Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

Original poster

20 month old's vocabulary increasing slowly but does not say/complete the full word - Is this normal?

73 replies

fimbles · 31/01/2004 14:59

Hi, my dd of nearly 20 months starting saying the odd word around 18 months. Now she is picking up words quickly, especially from books but won't say the word properly. Example is the following:-

Ball - baw

Bird - Bir

Book - Boo

Bag - Baa

Star - tar

Etc, etc, Hey I've just realised by writing them down, the majority of the words begin with "B". Can anyone please advise me whether this is ok. Her hearing is very good as she always hears dh in the kitchen opening his choc bar!! Thanks in advance.

OP posts:
fio2 · 31/01/2004 15:03

sounds ok to me i am no expert though!

roisin · 31/01/2004 15:08

Fimbles - it is fine and perfectly normal. Some of these sounds (c, g, s) are very difficult, and take a while to learn to say. Make sure you repeat back to her the words correctly, and she should start picking up the missing sounds.

Carla · 31/01/2004 15:28

Fimbles, she's doing fantastically well at that age. We had winnie the poo stick arounds in DD1's room, and both got completely exited when at 20 months she bounced up and down in her cot screaming 'pinder, 'pider (spider). Don't worry a bit!

Zerub · 31/01/2004 16:39

Pretty much exactly what my 20mo old is saying!

Original poster
fimbles · 31/01/2004 19:15

Thanks, that's good to know. You should hear me saying these words in a very exagerated manner, "baggggg", "bookkkk". Dh laughs at me. all good fun though!

OP posts:
charlieplus3 · 31/01/2004 19:20

Hiya everyone. Another good subject. My 20mth DS only says singular words which i understand but know one else does, apart from the obvious cat, mummy and daddy. Alot of her words sound the same, as in baby, toby and aby sound the same, but she knows the difference.

She cant or wont say dog, just barks instead.

Zerub · 31/01/2004 19:25

DD started trying to say "yes" recently. It came out as "aah, shi*" with a glottal stop on the end instead of a t. Took us a few days to work out what she meant Then it changed to "arsh" (phew) and then "arse" (not so good!). Now its "aaaah" with vigorous head-nodding. And occasionally "ah, si!". Ho hum.

charlieplus3 · 31/01/2004 19:26

AAAh Zebra, isnt the head nodding funny. They do it with such enthusiasm. Bless

twiglett · 31/01/2004 19:28

message withdrawn

charlieplus3 · 31/01/2004 19:31

OMG how Funny

Original poster
fimbles · 31/01/2004 19:46

zerub, that really cracked me up, can u imagine your child saying arse in the supermarket for example!!. Yes this topic is getting intersting, my dd also says the ending of certain words like bles (as in fimbles). I suppose it would only be the parent who could understand their child.

OP posts:
charlieplus3 · 31/01/2004 19:57

Ive had bugger in Tescos, was actualy burger. As i said i can understand her, shame the woman next to me couldnt

throckenholt · 01/02/2004 15:43

my ds1 had a full vocabularly of animal sounds long before he would say the words for them. At 2.5 he now often gets all the syllables of longer words, but mixes up the order - takes some translating !

dot1 · 02/02/2004 08:58

sounds completely normal to me - our 2 yr old ds is exactly like this - shortened forms of most words that only me and dp can understand... The most embarrassing is his word for chocolate - "cock!" which he shouts out repeatedly whenever he's in a shop or I'm picking him up from nursery (silly Mummy introduced a tradition of giving him some chocolate on the way home for being a good boy..!). His word for Grandma = Gaga (very appropriate!!)

handlemecarefully · 02/02/2004 09:02

I love this stage when they are trying out language but not quite hitting the spot with certain words - its so endearing

Blu · 02/02/2004 10:23

Fimbles, this is absolutely normal, enjoy it! Children's understanding of language is far in advance of their ability to actually say lots of it, and many combinations of sounds are technically very difficult for little tongues to get around. I would say don't ever make him feel self-conscious or criticised for pronounciation, it will develop quicker than you think if he enjoys communicating with you.

Goo' 'yuck!

