18mth old girl, has only 4 words, pls tell me that's normal!

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All she says is 'gone' 'again' (they sound exactly the same but she uses them differently, so you can tell what she means), 'bye' and 'mum' (she calls her mum that,but also any female adult who's looking after her (such as me). She doesn't seem to have learnt any new words for about 6 months - is this normal??

not sure what the route in to community health care is in your area, you gp might be able to help, or the hospital staff, just ask them. it would be worth talkig it over with somebody, you may well be subject to wiating lists etc, so although it isn't concerning you at the moment that your ds speech isn't clear, he will be a bit older by the time you get seen and it may be an issue for you by then, it sounds like unclear speech is part of the general speech and language delay for your ds, hope that he contibues to make good progress!x

i didn't speak (apart from "teddy") til nearly 4...
no development problems for me!

my DD2 is 16 months, she says mamma, dadda, bye, hello, uh oh. she understands loads though. she certainly isn't behind (is at nursery 3 days and the other children of the same age seem about the same).
my DD1 was speaking much more at 16 months - i guess all children are different.

M2PW - all I meant was it can be normal. My son was very late in his speech development and even went to speech therapy but he absolutely normal now (although dh and I both believe there are many degrees of normality and actually ds1, although "normal," is quite close to the aspergers side of normality - I hope that is not an offensive thing to say.

I do agree though that you should do whatever checks you can. As I said, ds1 had some initial speech therapy sessions and he also went to the hospital and had his hearing properly checked just to rule out that possibility.

it's so true, every child is different, i can't think of many that follow developmental manuals to the letter in every area! x

It's really interesting to read this thread - my ds is 20 months old and has a repertoire of about 3 words - Mum, dad, out. None of which are terribly clear. His hearing appears normal and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with his comprehension. He doesn't like to socialise with others preferring solitary activities usually involving spinning, twisting and repetative actions. My family have badgered me to the point of getting him seen for an additional developmental check (next week) as they feel he exhibits a lot of autistic style behaviours including lack of eye contact etc.
However as his Mum, I'm not overly worried. I feel that he is less social than my Dd and his speech is a little delayed. However I look at my dh who also struggled socially when younger and at the part genes may play in this case. My ds is very cuddly and affectionate towards his close family and has a cheeky sense of humour. He's truly a dear little boy.
Wearing my professional hat, I have seen huge differences in the age children reach developmental milestones. I do plan to get a second opinion by seeing what my HV (an eminently sensible woman with a lot of experience) says and then we'll go from there. In the meantime I'll carry on supporting my ds and encourage him to learn at his pace.
Sorry for the long post!

This is a good thread.

I was concerned about my dd2's language, she's 18 months and has about 10 words...which although fits into the normal spectrum is remarkably less that dd1 who was jabbering on with all sorts by that age.

What has kept me from being concerned is her receptive language (what she understands) is very good, so if I say, put the ball in the box she undersatnds no problem.

lexij, if a child does has delayed speech is it usually a global problem (ie receptive and expressive language is delayed), and would you also expect to see any other milestone delays?

Oh by the way aparrently DH only said 'car' by the time he was 2. Now he is a GP....but maybe that says something about doctors communication skills?

hi, sorry for slow reply, been enjoying a very salty roast dinner at the granparents in laws!
flumpy- expressive language delay can exist completely on its own, with receptive language following normal developmental lines. In nearly all children their receptive language skills are relatively stronger than their expressive language skills. you can have speech an dlanguage delay without delayed development in other areas. Hope that makes sense! x

When I was having DD, DS was just over 2 & I had to write out a list for my parents who were looking after him 'interpreting' his few words.
He was always a quiet child, but able to express himself in writing much better than in speech. He's just got an A in A level English & is extremely eloquent when he needs to be - but he is definitely not a 'chatty' person, and I don't think he ever will be.
DD on the other hand had about 40 words at 18 months & was talking in short sentences. I don't think she's stopped talking since.

Thanks lexij, made perfect sense.

I wonder if I could pick your brains further (but I'll understand if you don't fancy putting your work hat on on a sunday night especially after a roast dinner)?

Can you suggest any simple strategies for improving a young childs expressive language.

Is reading to them and chatting to them the best and simplest thing to do?

With books is it best to stick with very simple picure books (like Spot and Dear Zoo), or do they benefit from having more complex stories (like the Gruffalo) read to them?

Sorry am sounding like a terrible pushy/anxious middle class mother here (which in reality I probably am!), just wondering if there is anything I could be doing differently to help dd2.

Thanks in advance.

PS what's your professional/personal opinion on how much TV an 18month old should be watching....will understand if you don't want to answer that for fear of opening a 'MN can of worms'!!!

i don't mind flumpy, on mat leave and am glad to be using my brain!
good strategies are;
-try not to use lots of questions, make lots of comments instead at around 1 or 2 words, to encourage joining words

• songs and nursery rhymes are good, as are repetitive stories
• be repetitive with language
• offer choices e.g 'green socks or red socks'
• use play sounds and symbolic noises in play, e.g. moo, woosh, ni naw ni naw.

tv is a hard one, so long as it's age appropriate it isn't a bad thing, maybe up to an hour is appropriate for an 18 month old, if you are watching it together and interacting it can be a good way of stimulating language.

as for books a mixture is good, children often have favourites which are quite easy, such as picture naming, mix these up with harder books, 'going on a bear hunt' is good. if it's too hard your child will let you know because you will lose their attention very quickly!

