Speech development (16 months)

[Starfishkiss]

My cheeky son turned 16 months yesterday and I've been looking for some information on speech milestones/development but can't find very much?
I've quickly totted up that he has I think 19 words that he can say clearly and uses very regularly (he can say loads more but doesn't always remember them when a time comes to use them - but I don't know if this should also 'count'?)

His 19 words are: mummy; daddy; teddy; Hoover; up; chair; car; nappy; baby; juice; dinner; bye; ball; apple; garden (gar-ga); ta; no; flower (wow-wer); aeroplane (air-pluh).
He can also sign (baby signing) around 40 words.

So would you say this is below average, average, or above average in terms of speech development at 16 mths?
Thanks for your help!

Sounds pretty normal to me.

You'll soon stop counting!

I'm an Early Years SLT - sounds like he's doing fine Pop along to your local Children's Centre - you'll get loads of information about fun stuff you can do at home with him to make sure he keeps progressing well. You're making the difference here OP, he's not doing it by himself so feel proud

It's more than mine were saying at that age.

Thanks everybody, I'm pleased he's apparently doing well.
Lots of people kept saying that they thought me doing baby signing with him would hinder his speech development, so I guess I'm a bit nervous!

I'll def pop along to the children's centre Lotta and see what they've got, I hadn't thought about going there now he's older and not always getting weighed! Thanks!

'Lots of people kept saying that they thought me doing baby signing with him would hinder his speech development, so I guess I'm a bit nervous'

Sadly lots of people do think this but as I'm sure you know, it actually makes it easier for children to communicate and to go on to use words so well done you

Apparently the accepted standard is 10 words by 18 months means no cause for concern - we have a speech and language therapist come to baby signing every 6 weeks or so (it's run by surestart) and she told me this when I was concerned about DS not saying enough words.

I dunno about the childrens centre tbh. They're fine but can't seem to tell the difference between normal development and ASD Ime.

It's all very well telling you to sing nursery rhymes, but I know in excess of 2 thousand in different languages (I collect them) and singing to my child was the thankless most unrewarding experience. Sadly, this affected the way I interacted with dd later who I then coukdn't bear to sing to.

My DD is nearly 17mo & has about the same amount of words as yours (& about 10 signs) although she seems to have come on loads over the last wk, trying to copy everything we say.

Sounds like your DS is doing great!

Sounds above average to me - my DS is coming up for 16 months and has no clear words but a lot of babble. He understands me and can make it clear what he wants so I'm not unduly concerned yet. However, he's my third so I may be a little more relaxed this time round!