confused by other net sources about what constitutes speech delay at 20 months

[Bumblesquat]

Hi all,

My son is 20 months, bright, happy little chap, has 4 or 5 words, but he doesn't use them consistently, but babbles constantly in his own little expressive language. I had thought this was all fine and indicated that he was learning control of his facial muscles.
However after someone outright said to me "your boy has speech delay" (something I'd never heard of before), I went to do some reading. I'm now more confused than before when I knew nothing! Can someone explain for me in general terms, what constitutes speech delay at 20 months, please? I thought he was doing fine, but everything I've read has said that correcting the cause of the problem is time-critical and speech delay can have lots of knock on effects. Do I need to do something, if so, what?

He sounds normal to me but if you're worried your first port of call should be your HV. She will be able to reassure you or refer you to Speech and Language if she feels there is a problem.

Just to reassure you, my DD wasn't speaking at all at 26 months. She had a couple of sessions of speech therapy and has now caught up with her peers (she is nearly 4).

My sister is a SALT and recommends www.talkingpoint.org.uk which is run by a SALT charity and has ages and stages checker.
My DD is at a similar stage, has a diagnosed development delay and her speech recently assessed as 10-12m with lots of babbling and 5 recognisable (to us) words, so I think you should probably be approaching HV to ask for referral or finding a drop in clinic. Many places don't see children

My daughter had that amount of words til literally 21 or 22 months where they've just coming and coming from then. I'd wait a few more months it doesn't sound like he's got speech delay now. I didn't worry about mine.

At 21 months my DS didn't have a single proper word. There were sounds that meant something to me but that was it. I knew my DB hadn't talked until nearly 2 so was quite Zen about it.
He's just started reception and has a bonkers vocab. He used the word mutated correctly earlier and knew what it meant when I asked :)
Give it until 24 months. I bet there'll be an explosion!

Oh goodness, I remember feeling some trepidation with DS2 coming up to his 2 year check up (approx 8 million years ago or so it seems) because his brother had lots of words at that age and I didn't know how I would answer the 'how many words does he use' question because the answer would have been dishonestly 10. He caught up big time very soon after, there is a lot of flexibility at that age, if you are worried go to your health visitor but give it time, he's still a baby! DS2 hasn't shut up since he turned 2, honestly, he has spoken without a pause for over a decade now and despite consulting the manual I can't make him stop .

Who exactly told you he had a delay and are they a) a professional (because they are still probably talking crap) or b) someone who secretly likes to make other people feel inferior?

DS at that age had about six words, the universal and universally-used one being DAT. Nobody turned a hair and rightly so, because by the time he was 2 and a few months he was yattering away. At 9 you can't shut him up for toffee

I am intrigued that having put his details into the website mentioned as his speech was at 18 months, it tells me he needs professional assessment.

The key things for me about DS were that he communicated in every other way - babble, gestures, pointing, and clearly understood what was said to him.

If you feel those factors aren't in place I'd be more worried. If not, speak to a professional by all means but it sounds most likely that he's within the very wide range of normal for this age and will catch up.

Good luck!

DS2 had bog all at that age and it took a fair while to get any acknowledgement of a delay.

He did finally start talking sort of consistently. At 8. But yes, it would be a good idea to push for a referral. Is everything else within normal range?

I think it depends. From my own (non-expert) observation there is a huge range in normal and therefore some normally-developing children will have only a few words at that stage, but in some other children it will be a sign of language delay. You know your child best - as PPs say, is he communicating in other ways, does he understand you, does he "get" language and it is just that he isn't using words?

If you think about it, there is a huge range in normal ages for learning to walk, from about 11 months to 24 months, so it is not surprising if language should also display a big variety. It doesn't correlate with level of achievement later on unless of course there is a problem.

If you are concerned, talk to your HV. There tend to be v long lists for SALT anyway so you probably wouldn't be seen for months and they tend to refer you with the thought that if in 6 months time it has all sorted, you can cancel when you receive the appointment.

