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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

how many words for 18month old?

35 replies

misdee · 31/07/2006 19:20

dd3 doesnt seem to have many, but communicates well. i often hear about people saying how well their children speak, and early talkers etc etc, but none of mine have been,

not overly worried really, well maybe i am as dd2 has a speech delay, but really, is it possible to make your child talk more, or is it soemthing that just occurs naturally?

OP posts:

SenoraPostrophe · 31/07/2006 19:23

I think the average is 20. dd certainly had fewer, but has caught up fine. It's the being able to communicate bit that's really important I think.

Original poster

misdee · 31/07/2006 19:24

she has mum, dad, grandad, nan, no.

OP posts:

SenoraPostrophe · 31/07/2006 19:26

are you sure? dd had mum dad etc, and a few sort of regular babbles that we only realised were words later (iyswim). dd only had about 8 though even given that (I remember worrying at the time!)

Original poster

misdee · 31/07/2006 19:29

seriously thats it. she doesnt even ask for milk, bikki or jui(juice) likes the older 2 did at this age. she points or just gets stuff herself, or else drags me off to show me.

OP posts:

LeahE · 31/07/2006 19:29

DS (18 months and 1 week) now has between 30 (my estimate) and 40 (DH's estimate) words. About a month ago he had about six, so things have really taken off. A month ago I was mooching around the "how many words does your seventeen-month-old have" threads feeling hard-done-by, but it does all seem to come in a rush when they feel like it.

It has to be said that about five of these words (bear, ball, bar, bird and bath) all sound rather like "bah". And that they include some rather odd versions ("caggy" for carry I can understand, but "eesh" for drink - huh?).

clairemow · 31/07/2006 19:30

Amongs my post natal friends, the children were all completely different at the same stage. Some walked before others, talked before others etc. I think by the 2 year check, they are "expected" to be able to say around 20-50 words - but that's 6 months away from you - a lifetime for DD! And it's also an arbitrary number. I'm not an expert by any means, but I can't see how you could push speech, except by talking to and reading to DD as much as possible.

It seems quite common that second and third children talk, walk etc. later than first ones, as they have someone else to speak and fetch and carry for them!

LeahE · 31/07/2006 19:32

If she babbles and points and understands what you say to her then personally I wouldn't worry at this stage.

DS does pick up more words when he's the focus of attention from several adults for a few days, but I'm not sure if that would help if he weren't in a picking-up-words kind of frame of mind.

SenoraPostrophe · 31/07/2006 19:33

OK. really don't worry though missdee. she's probably just not bothering because she doesn't have to: she can get the juice etc by pointing. I could be wrong about the 20 words, but even if I'm not she'll catch up.

re encouraging speech - just talk to them I guess. do you do all the silly rhymes and things with her? do your other dds?

Original poster

misdee · 31/07/2006 19:38

oh yes, its constant chatter and singing round here.

OP posts:

albatros · 31/07/2006 19:45

I was very worried about dd2 she stopped making baby sounds at 6m and didn't get any words until 14m at 18m she had - dad, juice (water), dog and Sam (her grandparents dogs name). No mum
Over the next few months she started adding lots more and by 2yrs had over 100, then she didn't start joinning words until 2.3 I was getting worried about this as the 'average' is 2years. Now I can't shut her up She's just turnned 3 she sometimes gets stuck on a word or stutters but can comunicate really well.
She had a difficult start to life and I was looking for problems developmentaly. I also have a friend who has 2 non verbal dysbraxic children and I was convinced for a while dd2 also had dysbraxia. If she communicates in her own way with you I would say don't be overly worried - start a list of words she says and you will be suprised how quickly it grows. Of course you will be concerned and looking for pointers as your dd2 has a speech delay but try not to worry to much.
As far as making it possible to get your child to speak more I was guilty of talking for dd2 she would point at something and I would say 'do you want your car' she would then nod. After talking to the Nursery nurse I would say 'What do you want' when she pointed to try and encourage her to say 'that, car, now' or something. Also looking through books I would repeat 'pig' to her whilst pointing at a pig - I was told to tell her a few times it was a pig then later point to it again and ask her rather then getting her to repeat after me.
I did do the thing of talking to her all the time about anything and everything but did not allow her to input unless I prompted her IYSWIM Hope some of this helps.

