is asked to fetch. DS1 was a prodigy with a vocab of over 100 by this age, so it's fascinating to see the difference.

Perhaps mumsnet is like making a hair appointment - your hair suddenly starts behaving itself.

Glad your worry is easing, sainshar.

My DS2 only says Hello and Bye, and he's also 18 months. My speech therapist friend tells me it's very common in second children, so I don't worry. I know he understands, as he fetches things he is asked to fetch. DS1 was a prodigy with a vocab of over 100 by this age, so it's fascinating to see the difference.

Perhaps mumsnet is like making a hair appointment - your hair suddenly starts behaving itself.