16months and no words, tips on encouragement please

[flywiththecrows]

dd has certainly found her voice, has been blabbing away for months, but still we have no actual words from her.

well, except the odd mum mum mum.

she's ok in all other respects, like she recognises what we say - for example, when we say dance, or clap hands she does it. Or when we say bedtime, she walks over towards the stair gate...

she more or less points to what she wants, like during meals if she wants her juice she'll lean towards it, or point and make noise - so everytime she does this and it's clear what she wants we say 'juice' in an attempt to get her to repeat but nothing.

we read to her but all she was interested in was biting the books and this seemed to cause a massive fuss when we stopped her from biting - so we stopped doing this before bed, because she was getting worked up rather than settling for bed.

Her development is down to us, and I'm looking for tips please on how to encourage her to speak.

Any comments appreciated. :)

The best way to develop speech is to keep on doing what you are doing, just talk to her and respond to her when she 'talks' to you.
This is a fantastic website www.talkingpoint.org.uk/en/Parent.aspx with loads of good advice

She needs to hear a lot of speech. I presume she doesn't watch tv (retards language development) but other than that just talking to her. Babies won't process words fast enough for her to repeat the word 'juice' when you say it, and also that's a tough one - you might not get that until she's closer to two. Dada is easier, and words like tea, but she'll start saying the words she can manage when she's ready. She won't be able to take in stories yet, but don't give up on reading to her - do it in the afternoon when she's alert but not haring around.

Oh, and just to add she probably is saying words, you just don't know what they are.

It sounds as though you are already doing all the right things - talking to her, singing, reading (give her a book to chew, while you read another one), anticipatory games ('round and round the garden' etc). Baby signing/makaton is good, use a fewsigns regularly, making sure you say the words at the same time.

You say 'her development is up to us', but really it is up to her, you can encourage her, sure. Sshe may be developing at a slightly different rate, as long as she is on the right track, she sounds as though she is doing ok.

DS only had a couple of words, until one week around 18 months when the language thing suddenly kicked in in his little brain. Then we couldn't stop him if we tried!

Seriously, don't worry about it. As long as she is babbling in her own language, she will learn to speak.

Dd didn't say single words, so didn't bother with talking until nearly 2 and she could put 2 or 3 word sentences together. Apparently isn't uncommon and mum says i was the same. Just keep talking to her and try not to worry too much about things like letting her watch tv will mean she doesn't learn to speak -
it won't help, but its what else you do that matters!

FWIW I have a colleague who is an honest to god genius (think gifted and talented with bells AND knobs on)... he didn't speak until he was 5.

Two of mine didn't speak until two, both fine.

Do you know when you and your partner started speaking. I was a late talker but I seem to be able to get by now

And agree with octavia, probably is talking just in her own language you may start hearing a few odd words come through soon

I've no idea what the advice is, but just wanted to add that dd2 is 16mo and has no words.
her sister was talking in sentences by about 15mo, and we've done things pretty much the same with them both.
FWIW, i did discuss this with the hv, who advised that this isn't a concern until at least 18mo, and that good comprehension skills and babble are reassuring signs.

Just keep talking to her, both normal talk, and rhymes and songs as well. I don't think watching TV actually retards language development - except if you plonk her in front of the TV all day instead of speaking to her. DS only had a couple of words by about 18 months which gradually built up until 21 months, after which he really took off, so 16 months is early days yet. Don't make an issue of it. My friend's 2 year old DD refused to talk out of sheer cussedness because her mum was so desperate for her to do so.

thank you, it helps to hear others opinions.

I suppose after reading what you have said it has put our minds at ease slightly.

Thanks for the link aswell, DH & I will definitely have a look.

Find a copy of a Hanen method book or even just look at their website for tips. Found it very useful. Our 16 month old wasn't saying much at all. But from 18 months on his speech really kicked off. Now 25 months old, we cannot shut him up. He says, and repeats, absolutely everything.

Oh, and also they develop different bits at different times, so she may have been working on gross motor skills or something else. Basically they can't walk and talk at the same time!

there is a good dvd I've recommended before called 'learn to talk' (oxbridge baby) which is a short (less than 30m) film put together by speech therapists to encourage your babba to copy them doing things like animal noises and naming face parts and signing, my late talker really did copy all the sounds/words/actions/signs and it seemed to kickstart him exploring language, whereas before 18-22m he was more interested in only the physical *(even though we talked and read to him all the time!). He saw the DVD as a game so it did seem to work. I liked it anyway! my DS is now 27m and talking loads :)

DD is nearly 18 mo & could only say Mama and Dadda at 16 mo. Now she has about 10 clear words and a load of distinct animal noises! It started when she just said Bad Dog after I'd shouted the same at our naughty mutt- so maybe some dramatic exclamations will do it! Don't worry, she sounds great, non verbal understanding is more important to communication at this stage IMHO.

