question about babies speech and words

[Dondrapersfavouritechick]

My DS is 16 months. He's recently learned how to say bye-bye, more and hiya. As well as copying other words like cat, car, night night

He says bye bye when he sees me sometimes...not when I go! Is this normal? Do babies just need lots of reaffirmation of words and processes before they finally always understand the context. He also doesn't always say mummy in context - mummy can be lots of things, not just me.

I don't think it's an understanding issue - but maybe it is. He understands actions, or at least most of those that we do on a regular basis e.g put the washing in the bowl

Does this sound on track?

Thanks

I should add that he's had a few other words since he turned 12 months but these are new acquisitions

sounds normal to me :) my dd is 17mths and has some words and noises etc, but doesnt always get the right ones, the important thing is he is trying to talk and doing well! its just a case of repetition, my dd used to wave hello for a long time, now she can say hiya and waves for bye bye, she will also sometimes say bye bye, but often she says that at bedtime instead of night night! it will come wiht time :)

Yes, I totally agree that the important point is his talking and trying - just curious, I suppose. I know fuck all about how language develops!

they all vary, all 5 of mine have been very different!

my ds1 was talking before one and in complete sentences by 18mths!

ds2 was a bit slower but talking by 2 and a bit.

ds3 the same and then ds4 was slower but he literally went from not talking much at all to talking in sentences in the space of about a month!

dd seems to be like ds2 and ds3 so far, she is fed trying to talk and making noises ie brrrmmm for a car and chooo choo for a train, she can say mummy and daddy, eeeeooo meaning theo one of her brothers and a few othesr words.

the english language is very complicated and there is lots that little ones get muddled up, the important thing is that you talk to him and when he says something say it back to him but correctly if he gets muddled, he wil pick it up really quickly and then you will be wishing he would shut up!

Five kids. Wow. You're in line for a sainthood!

Good advice, thanks.

He sounds very similar to my dd who is a month older.. and also like 5madthings says about her dd - we have exactly same thing with the bye bye and not night-night, we have that !
Also, whilst she uses Mummy / Daddy well.. occasionally and sometimes embarrassingly she can sometimes get 'obsessed' with the word Daddy at a particular time and call ever male this, very loudly across supermarkets, tube trains etc.
She has recently also decided a satsuma is infact an apple which she says very proudly and beautifully whenever we see a satsuma - I try and correct her and we just get an even more cheery 'apple' as if I've told her well done..
I'm enjoying this stage and finding it interesting.

i read that children group words as they learn them. So if every man becomes daddy it means your child is trying to classify...so the way to help them is to say, that isnt your daddy, that is a man, his name is ...if you know it. My dd calls all animals cats at the mo. So i just say "it isn't a cat, it has 4 legs but it is a dog. Or it isn't a cat, it is much bigger it is a horse" i dont expect her to learn this now!! It is a great sign though if they say bye bye instead of hello/goodnight etc they are learning about greetings/farewells just trying to group them. Nothing to worry about!

I agree with the general thoughts, he's talking and trying which is all that matters at that age. Great advice I was given by Sure Start was don't bombard with questions, keep sentences short, just above what the child is saying. i.e. if they make sound you give single word, if they use single word you give two words, if they use two words you use three. Does not have to be clear or perfect. My eldest used 'dog' for all animals for about 6 months when I tried to correct by making them repeat the correct word, they were not happy so I gave up and it came, now has wide vocabulary of animals

Thanks all

So the fact he can say More clearly but not always in context, is normal at the start of acquiring the word?

It's the not getting th context that worries me, I suppose - as if it means he doesn't understand

Sorry, sound neurotic!

yes its great that the is learning the words and normal for him to not get them in context at first, what coraltoes said my dd is the same with animals, they are all a cat or a dog, well she says cat and woof for a dog! and sometimes a miaw noise but gets muddles up, i just mimic the correct noise for her.

i bet he understands loads, they understand far more than they can say at this age. you have no need to be concerned or worried at all :)

All sounds pretty normal to me and I'm a speech therapist! My 2 year old is just at the same stage as your 16 month old!!! I was delighted when he said "bye bye" for "night night" it showed he had an understanding of what was going on and bye is sooooo much easier to say then night!!!

Understanding should be better than expression at this stage because without the understanding they won't get the word right.

Keep modelling back the correct word or short phrase and he'll come on I'm sure!

Don't worry and enjoy such an exciting time of learning for your wee boy!

Thanks all. Lots of good advice which I appreciate it.

Janie - a quick question given your profession, if u dont mind...DS seems to find short words like 'cat or car' harder than words that end in y, eg teddy or bye or hiya...he doesn't really say the former. Language wise, is there a reason for that? Thanks a lot.

I'll admit now that I work with adults and the specifics of child speech and language development are a little further back in my mind - but I can say it's about the ease of sounds to make and the two syllables that are similar tend to be easier for us to differentiate too.

What I will say is that what your son is doing is perfectly normal. He won't be able to speak absolutely clearly at first, he's just getting the hang of making sense of the sounds and putting them together. you might also find that he makes "sound substiutions" so might say tat instead of cat for a while, that is totally normal development! They only start with being able to sy a few sounds and then gradually develop more of the sounds as they get going.

Does that help? Sorry I am a bit vague - your boy is doing the same as mine and he's 2 this week and I have no worries at all about his communication!!

Hi Janie - Thanks, that's helpful. Honestly, I'm not too worried - I am mostly curious. Thanks for answering

It's fascinating how they develop! I am loving the difference between my two...