When do you start worrying about speech delay?

[Ilovedaintynuts]

My DD2 (18m) has a very limited vocabulary. Can say about 6 words and that's it. She's very laid back and seems like she never really tries to pick things up
It doesn't help that DD1 (3) was very advanced - walked at 8 months, talking from a year old and just picked everything up so quickly.
He motor skills seem fine - walked at 12 months - and she has good eye contact and is very cuddly but she just doesn't seem interested in talking.
When do you start to worry that there may be a problem?

Children learn at different speeds. 6 words at 18 months is limited, but its within the range of normal. Can your child follow a simple instruction? Does your child show any understanding of what you say to them. Does she turn her head if you call her name?

Children vary considerally in their development. DD first spoke at 8 months where as ds was 14 months. If I was you I would wait until 2 years old before getting too concerned.

speech therapist for ds1 said they only really treat from 3 years 4 months for disordered/delay for speech patterns

I agree that it's too early to worry yet, as long as she understands what you are saying. Give it a few months and then see the HV if you're still concerned, but I would bet that she'll suddenly go through a phase of learning a new word every day!

my 16mo twins only have 2 words between them! how is 6 words at 18 months limited? is there a range of normal available to consult?

sorry op for slight highjack. was going to say 6 words sounded fine till I read the other post.

My son had absolutely no words at 2. At 2.6 he's got full sentences. We just had an appointment with the speech therapist who said he was spot-on. She gave us a chart showing what they look for at various ages and it says at 18 months there's a wide range of "acceptable" but average would be 5 or 6 words. My son didn't even have that but your DD sounds like she would be right on target.

DD2 is 21mths and has about six words, but can clearly follow instructions, copies her big brother and sister, remembers things etc. etc.

DD1 started talking before 1 but DS was like DD2 - at the age of 2, when he started playgroup he had very few words. I wasn't too worried as I could see small but significant developments every week but playgroup wanted him referred to a speech therapist. I obliged (wouldn't now!) and by the time the referral came through (three months later) he was jabbering away and now you can't bloody well shut him up! And he's top of his class for reading.

So I'm not unduly worried about DD2. They really do vary a lot at this age.

My dd is 26 mths and can say mamma/mummy daddy/daddy, gagga for baba for her brother, wee wee, boobie! She has said mustard and stairs too but only on one day. She is very adept at making herself understood, understands everything, and is clued up in a way ds1 wasn't. She 's bright and very loving and noisy. She is a bit shy when you ask her to say something in particular. Yes it crosses my mind that there may be something up but to be honest most of the time I' m just enjoying her cuteness because when she starts to talk I dont think she' ll ever stop