OK some tips:

• repeat one or two key words when you say a full sentence - ie Would you like some water? WATER? WA-TER repeat and give her time to think and process and maybe say someting. Try one sound even, say 'yes, yes, sssssss yessssss' she may try to say the sound back to you, praise even little efforts.
• Focus on simple words and maybe use a sign with it (maybe makaton, or a made up sign it doesn't have to be the official sign) words like UP, RUN, KISS. choose a few words and repeat many many times a day.
• play games that will make her anticipate a word. Bubbles are great. Dip the stick in bubble mixture, say her name, say READY - STEADY (wait wait) GO (and encourage her to say go, wait for her to try to say it, and praise if she makes any kind of noise).
• Same when she pops the bubbles, say POP every time and see if she will try to say even the O sound, praise again.
• Do lots of sound effects, for cars, animal sounds, train sounds, MMMM when she is enjoying her food, etc.
• Sing a song - the same song many times a day, and then leave a word out and see if she might try to fill in the gap. Twinkle twinke little...... star (she will not say star, it's a difficult word to say, but she might try ssssar or something, or any sound at all). DS liked Horsey Horsey don't you ....... stop just let your feet go clipety ............ clop.

I am no expert but my son has a speech disorder (which was diagnosed when he was over 3 years old). He didn't say a word before he was 2.5, and these tips and games I either read about or the speech therapist was using them. She used the bubbles games at every visit, DS loved it.

BlueberryPancake, amazing post! Thank you so much.

DH & I are really into this, your advice is great.

This whole thread has been reassurance and great advice. Thanks :)

There are a lot of possible reasons for a speech delay many of which will come right in time some which may need more specific intervention. Basically there can be problems in making the right shapes etc with your mouth and tongue, with hearing, problems understand what langugae is and getting the point of communicating etc etc

I would get hearing tested if you ahve any sense she cant hear or cant hear properly.

Then Hanen is a really good approach we have been using. The Hanen book 'It takes Two To Talk' I would really advise buying. Winslow sell it cheaper than amazon. It has lots of material to help you work out where your child is in relation to langugage and what to do. Basics are: OWL (Observe, Wait, Listen) ,letting your child lead, trying to extend the communication, giving your child opportunities to communicate (eg: give choices between food or toys etc) You may need to pare down your language - less words more repeating.

However it sounds like she has receptive language already (she understands what you say) so to some degree she gets communication and can hear ok). So you probably just need to leave lots of space and opportunity for her to communicate and when she does encourage that by being pleased, communicating more, reinforcing what she said.

dd1 only had a few words by 18 months, mainly quite unclear - eg. 'nana' for dinner. By 24 months she was speaking quite fluently and knew all her colours!

dd2 was later starting to talk but now at 2.6 she's a real chatterbox but doesn't know any colours at all!

so no advice as such - just enjoy the fact that they're all different. 16 months is still very little

Just also wanted to add that at 16 months ds would do a few animal sounds but no words. I spoke to hv at 18 months who said not to worry. By 20 months he was putting 2 and 3 words together. Literally over the course of 2 weeks he went from saying very little to asking for something specific. Now at 2.5 I wish I knew where the off switch was some days!

Relax 16 months is still very young. Keep talking and singing and it will come!

Firsttimer 16 months does not count as delayed speech

Absolutely don't worry. DS was like this and now has a really excellent vocabulary. It took ages for words to start coming, then they came very slowly, them there was an explosion of words.

DD is 17 months and manages a few animal noises, mumumumum, dadadadadad, 'nana and cat. A month ago it was just the odd animal noise. But she understands loads - would you like a bath?, are you finished?, tidy up, where is X? etc. I'm not remotely worried. It's normal for the early stages of language development to seem slow. One day soon she will shock you! :)

octaviapink, 16 months is not delayed if there are other speech developments occurring (understanding, babbling etc - all of which the op's dd is doing), but it is possible to see delays in speech and language development earlier than 16 months, so I can see where firsttimer is coming from.

also,it is a bit bald to say tv watching retards speech development - a little tv is not the devil's work, 'something special' has really helped ds with makaton.

However, having said all that, I really don't think it sounds as if your dd is delayed, flywiththecrows, and I don't think you really need to do any more than you are doing with her at the moment.

Sorry I meant generally, didnt mean to infer your child has delays. In fact the receptive langugae indicates everything well on track