How many words can your 1.5yr old say??

[clairemarie5]

My son is 19 months old and can say about 160 words.. I've read at this age he should be on around 70-100 so he's well above 'average'.. does this mean he is very intelligent or is this amount of words at his age common? Some words are very clear and some not.. He can say things like 'dangerous' 'ambulance' 'fire engine' really well and then smaller words like 'water' or 'bed' sometimes sound off and I have to hear them a few times before I click on to what he's saying.. I'm so proud of how much he can say and he's now also putting words together like "night night mama" and "mummy's bed" (he calls me both).. anybody else have a very chatty youngster at this age? I feel like I have a little Einstein on my hands! Or is he at a normal stage for his age?

He sounds very advanced compared to the babies that age I know (about 6)

My 18 month old can say about 30, and normally only when prompted. He is behind the curve, but I don't know any baby who can say lots of 3 syllable words.

Thank you for your answer.. I thought he was advanced but wasn't sure if it was just wishful thinking. I wrote down everything he can say and it seemed a lot, like I said some words are spoken better than others but all are understandable for most people who hear them so he must be doing well! He could say dangerous about 5 months ago, I guess I just have a very smart little guy :)

He's smart My DD1 was the same, she is now (just turned) three and can hold full conversations with adults. She can count to 30, add and subtract, name all the letters in the alphabet and can write her name.

My DD2 is 16 months and can only say hello, go, muma, dada and bye bye.

They do tend to level out in skills though, DD2 is walking earlier and much more demonstrative. I have seen this with friends children, some were talkers and some were physical.

I think they are about equal in intelligence it just manifests itself in different ways.

Enjoy your chatty baby, it's lovely.

My dd is 19 months and has a similar amount of language although I gave up counting long ago! She uses phrases of up to 4 words e.g my daddy brush floor. I am a speech and language therapist so I know that this is above the average but within the normal range. My mum tells me that my language skills were similar at that age and I'm by no means a genius! There are definite advantages to being articulate at an early age and a good foundation of language and speech sound skills is helpful for development of literacy etc but I don't believe that it is indicative of "intelligence". Children who start to develop language a little later can still achieve excellent skills and it tends to even out after a while. By school age you wouldn't be able to pick out the children who spoke in phrases at 18 months from the ones who developed phrased speech at 24 months. It's lovely that you are so proud of your child, as I am of mine, it's lovely to hear their little voices and see them express their little personalities!

Above average, definitely, but as has already been said, it does not necessarily equate to amazing intellect or being advanced in other ways.

My DD1 was similar at that age and remains very articulate and good at expressing herself. However she has just started reception and is only average at reading, sounding out words etc (she could not read at all in September unlike many of her peers). I think she is stronger at writing, drawing and numeracy than most, but for physical skills she would be below average.

Ds1 was like this - he met most of his milestones early actually. Age 8 he is bright and academically inclined but not amazingly so. Quite within the normal range.

Interestingly Einstein said very little til he was 3 or 4.

Ah thanks for all the lovely messages ladies! Really enjoyed reading about your little ones development too.. I am so proud of my boy. I'm glad to hear that he's above average hopefully he'll be better in school than I was! Haha.

Our dd is very chatty, she's just turned two and she speaks very well and is very clear - absolutely everyone comments on it but we keep playing it down saying she's just normal however we do think she does very well and we tell her she's ver clever, she now tells us she is very clever :). she can have a conversation with us without any problems. She can count well, up to about 25 and can count out things e.g. If you put three bricks on the floor she will say three but if there's a lot she needs to count them out. She knows about 12 colours but interestingly she gets red and green mixed up a lot and all her animals she has and the noises they make. She also says things like that's like mummys car when she sees a car like mine in the street.

Although we think she's quite clever we just think it's the way she's made up, other kids do other things which she can't do - I'm sure once she reaches school she will be no different from the other kids.

My two said virtually nothing until they were two, and then spoke virtually in sentences. They are in year 2 and top of numeracy and literacy and speak the clearest of all kids I know. So not sure what early speech shows really. Your child is probably normal!

DS (19mo) only says a few words and none clearly! He did walk at ten months and runs, climbs, follows instructions perfectly. He also signs and communicates when he is tired, hungry and wants us to play with him and what with!

I don't think speech is a major indicator of intelligence its communication and understanding of language that's more important. I don't think early motor skills are important either. I suppose early reading and maths skills (age 3 ish) would be more of an indicator.