18mo lost/forgotten words

[GentlyGentlyOhDear]

I'm a bit concerned about my dd's speech. When she was about 14/15 months old she had a lot more words and she seems to have stopped using some - off the top of my head - cat, dog, ball, bird, bus, dinner and bike. She doesn't say these at all now, she just makes a noise when she sees those items and points.

She does have a few words - mama, dada, g'ama, more, hi, 'row row row' and 'roll roll roll' (when playing with play doh). And several animal noises (baa, woof, quack, neigh etc) and social noises (oh-oh, aaah, ah-ah - to tell the dog off!).

Should I seek advice on her going 'backwards' and having less words than a few months ago? Just worried about why she isn't gaining more and can't say her early words.

I would go and see your HV/GP. It may be nothing, but a hearing test would be a good start.

(When I was a child, a friend's little brother was known as "quiet" Mark, it wasn't until he was 5 that it was realised he was deaf - so it is always better to get cheap easy tests than be sorry.)

But DON'T PANIC!

Thanks for replying, I've left a message for the health visitor to ring me so I'll see what she says. Might ring the gp and get an opinion from them too. This parenting malarkey is a worrying job!

I would guess she can but is presently choosing for some reason not to. Test hearing, but also are people jumping in for her? Maybe she's got fed up of people trampling over her attempts? Try backing off a bit incase and see what happens?

Hi *Gently,I think it's a good idea to speak to your GP about this- and it's helpful that you can tell him\her which words have been lost & which remain.
Your DD is young and developping at her own pace, but it might be an idea too to keep a diary from now, of how your DD communicates, and when she acquires new words.I also agree about asking for a hearing test- this will help identify or rule out any difficulties.
My DD has language difficulties; when I first realised, my automatic reaction was just to talk at her more, all the time-but that didn't work for us. The thing that helped us was to look at her communication, as opposed to her speech; and to pare my language down to one\ two words.
All the best to your DD & you

Definitely check if you are worried, but I've found my 20mo's speech has altered at various times. She used to 'talk' all the time in gibberish and say random words, but then she seemed to realise they didn't mean what she wanted and stopped saying anything at all!

Thanks march and Minnie.

The health visitor rang me back and said that the 'losing' words can be a normal part of the development, so not to worry. I'll definitely keep a diary though and note down words she says and the ones that she hasn't mentioned for a while.

Typically, as I was making her dinner tonight, she actually came into the kitchen and shouted 'ninner', pointing at her dish. She hasn't said that word for moths and I was quite worried about it!

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Yes she was very very quiet for a while too, which I put down to learning to walk/run etc and the past two weeks she has suddenly started talking gibberish and looking at us as if we should understand! Maybe she is just entering a new phase?

Thanks for the reassurances everyone. I'm not too worried about her hearing as she can hear and point to the sky is there's a faint aeroplane going ahead and always responds if I call her from behind etc. If she had glue ear would she still do this?

Don't want to alarm you but have a quick look through this and see if it does provide reassurance or any further worries. It's just that language loss can by a sign of autism. It's probably nothing at all, but this may be reassuring:

www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/diagnosis/mchat

Lost words at any age should always be investigated. My son lost words but it was hard to get anyone to take it seriously. I don't think there's any harm in waiting a month or so but I would ask for a referral if she loses more & they do not return.

How's her communication in other ways? Obviously it's more of a concern if there are other things going on as well.

Losing words can be an indicator of Autism but it usually comes alongside other concerns like lack of eye contact, needing very rigid routines, massive meltdowns, sensory sensitivities, etc.

Children also quite often make an attempt at a new word and use it for a while until they notice the difference between their pronunciation and the adults'. At that point they can stop using the word and only start again when they can hear that they are getting it right. Could that be an explanation for her stopping using some of them?

I don't think it is linked to autism - she has good eye contact, talks gibberish, points, loves 'messy play' activities and getting dirty, has reached other milestones ok, she has tantrums, but I think they are normal toddler tantrums. Are there any other indicators I should look out for? She goes to nursery one day a week and they have never mentioned any concerns. If I ring the gp would they know whether she needs referring?

I wonder if I 'overtalk' or perhaps it is me repeating the words once she has said them and this 'correction' puts her off? She has also whispered a couple of words, clear as a bell pronunciation, 'hoover' and 'apple', but then never said them again.

Thanks for the link freckled. I took it and we came out as low risk, but it was interesting to know what sort of things to keep an eye out for.

I have noticed my 18 month old has spells of saying a new word lots, then will stop saying it so much when she learns a new preferred word, to the extent that I worry she's lost the old word, but it seems to come back in the end. For example, sheep was one of her first words (we live in the countryside), she used to use it loads, even called shetland ponies sheep, but as she learned more words she stopped using sheep. Now she says it very occasionally, when she sees a sheep so special she feels moved to point it out to us(!), but can go a whole month without using it, I would say. There are other similar examples too - I assumed it was a novelty thing, and haven't really been worrying.

My ds gave me the same worries. Went through a phase at around 18 months of using no words at all, even ones he'd been saying for a while. I was just starting to get really concerned when it all just came back. During those weeks though, he did really perfect his walking so I'm thinking he was putting all his efforts in to that.
He's now 2.3 and never shuts up.