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Behaviour/development

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

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Original poster

What counts as a sentence for my toddler?

15 replies

IfIonlyhadsomesleep · 27/05/2013 18:59

Just did a stupid thing and checked milestones for dd's age. She's 22months. Do "mummy up" "mummy milk" mummy cuddle" (you may spot a recurring theme!) count as two word sentences? And is it okay that most of her words come with slightly squiffy pronunciation, eg all words have c sound replaced with t (tar for car). Not trying to be neurotic just find out if I need to worry about her.

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SmileItsSunny · 27/05/2013 19:01

Yes, it sounds fine and perfectly normal

CreatureRetorts · 27/05/2013 19:02

Yes two word sentences are just that. Two words out together to give meaning.

And yes pronunciation sounds fine.

All you need to do is read to her lots, talk in simple language to her. Also don't correct her speech, just model it properly. Eg she says tar and you say, yes that's a car.

leesmum · 27/05/2013 19:03

She's doing well, my Ds2 didn't say a word until he was 2 and then it was only one word at a time.

Original poster

IfIonlyhadsomesleep · 27/05/2013 19:04

Good! Thank you! Will go and cross that off my list of things to be neurotic about...

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CreatureRetorts · 27/05/2013 19:07

Original poster

IfIonlyhadsomesleep · 27/05/2013 19:08

Perhaps we should have a rapid response thread for quick fire neurotic worries! Although I might dominate!

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babySophieRose · 27/05/2013 19:35

My DD is 18 months and says "what's that, who 's there, bye dady...etc." I count them all as sentences, not many words yet, but she is trying.

seeker · 27/05/2013 19:36

My dd's first sentence - can't remember how old she was- was "I not wear that"

Sprite21 · 27/05/2013 20:18

Ha ha Seeker, the problem with them communicating is that they have opinions. DD is 20 months and says things like "stop it" and "sit down" (v. bossy) and I didn't think that was a two word sentence because she hasn't strung it together herself IYSWIM, just mimicked.
She has just recently started saying things like "hi daddy" and "mummy come".Doesn't stop her having full conversations with punch lines where I have no clue what's just been said :)

AlwaysWashing · 27/05/2013 20:59

Good tip CreatureRetorts re not correcting but correctly modelling.
That was the best piece of advice I was ever given by the HV. I find I don't have to say a mispronounced correctly more than 2 or 3 times before it's sunk in and we're on to something else. DS1 is 2+2 now and his vocabulary astonishes me! (I find many other things to be neurotic about though!)

FredFredGeorge · 27/05/2013 21:17

I took it to be the first phrase that DD constructed rather than learning as a whole phrase. It was "More Chips"...

That may say something about my parenting...

Original poster

IfIonlyhadsomesleep · 27/05/2013 21:33

Okay-so should I take off my super pedantic grammar head for this and count "nappy poo" as a sentence too? Certainly constructed herself (the sentence ) and conveys meaning. No verb though

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JollyOrangeGiant · 27/05/2013 21:38

Nappy poo is definitely a sentence.

DS has a huge vocabulary but at 2.1 obviously still mispronounces a lot of words.

Even though he says "top" for "stop" and "awninj" for "orange" these still 'count' as words in his vocabulary as he knows what he's trying to say, he just doesn't have the dexterity in his mouth/tongue/lips to pronounce the words properly.

MoelFammau · 28/05/2013 11:24

After 22 months of my 2.1yo DD being deaf, I was very proud this morning when she pointed at the pavement and said 'Oh no! All dirty!'.

CecilyP · 28/05/2013 13:54

I don't think they are sentences as we normally understand them. They are words strung together and they make sense in context, but the grammar is missing. You know what they mean as you have the context. Having said that, I have no idea why you are feeling the need to feel neurotic - 22 months would be extremely early to be talking in proper sentences, so she sounds as if she is doing brilliantly.

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