FWIW, DS1 had probably 5 words at 20 months, but understood a lot. Language development came in two big spurts, at about 34 months (when he started combining words into 2-3 word sentences) and at about three and a half (when he started talking properly). There was a period before then when we were really worried but he is now chattering away and loves making up stories. DS2 looks set to follow in his brother's footsteps - at 19 months he has only 3 words and has just started babbling, but is happy and interacts in many other ways. HTH

Thank you all for your comments. Apologies for posting and disappearing. To answer a few questions:
He is very expressive, he gestures, babbles, has set sounds for specific things, has 4 or 5 words (but they're not always used). So I feel he communicates well, he certainly makes himself understood more often than not, and is very persistent if you guess wrongly.
He seems to have a good grasp of what other people say to him, and when the will takes him (rarely) he'll do the thing you've asked him to do. That said I've been trying to teach him his facial features and colours and so forth and he can't seem to pick out the thing that corresponds with what I've said.
I've not been worried up until now, but then he's my first and so my expectations might be low, cos I'm just chuffed every time he does something!
The person who told me she thinks he has speech delay is a woman I know very vaguely, who works in child health in some capacity. I ran into her in a shop and was shocked when he didn't speak when she said hello, she then grilled me and pronounced judgement. It's only the second time she's ever met him though.

3 DC had speech delay & there wasn't any therapy available for them before 4+ yo, anyway. So my feeling is that it's too young to say much of anything about OP's DS.

With mine at age 2+yo, although they could speak loads, I couldn't understand them hardly, and it just didn't get better. DC4 had poor comprehension, too.

Your ds sounds very similar to mine. Ds is 21 months and only says a couple of words and makes a few animal noises.I brought it up with the hv ans she said it's too early to worry. He has good understanding, so will get his shoes if asked and things like that. The gp has given me the number of a SALT drop in though so that I can get his hearing tested. It's really worrying me tbh- some of my friends children are making sentences now.

My son is 21 months and until a month ago had 4-5 words. We've had another 5 words develop in the last couple of weeks, and we can usually understand what he means even if it sounds mostly like babble. He also has good understanding of what we say to him, so we're not worried yet. I think they say don't worry till after 2.

My two year old has two words and doesn't speak at all. I seem to be surround d by two year olds chattering away and it's driving me crazy.

On the one hand they might be ok and some children take longer than others. On the other, there could be something wrong and the earlier you catch it the easier to treat.

We have a speech therapist and she confirmed that yes, only two words is a speech delay at 2. It could also be pot wil verbal dyspraxia. If you have worries or an instinctive feel, i would ask for help. Don't be fobbed off.

I'm a paediatric SALT. The milestone we tend to use is 10 words, other than mummy/daddy, by 18months. Animal noises and vehicle noises (brum brum, nee naw etc) count as words.

It sounds like your DS is a good little communicator, even if he's not hit that language milestone yet. If he's using some gestures meaningfully, you could look into a bit of signing. Either baby signing or Mr Tumble on CBeebies does Makaton signing.

It would be worth getting his hearing checked, just to rule out any issues.

Many SALT services do offer a drop in where you could get some more specific advice if you feel you want it. He's still very young and it's common for words to come a little later and very quickly.

I hope this all makes sense, I'm sleep deprived!

Thank you all so much for your replies. I think I might speak to the HV and see about getting his hearing checked, I think he hears pretty well, but it would be a useful thing to rule out for certain. I feel a lot less worried and a good deal more reassured by the things you've all said. I think it's possible he's fine and just taking his time, but if he does have a problem I know what to do to get him some help now, so thank you all so much.

We're going to get ds's hearing checked out too. My niece had glue ear and if effected her speech a lot. I'm certain ds can hear (he'll look up for planes and stuff like that) but if certain frequencies are blocked out it can effect speech. When my niece was little we were told it's amazing how little hearing they can "get by" with so you wouldn't necessarily notice a little hearing loss but it could affect speech.

My DS is exactly the same age.

Has a few words which he pronounces properly I. E. Other people can tell what he means.

Loads of babble, chats away to himself, imcomprehensible.

Success! I have spoken to an HV by phone, who gave me a direct referral to a SaLT, who gave me a telephone consult, and is happy that all is fine, but will make an appointment if I want one. Having spend the past few weeks listening more keenly to what my son says, I am picking more words out of the babble, so I think I've probably not been paying as much attention as I ought