20 month old not talking?

[perfectlyimperfect11]

My son has just turned 20 months old. He is barely talking at all. He went through a phase where all he would say is ‘cat’ but even that’s stopped now. He understands what we say and is switched on, say if I say to him pass mummy whatever he knows what I say and passes me it.
I’m just worried he’s behind in his speech and then I’ve heard this can signal autism etc and I’ve got myself a bit worried, or that it’s my fault for not socialising him much.

I know it's easier said than done but try not to worry as they all develop at different paces. If you're still worried in terms of his vocabulary when he is 2 I believe a GP would look at hearing tests but there is still time for things to improve before then!

The only thing I can recommend is to talk talk talk. It's weird but practically narrating your day and what you're doing to them can help them pick things up. Also, repetition of words will obviously help things stick. Also, read with him as much as you can (and as much as he likes obviously). He'll learn words and if you point he'll learn to associate the words with images too. Getting some animal books and teaching animal noises can be a fun way for them to learn too.

Good luck

Hi.
A few tips to encourage language development.

Talk to him in single words labelling what you are doing, he's playing with , your giving him.

Point to items, pictured in books etc using single words.

Lots of rhymes and songs. Sing the first line of the song stopping before the last word in the sentence. Wait 5 seconds to see if he'll fill in. Then ding it and continue with rhyme. Eg. Twinkle twinkle little ........ wait 5 secs ..... star.

Give him choices. Hold out the items and label them. Give home what he reaches for then name it again.

Say .... Ready steady go and tickle him. Then say ready steady and wait. Wait 5 seconds to see if he indicated for you to say 'go' and tickle him.

Don't ask him to say a word as that puts pressure on them.

But don't worry. You understand words before you are able to say them.

I could have written this myself. My DS is also 20 months and just the same. Switched on, great motor skills, but speech is limited.

Hi OP, hope you're still live on MN.
I was just searching for threads on this as my DS sounds exactly like how you described your DS at 20 months.
Just wondering how things are now and if you started to do or was advised to do anything differently to bring his speech on?

@perfectlyimperfect11