what age should speech start?

[Crawling]

My ds had a mild speech delay my dd1 has severe autism and I am just wondering what age dd2 should start talking she was saying steady and woof but she has stopped saying these now . She is 18 months.

My dd barely said anything at that age, we spoke to the HV and she said that as dd could follow simple instructions, like please put this cup on that table, she wasn't worried. She did have some speech delay and ended up having a little speech therapy at 4.

If you are concerned, could you talk to your HV?

Do you have any other concerns Crawling? You must be a bit worried..but some kids just start later.

I think the exp[ected age is anywhere between 12 months (v early) and 24 months (average)

No I have no other concerns in fact dd2 is very different from dd1 in that while she is not speaking she is very social comes to the door to see guests, smiles socially, and waves goodbye. Dd1 didn't do any of that.

The social things she is doing are great, and a positive step, but I would suggest phoning your health visitor for advice.

18 months is very young still and she may not begin to start speaking for some time yet and that is normal - but needs checking out.

Any noises ? babbling ? you probably have a very busy household already but are you or somebody constantly chatting to her ? speech is a learned behaviour that we copy or mimic from those around us.

Speech and language therapy (SALT) tend to have long long waiting lists so I would have thought its a good idea to get her name on the list sooner rather than late.

Lots of noises and babbling, we usually let her sit in on dd2 speech exercises. Thanks all I am going to speak to my Hv see what she thinks.

'I would suggest phoning your health visitor for advice.'

Sorry but HV's know feck all about this kind of thing ime. If you phone them they will dismiss you as an overanxious parent and advise 'waiting and seeing', so there is nothing to gain, but the cost of a phonecall to lose.

If your LA had drop in SALT places. They can be a good place to go. And sometimes HVs that run/manage surestart centres are a bit more 'trained'.

My experience of speech is it comes in fits & starts, and they can even forget words they used previously. Nothing you've said would worry me about the girl, but I would probably seek prof. advice just for peace of mind.

HVs have been okay, ime, for knowing basics of speech development, what normal can look like.

yes your HV may well be pants but they can kick start the referral process.