Language at 21 months

[Learningtodraw]

Hi mnetters. Please give me some advice/reassurance please.
My 21 month old is not talking. He does plenty of animal sounds and he signs a fair bit. But there is very little spoken words.
If promoted he can repeat words - cat, lady, car, ball but he very rarely spontaneously comes put with words. He's done that maybe 5 times.
His signing is spontaneous and is a conversation. E.g. i showed him beach one day then the next day he just signed it and keeps asking to go to the beach every day now..!! He also just cane out with milk and owl one day. He understands pretty much everything and he has started signing sentences - pointing at something then at himself to say he owns it. We have basic signed conversations too.
But there is no recogniseable words, lots of babbling and lots of playing around with sounds and conversational like tones in his chatting. He has no problem telling us what he wants tho.

I know signs and animal sounds count as words but I'm naturally anxious and i want to be told if his language is ok or if i need him checked out. Every other child his age i meet (friends kids) is talking.

[Learningtodraw]

Update - he started saying bye bye on the weekend. It's got clearer over the few days. He is also saying turtur for tortoise when he wants to play with it, and is doing passable attempts at hello.
Those of you sayingi should get his hearing checked out, do i still need to?

[user1491572121]

OP if you have ANY doubts about him, get it checked now. It could be nothing...but if he does have any issues, then the faster it's sorted out, the better the outcome.

[Learningtodraw]

Good point.ishall keep friday's gp appointment.

[Learningtodraw]

Update.
Gp is referring for a hearing test. Spoke to a salt on the phone today and they advised me to go to a salt drop in. So now trying to work out where to go and how to get there.

[ToDuk]

That's great. Can you call the salt back and ask for a list of drop ins?

[Learningtodraw]

There's a list of drop ins on the website, tge problen is in fitting them in around working hours. I think I'm going to have to get a bus to the next town.

[Learningtodraw]

Hi all. Just an update and looking for knowledgeable advice.
We have a hearing test booked for next week. At 22 months he started talking and now has about 12-14 words he says regularly. Has a good 20ish signs tho. I'm aware this is below normal so i think he's properly delayed but I don't know the reason why.
He doesn't really have a name for me. In the last few days he may have called me mum mum twice. Is this indicative of a problem? He says Daddy regularly.

I haven't seen a SALT yet but will do if the hearing test comes back clear.

[tessiebear4]

Is 12-14 words genuinely delayed at this age? I've always been told 50 words by 2, starting to join words then. There can be a huge amount of change over the course of two months.

[Learningtodraw]

@tessie - well if 50 words is what is expected and we only have 14 with no attempt to join 2 words together then I would have thought that counts as a delay. No?

[tessiebear4]

50 words at 24 months. Is he 22 months or 24 months?

[Learningtodraw]

He is 24 months next week. He was a few days shy of 22 months when i started the topic.

[Pansiesandredrosesandmarigolds]

It is 50 at 2, but animal noises and I think signs count as words.

[Pansiesandredrosesandmarigolds]

I mean, a hearing test can't do any harm, nor can SALT, but a kid with good receptive language, fourteen words and 20 signs at 2 sounds like they're just a bit slow to talk and will catch up.

[tessiebear4]

I agree with Pansies. I've got 3 kids so have known lots of toddlers over the years. I known quite a few who weren't joining words at 2. I think it's a rough guide. Understanding and having some words is good.

[Kissisforpirate]

Update- hearing test was fine. No problems there. I'm now not worried as he's saying lots of random words and it doesn't feel like anything is wrong.
Thanks all for their views.