Helping DS to talk

[RockyisMYRhino]

Hi all. DS is 15mo and doesn't really have any words yet. He can say Hiya and Dada but that's about it. I'm driving myself mad reading about how many words he should be saying and how he should understand simple instructions (eh find bunny, bring me your ball etc) but when I try something like that, he just stares at me and doesn't do anything. Is this a normal thing at his age or should I be really worried?

There may be some cause for concern. My son was language delayed and the pediatrician noticed it at 18 months. He was our first so we didn't really know what to expect.

He had speech therapy starting around age two. That really helped him, but it was still an issue in early primary school. He had what's called a productive language deficit. The real impact is that the delay in talking will also delay him in reading, which will hinder him in all of his subjects.

He's fine now. He's just back from his first year at uni to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with us (I'm a Yank). I've very thankful we got him help early on or I'm sure it would have been much worse.

I'd get him evaluated by a speech therapist if I were you. Good luck with your DS.

Thanks MissConduct. DS is our first too so I'm not sure what is normal for his age either. He was an early walker, so maybe he could just be taking his time with other things? He babbles an awful lot and sounds like he's trying new noises, but they just don't seem to come out consistently as trying to say a word for something. I'll have a chat with DH and see what he thinks and maybe try and get a gp appointment for him

This may help in seeing where he stands vs what's considered normal or average:

Language milestones

Note the difference sections for receptive vs productive language.

Don't let the GP fob you off, even if you have to get him evaluated privately. My son really struggled with this and it made him feel stupid compared to his peers once he was in school.

Thanks I'll take a look at that when he's having his nap in a little while

Gosh he's only 15 months! I think the understanding is more of a concern than how many words he says. But even then he's still young.

I agree with fireworkbang.

Understanding is far more important than production of words at this age. Many many children only have two words at 15 months, and some won’t have any at all. If you are worried about how much she understands, I would contact your health visitor and ask them to do and ages and stages review with you. Hopefully, this will put your mind at rest. You can also find them on Google!

Thanks firework and ilove. It's all so very confusing! Think I will wait a little longer and try and speak to the health visitors here about it next time I take him to get weighed.

My ds was a late talker. At around 15 months I started to worry. He is 10 now and absolutely fine and now looking back I put it down to his personality (he still gets very anxious about doing anything new which he doesn’t feel confident in). But I remember feeling like I had to actually teach him to understand. So I remember sitting by our upstairs window and watching cars go by, and every time it did I just said “car”. I didn’t try and get him to respond or ask him to say it back to me or anything as at that stage I was just trying to get him to understand. I then did more single word labelling as I went round the house. If I am remembering correctly I think his understanding got better quite quickly.