Message withdrawn

Many thanks, that's all really useful stuff.

It's nice to use your professional brain now and again isn't it! My only opportunity to use mine now is on mumsnet, I'm rather afraid that when I go back to work I'll just take one look at a patient and burst into tears saying 'I know I should know what is wrong with you but I just can't remember....would you like a lovely jam sandwich with the crusts cut off...or I can tell you the very hungry caterpillar by heart!'

Sorry if someone else has said this stuff already but here's my input.
DS has speech delay, he is 22 months and doesn't really have any definite words yet. The thing that concerned our Health Visitor wasn't the lack of SPEECH - expressive language, but his lack of receptive language, ie he didn't recognise his name, or understand what you said if you asked 'where's teddy' or 'car for mummy'

I found all the rumours about extra bright kids who didn't talk until they were 4,5 or 6 to be less than helpful. i wanted to know what we could do because all the developmental stuff i'd read said by 18mo they should be starting both expressive and receptive speech.

We had a SALT assessment and they said you have to take it very slowly and build on their listening skills. So don't use complicated sentances and don't expand too much. for example if you are watching a Teletubbies video and a dog comes on, don;t say;
"look x doggy, you like doggies don't you, we saw a doggy today in the park."
Just say "doggy, doggy" and point at the screen.

Do listening games - like musical chairs/all fall down so they learn about listening for a change in sounds

Do symbolic sounds, so woof woof, ring ring

encourage imaginative play - thats another indicator of language delay apparantly. If the child has no imaginative play skills. DS wouldn't even push toy cars along or try and cuddle a dolly.

sunnyjim you give sound advice, listening and understanding of language have to be developed first, and play is an imprtant part of that too, hope ds is making progress

whta's you line of work flumpy? are you due back to work soon? i've only just started mat leave but dreading going back already!

BC was (? still am) an outpatient physio.
I'm not planning on going back until dd2 starts school, so thats in 2009, am seriosly worried that whatever (little) knowledge is retained will be hopelessly out of date and I'll have to start from scratch again!

DD2 said bog-all for ages and ages and ages and ages.

And now she talks and talks and talks and talks and talks.

Do you think this child has a problem with speech or with communication? I really wasn't worried about DD2 because - despite not being as preturnaturally articulate as her sister - she clearly understood communication; it was just the enunciation she couldn't manage. She's still not madly clear.

I haven't read the whole thread but ds, who is 19 months, has seriously accelerated the language learning in literally the last month or so. Also he did have a really long gap before any new words emerged, and now he's a demon.

I have to say though my fave was this morning when my friend (who was staying with us) put on her glasses and ds, who is used to seeing only me in glasses (ga-ga) spent ten minutes puzzling to himself: "ga-ga. Mama ga-ga. Debby ga-ga. Ga-ga." (Repeat as necessary).

DD (nearly 23 months) has only just started saying more than Mama & Dada. Since New Year she has gone from 3 words to about 40. Not stressed about it at all.
As long as this child is making sounds, seems to understand a certain amount and has said one or two words I wouldn't worry at all until she is over 2. Some children hardly say anything until 2 and a half.

My dd who is now 4 1/2 didnt say a ward until she was 2. To be honest even after that her speech was always a little slow, preschool at 3 1/2 suggested that she see a speech therapist which we did, and my daughter spoke relatively well to her. It was decided that she was just very shy, she was the quietest in the preschool class. She is now 4 1/2 and there is nothing wrong with her speech at all, she has just started school and her confidence has grown and I think that has helped.

So certainly, watch her speech but dont worry about it.

My DS had very few words at that age. He would make lots of sounds and jestures (he somehow reminded me of an enpassioned politican making a speech) but still very few words. The all of a sudden a few months on he has hundreads of words it seems and even says three word sentances like "it goes there". I too was worried and you probably wont be assured unti she starts talking - but she will. I know other toddlers you daughters age and older who are talking very little, if all, as well. So I would say its normal.

One thing I did do, around the time my DS started really talking, we took him on this fantaastic website that teaches toddlers sounds & letters. He loves the animation and I personally think hearing the repetition of the letter sounds with the fun animation helped things along a bit. I've recommended this site to my mum friends and their kids love it too. My DS actually recognises some letters now, which I'm hoping will give him a bit of extra confidence in that area when he is older.

here it is

I have been worrying about my DS (18 months tomorrow) - he can say cat, dog, duck, dad ... but that's it. It's very reassuring to see there is a range out there. I work full time and I wonder if he doesn't get the opportunity to develop at nursery. I'll just keep talking and see what happens ...

I just thought I'd update you on my visit from the HV. She spent some time with ds and felt that there were "areas of concern" which were worth exploring. She appeared very interested in the hand twisting and repetative play along with the lack of language but reassured by ds's ability to show affection.
She's going to refer to the Comm. Paed. who will decide whether she wants to assess him or monitor.....Ummmm. Whilst I'm not freaking out I had hoped she'd tell me my family's concerns were unfounded