Should an 18mth old be talking yet ???

[Nutcracker]

Just wondering really. Can not remember if my Dd's coulkd say anything at this age. My Ds can't really say anything. He used to say dada and mama but not any more.
If i say duck he says quack, and if i say dog he says woof, and so on.

He does say a few things which we can understand cos we know what he means, but they aren't really words, more like a tune iykwim.

For exampl, his dad taught him to say 'who are ya' at the football (delightful i know). I know when he's saying it, but most people would probably wonder what he was shouting about.

Am i talking nonsense ???

Why is it that i can't seem to remember past 2 weeks ago with my dd's

Meant to add, he can say Eh Oh

Erm i think he can point, haven't really checked.

I think it varies immensely. dd was certainly stringing words together but ds' vocab was more limited to the names of Thomas the Tank Engine characters and a few proper words and phrases. He didn't learn his animal sounds until around 20 months (remember that because we had an animal Advent calendar). Boys do tend to be later than girls in their speech generally but I think each child is individual.

All kids are different. My ds1 didn't speak proper words until he was 26 months and was still not pronuncing words correctly when he went to school. However, he is very bright and got Level 3 in his SATs tests last year (above average). Ds2 started speaking at 14 months, dd about the same, ds3 (currently 15 months) makes sounds consistently (ie same sound for same object) but I wouldn't say he was talking yet.
We took ds1 to a speech therapist before he was speaking and, as I remember it, she wasn't too concerned about him because he had good understanding. Sounds as though your son understands you well enough. Also, saying quack, say, when he sees a duck, counts as saying a proper word, according to the speech therapist I saw.
Hope this helps.

dd2 talks, but not much of it is reconisable to others. the words i love hearing her saying, tho not really words, is 'awwwwwww, wow and nooooo' the rest is gobblegook to most people, but i know what she means most of the time.

O.k thanks.
I will stop worrying, for now anyway.

please stop worrying nutty, you sound just like me nutter

don't compare boys and girls in talking!

Also as dinosaur says by 18 months you want to see him pointing (especially at things that interest him to draw your attention to it), showing you thinigs that interest him, and copying - in terms of play etc.

That's it- nothing more- if he's doing that no need to worry.

Totally sympathise Nutty, I had a crisis last week because someone asked me if my 14mos old was talking! THen went on to say "oh well, my DS didn't talk until he ws 2" ..... but the damage was done and I had a horrible day. All OK now though, but have been looking for pointing, eye contact etc and its all there. She does say "dish" which means this, how sweet!

My ds didn't talk till really late - nearly 2 I would say. My dad has since owned up that he was 'extremely worried', but ds always understood what we were saying very clearly, so I wasn't worried. My friends autistic son had a huge vocabulary at 14/15 months - lots of different words, names of things etc, but he didn't (and doesn't) understand much of what was said to him.

I understand what dd says, not many other people do, er only really obvious word is tasty, or yum.
she is mama dada, she says words for lights and toes etc... but not discernible, I know she knows what things are called as she looks and points to things straight away if I mention them by name.
My paediatrician said some kids are perfectionists and will not say a word until they can say it properly, then they never shut up again...
He sounds ok, prob with all the girls in the house he is typical man and cannot get a word in LOL
Sounds like he understands fine and thats the main thing....

DS1 started speaking clearly from 12 months, DS2 barely uttered a word until he was 2 at which point he started nursery and his vocabulary exploded. It's amazing how different even siblings can be!

MY DS had very few words - about 6 inc mum and dad at 18 mths. I can't remember exactly when he started talking but the floodgates really opened with a vengence when he did.Probably around 2 or just after. We knew he could understand quite a lot and he pointed and otherwise made himself understood before that though.

Dd is 19 months and talks pretty well though hasn't done more than a 2 word sentence yet. But she still uses sounds for some words like a duck noise rather than the word duck, same with a cat miouw. I found at around 16 months she went from just a few scraps of words to developing very quickly and now she can repeat a lot of words back to us in a relatively recogniseable way. My friend's ds at the same age didn't say anything except 'mamma' 'dadda' and 'more'. When he hit 2 it was incredible and now at 3 he sounds like a 4-5 year old to me. So I wouldn't worry a bit. Is he climbing stairs and that sort of stuff? My little theory is that they put all their attention into one thing or another - dd is crap at climbing and has only just started to do a wimpy sort of run.

hi glad ive read all these messages cos just recently ive been wondering whether or not to see my health visitor about my son - now i know theres no need.my son is 16 months old and he cant say anything clearly.he is so busy running round and climbing he hasnt got the time to speak.he points and shouts eeeerrrrr if he wants anything. he is the total opposite to my daughter she was singing twinkle twinkle by the age of 15 months, but is not as fast with running and climbing as my son.

Nutty I agree with everyone they are all different. I only have one but my parents always said that I was talking at 1 and my brother hardly uttered a word until he was 2.

Thanks for this Nutty, I was just popping onto MN to post a very similar message myself...
My 18mo DS says ... mama, dada, woof woof and clicks his tongue for horses and clocks (clip clop and tick tock, iyswim). That's it.

I hear the other boys his age say all sorts of things.

I go through stages of intense worry (is he deaf? autistic? do I not talk to him enough? working mother guilt? too many ear infections? - none of which I actually think are true) interspersed with comfort at the fact he can understand pretty much everything, and communicate almost all his needs (clean nappy, go outside, play with the trike, carry me, read with me etc) except hunger / thirst.

I like to think that he's a perfectionist, and is waiting till he can ask some deep existentionalist question in perfectly pronounced, grammatically correct complexly phrased English.

I'm intending to wait until he's 2 till I take any more action (partly cos I can't face my useless HV) unless the worry really gets the better of me.

Thanks -