Original poster
fimbles · 02/02/2004 20:24

charlieplus3 & dot 1, both really funny, suppose not for u at the time, but nevertheless, we can all laugh after.

Thanks everyone for the comments, I'll just keep repeating the words dd says like a demented parrot and wait for the day she can pronounce the words properly. It is a special time and another great milestone. We'll probably miss the days when our beloved little ones were learning to speak, when as teenagers they have created a language only they can understand!!

OP posts:
Original poster
fimbles · 22/03/2004 14:15

Just a little update, dd, now 21 months, saying approximately 40 -50 words, understanding improved but the prounouciation is more of the same ie the ending of every word is missing. After reading all your comments again in this old thread, i felt a little better, but its just that dd seems to find it VERY difficult.

We have a new noddy book this week and in it is flowers, cake, apple and butterfly. She knows what they are by pointing but can barely say anything except the first letter of the word. She seems to be trying very hard and then just gives up and walks away. The more I repeat the word, the more she chooses to ignore me. If I say what's that, she walks away.

Sorry to go on again, just wondering if anyone else's dd or ds is similar.

OP posts:
Pidge · 22/03/2004 14:42

Fimbles - missing off word endings (not to mention mis-pronouncing entire words) is really common. One theory why so many 'baby' versions of words end in -y (e.g. doggy, horsey, ducky etc is that the last consonant is actually pretty hard to hear if it isn't followed by another syllable. And it's pretty tough to pronounce too. It doesn't sound like you've got anything to worry about - your daughter's vocabulary is good and her understanding is good. She's communicating with you and you get the message. There will be lots of frustration when you can't make out what she means, but that's just part of the whole process.

My dd (20 months) has one particular word for "rabbit" which she pronounces "badder" ... she's been saying it for 3-4 months now, and no indication that she thinks she's not getting it right, but that's just fine, because we know what "badder" means, and she understands us saying "rabbit" and eventually she'll sort out her own pronunciation.

I would say don't try to correct her by repeating words over and over again - you're more likely to stress her out. So when she says "bir" for "bird" or whatever, just say "yes it's a bird", that way she feels pleased she named it right, but she also hears you saying it the grown-up way.

Enjoy this exciting time ...

Original poster
fimbles · 22/03/2004 14:54

thank you pidge, u r right, i think i have been stressing her out by continously repeating the word. i'll take your advice and see how we get on.

I'm yet to figure out what gum-mee means yet. Its either granny or come here. It's a funny time isn't it?

OP posts:
Pidge · 22/03/2004 15:40

I found it much easier to understand my dd when she had a vocab of 20 words ... now it can be a real guessing game. Sometimes she'll say the same phrase over and over, so she obviously means something by it, but I haven't a clue what she's on about. Usually I just beam and say "Oh, really" which satisfies her! Other times the penny drops hours later, recently we had a spate of her saying "Mummy didoodih" ... turned out this related to my use of the word "fiddlesticks" instead of full blooded cursing!

katierocket · 22/03/2004 15:46

fimbles - this is a really good book which someone recommended to me.
babytalk

some really useful info and advice (written by a speech therapist. I would definitely say don't correct her straight out as it can make them self conscious.

SO if she says 'raddit' instead of 'rabbit' for example, don't say "no, it's rabbit" just put the correct version into your sentence in a different way e.g. "yes, it's a nice rabbit isn't it."

katierocket · 22/03/2004 15:47

sorry, just realised I've completely repeated what pidge said! but the books good anyway!

charlieplus3 · 22/03/2004 16:18

DD is now 22 months and only i still can understand what she says although she understands absolutly everything i say to her.

She can not finish her words and cant say her h's or her f's, but she learns a new word everyday and although it takes a while to work out what she means we get there in the end.

I find she gets more frustrated that i dont understand her and she grabs my hand to take me to whatever she is going on about. Then it all makes sense, and im like drrr of course thats what you said darling.

I dont ever correct her but i do repat back the word or words, like katierocket does and that always satisfies her

Shell get there soon, they all do.

JanHR · 22/03/2004 16:51

HI fimbles, your DD sounds exactly like mine. My DD is almost 20 months and if you make her watch yuo lips a couple of times she will normally repat it back.