futurity · 31/07/2006 19:49

DS2 (who is 18 months next week) doesn't have many words either..MaMa, Da, ada (his brother), Elleee (his fluffy toy) and that's it. I even watched my video of DS1 and found him at the same age to compare the talking as I was sure he spoke more at this age. He didn't though...the constant chattering picked up after 18 months and the words and repeating of what we say (which DS2 doesn't do yet) came at about 20 months..and now at 4 1/2 he doesn't shut up so DS2 hasn't got a chance of getting a word in which I am sure makes a difference!

jambot · 31/07/2006 19:56

At nearly 17 months, DD doesn't really say much. Dada, de(there), ou (out), go (gone) - that's it. No Mama at all. Can carry out pretty complex instuctions but doesn't have much to say yet, although I've noticed her 'baby talk' is changing in tone, so don't think it'll be long now. We are leaving her with my parents for two weeks while we attend a wedding in Germany, and sure will see a big difference when we return.

HRHQueenOfQuotes · 31/07/2006 20:02

DS1 only had about 8 at 18 months - and still only about 8 at 23 months! By 25 months I couldn't shut him up .

DS2 was much quicker and I'd stopped counting by the time he was 18 months.

potoroo · 31/07/2006 20:54

DS is 16 months and very chatty, but we can't understand him at all. One of his friends of the same age has about 20+ words and is totally understandable.
But I know DS can understand and is trying to talk, so I'm not too worried. Apparently my father was a very late talker, but used proper sentences when he finally started. Guess it all depends on the child?

sweetkitty · 31/07/2006 21:04

DD1 only had 2 words at 18 months (when DD2 was born) mama and dada, we were getting really worried.

Now 6 months later she has well over 200, talks in sentences and doesn't shut up.

naswm · 31/07/2006 21:13

ds2 is 2.1 and has less than 10 words. c DS1 has conversation by 18 months, they are all differnet

Jimjams2 · 31/07/2006 21:17

ds3 doesn't have many misdee- cat, dog, cat;s name, no, look, drink, meeow and some more can't remember but am coming to the condlusion he's fine- points out things all the time. And you know my reasons for paranoia Actually speech always worries me less than anything else. Once pointing is in place I relax.

Jimjams2 · 31/07/2006 21:17

oh and those words are in alien, iyswim, not english.

FairyMum · 31/07/2006 21:22

My 2 year -old only has about 10 words and they can only be decoded by close family. I think it varies so much at that age.

Original poster

misdee · 31/07/2006 21:25

oh dd3 is pointing jj, which is why i am not overly concerned. dd2 didnt really point,she had one phase of pointing at about 10months saysing 'wha dat' but then didnt point again till recently (not a proper point anyway not with index finger, always with whole hand, or using my hand to direct a point, i know you probably kow what i mean).

dd2 speech isnt coming on at all. |SALT report seems to have gone missing, so need to chase that up, they said a six month wait and its coming upto 6months and nothing so far.

i dont want dd3 to be in this position, as dd2 is so frustrated as no-one understands her. i spends ages trying to understand herm a stranger stands no chance.

OP posts:

popsycal · 31/07/2006 21:29

DS2 AMAZES ME WITH HIS LANGUAGE AND SPEECH

oops caps
and when I think back to ds1 at this point he sounds like your dd3

you will regret saying she doesnt say much
I canhear ds1 now, fast asleep, murmuring a song from lazytown

schneebly · 31/07/2006 21:29

DS1 only said mummy, daddy, juice shoes and bye bye until he was over 2 and now (almost 3) is a very good talker.

DS2 2 is 19 months and has about 40-50 words including things like flowers and sausages which I am a bit shocked by TBH.

They are all sooo different!

popsycal · 31/07/2006 21:30

oh god it looked like i was shoutign about how amazinf ds2 is

caps in error!

aviatrix · 31/07/2006 21:42

This reply has been deleted

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Jimjams2 · 31/07/2006 21:43

dd3 sounds more like my ds2 misdee. There was something up with his speech, speech sounds came in in the wrong order, and he was very difficult to understand until he was 2 and 8 months when it all came in overnight (literally). He was pointing etc as well, so although I got him on SALT waiting lists, and kept asking about speech disorders I wasn't as worried waiting as I would have been if I'd suspected a communication disorder. I did do some bits with him, with kaufan cards (but they're pricey- sometimes on ebay) and Nuffield (only available via SALTS and they don't start using them until later).

I do know what you mean about the pointing. Whole hand/with little finger/in the wrong direction/with my hand is ds1

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