15 month old son - and only says mama dada - how can I get him to pick up other words

[foxy1]

Hello

I have a 15 month old boy who says mama dada and thats about it. It talks in his own language but does not seem to try and repeat anything that I say to him. He points at everything and seems interested/curious in everything around him but has not developed his speech any further. My sister is training to be a speech therapist and has said that by now he should be say up to 6 words and so has worried me a little. Any tips/advice on what I can do to get him to repeat back to me what I have said. I am using lots of single words like:-

Drink
Food
Sleep
Bath
Dog
cat
book
Music
etc etc

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

as response to madrose i used to have similar convos with my dd and now shes a lot further ahead with her speech, they learn to talk better if they enjoy it, just make sure you respond to them a lot, they love it and babble off about rubbish.

oh and even tho dd can talk she still has gobledeegook, like when she tells me daddys car is in the 'biddle' what that is i dont know! oh well, having some mystery is always fun!

My ds is 23 months and doesn't talk, however occassionally we here him say the old word or two together. I have been worried recently but do know he will talk when he is ready and not before. My friends ds was 3 before he spoke and now at 3.5 you can't shut him up! I can't wait!!

my friend's 18 month old ds only started saying 'mama' and 'dada' a month ago but now he's doing sentences....

Sounds like your sister is confusing 'average' with 'normal range'.

Turn the TV/radio off - it makes the environment too "busy" so he can't concentrate on listening to you.

Talk to him about EVERYTHING. Whatever comes into your head.

Make eye contact and pause so he can respond (babbling or whatever).

Sing nursery rhymes, action rhmes etc. Go to your library they often have baby rhme time or similar.

Don't panic it will come and you'll sometimes look back fondly at this time!

God I am so glad I saw your post - my DD is 22 months and barely says more than 'ma', 'da' & 'hide' (well sort of but we know what she means!). She isn't overly affectionate and was slow to walk and now walks solely on her tiptoes and i read an article in a magazine yesterday about Autism and the lady who had two autistic sons said that her eldest wasn't affectionate and walked on his tip toes and barely spoke a recognisable word and i freaked and went to bed in tears.

I went online teh next morning and the checklist for autism signs were as she said and my husband wants me to take her to the doctor but i'm too scared.

She plays really well and when she falls over she comes for a hug and a cry and she plays well with other children and shes generally a gorgeous little girl but just behind in everything compared to the average kid ie eating solids and walking and stuff but i'd never of even worried if it wasn't for the fact all her friends that are younger than her are saying two words together and talking so much more. She doesn't even seem interested in talking and prefers dancing and playing. I'm trying my hardest to not worry but its hard when its becoming quite noticeable amongst ther kids that shes a good few months behind, what do you think? Am I also being a bit overworried?

lolabelle - why worry yourself sick - just make that appointment. Know you're worried about what might be said, but at least you'll know where you stand. Chances are things are absolutely fine, but the longer you leave it, the more you'll convince yourself that something is wrong.

He's doing better than my DD - our 3rd, who is 16 mos. she says mama and nothing else. oh, she sort of says more. Struggles with da. Really don't worry. It'll come with time. The most important thing is that he is communicating with you albeit without many words. DD understands us and can follow what we say, but just hasn't got many words yet.

Lolabelle

I have had the same concerns as you in the past due to lack of speech from my ds 23months, but I really think that if you had an autistic child you would know about it! (hope I'm not being out of line?) I have expereince of working with autistic children and due to this I have tended to pick certain behaviours out of my son's and panic! I know sooo many children that didn't talk until they were three, and autistic children that did talk! My son is different and I have spilt so many tears worrying, when I know deep down he is just a bit slow in milestones. He didn't walk until he was 19 months and didn't crawl atall. Regarding your dd walking on her toes, she may have difficulties with her tendons and so to worry that she may have autism due to this is just going to cause you unnecessary stress and fear. If it puts your mind at rest you should make an appointment. I spoke to my HV about my ds behaivour and she doesn't want to see him until he is atleast 30 months and so much development can occur in that time, so there is plenty of time for you dd to catch up. Not sure if this message is for you or me!! Let me know how you get on. I wish I was warned that parenting is full of soooo many worries!

I took her toplaygroup yesterday and watched her interact with all the other kids (albeit on tip toe!) and realised she is very socially capable indeed and was dive bombimg the bouncy castle and role playing with the dolls and in some ways she seems almost advanced in some areas and way behind in others, i think comparing can be awful though as it drives you insane. I'll probably mention it to my gp though as the tip toeing causes her to trip over constantly and it won't hurt to check her speech either - God its a life of anxiety being a parent!!

Foxy I am a SALT and certainly wouldn't be worried.
All advice is good here.
As a general rule,we expect

Single word at the age of one
Two words together at the age of two
Three (or more) words together at age of three.

Play with him,talk to him and don't try to teach him anything.

If you CAT me with your address,I can send you a very nice little handout on early language development.

Foxy - when my ds had his 2 year assessment with the hv, she said he should have a vocabulary of around 100 words - he had about 20! We wondered if something was wrong but boy, has he proved US wrong! He is now 3 yrs 4 months and never shuts up! It has also helped with him starting nursery as he gets to mix with other kids. He is now a very vocal young lad, so I would not be worried about your lo. They all pick up words as they go along and suddenly, somehow, it all clicks in their mind. Don't fret, it will come!

I was glad to read your post Moondog. Ds (21 months) only says single words - except 'car key' (his favourite object). People keep asking me why he isn't stringing phrases together. I was beginning to think about worrying about it - but that's but my mind at rest. He didn't really have more than 1 or 2 words until about a month ago when he started picking up everything we said. Doesn't really talk when he's out either so I get 'can he say anything?'. Yes he just don't want to talk to you!

(Only other child at this age is talking in sentances, but then she has always been advanced and was walking by 9 months - luckily her mum is not the rub it in kind)

That was supposed to read - only other child I know at this age.

Whats a SALT by the way?

a lot of people don't like them, but i think the baby einstein dvds are good for language. we have baby neptune and some others, oh yes, gallileo (!) and my dd (20 months) loves repeating the words. the good thing is that they focus on one word at a time. a language specialist once told me that the best way to encourage a baby to talk was to put his or her name first before the object "Harry's car, Harry's bottle" because babies have trouble understanding words that are strung together, like adults do when learning a foreign language. If you say their name first, and of course they recognise it, they know when the next word begins. It certainly helped in our house and dd now has a vocab of about 100 words which is lovely. HTH