language development for 15 month old ds...

[Tarka]

My ds is 15 months old and doesn't say anything very recognisable. (apart from Mumum) - the thing is at around 14 months, he said a couple of words really well; he once said "milchh" really clearly as I handed him his beaker of milk. He also said "table" once as he put something on the table. But he has never repeated those words and all he does now is babble. I have read that he should have around 6 words by now. Can anyone offer any advice? Should I be worried? He does seem to understand a fair bit btw.

Tarka

Mine are a lot older now, so my memory isn't so good, but I'm sure my children didn't say much until they were about 18 months, apart from mama, dadda etc.
Hopefully someone will post soon who has similar age of children and will be able to give you better advice, but children don't always go by the book so I shouldn't worry too much. Do you feel that there is a specific problem with his speech or in any other development?

My dd says quite a few words at 18 months but seems to have stopped saying the few words she first said at about 13-14 months, e.g. 'down', 'dog', (without the 'g'), 'again' (like 'adair'). I remember her even saying 'apple', 'puddle' and 'bubble' but if you think about it, that's because she liked the sound rather than associated the word with the object. Now her words are either very clear ('mummy', 'daddy', up, 'more', 'ball', 'no', 'bye', etc.) or just a stream of babble. I've read it's very normal for them to temporarily 'lose' their first few words and become interested in other words, so don't worry, it's completely normal.

Thanks Kkgirl and Muminlondon - to answer your question Kkgirl, I don't know if there's a specific problem with his speech or anything else really; I suppose I was just a bit alarmed when I read that he should have 5 or 6 recognisible words because he doesn't. Sometimes it does sound like he's trying to say something, but it just comes out as gobbledegook. He's started having major tantrums too, so I'm desperate for him to be able to express himself!

Really, don't worry, Tarka.

My dd didn't say anything really at that age either. Like your ds, from the age of about 13 months she occasionally came out with a new word, but then didn't use it again for ages. The 5/6 words thing will be an average and there's nothing wrong with being slightly slower than average - he'll catch up when he's ready. Dd certainly did - she's now 2 and a half (nearly) and we can't shut her up!

Also theres a child psychologist at dd's nursery who periodically analyses the children. At 15 months, she didn't even try to get children to say words, but she did try to get them to point at things in a picture book. She said dd should have about 10 words in the sense that she would point to the thing when you said "where's the [thing]?". dd couldn't do that either at that stage, but your ds might be able to do it - try it, it might make you feel better.

Tarka

He sounds fine and perfectly normal. It is a bit worrying when you read in books about stages, but try to remember most children are different. My twins were over 18 months when they started walking, but as I already had a 2 1/2 year old I was more laid back.
It sounds like he won't be long especially as he is obviously getting frustrated with it.
Take care

Thanks everyone, its really helped to hear your experiences. I think I'll stop consulting the books and just enjoy this pre-speech stage. He's recently started walking so it may well be that he's concentrating on that side of things and talking has been put to one side for a bit.

SenoraPostrophe, I doubt ds could point out 10 different things in a book (very hard to get him to look at books at all since he learned to walk) but I will give it a try just out of interest.

If its any help DD is 15 months today and has no words! She doesn't walk either and I'm due no3 in 5 weeks at the moment i'm hoping for the walking bit and as DS (3) never shuts up (despite being partially deaf) i'm saviouring her lack of verbal communication a few weeks more!

DD is starting to point at things at books now at 18 months when I ask her but she wouldn't have done it at 15 months. She may have pointed when she felt like it accompanied by a sound (not necessarily the word) but never by performing on cue. I agree that he'll be concentrating on walking - that's when DD seemed to have a bit of a pause too. Enjoy this time, it's lovely!

SP is right- the most important development language wise between 12 and 18 months is pointing. BY 18 months pointing should be pretty well developed- by which I mean a child should be pointing out things of interest. But pointing develops in stages- first a child will point in response to "where's the..." (initially things close by- then further away) and will also point to things they want. They then move onto pointing out things of interest. If a child is developing pointing then they are doing fine language wise- it is far more important than words.

Interesting to hear about the pointing Jimjams. Ds does point, although much less now. He worked himself up into a frenzy of pointing at 13/14 months, pointing ALL the time to absolutely anything, and making a kind of "uhh?" noise (as if to say "what's that?"). Now that has virtually stopped too although he will occasionally point to things that interest him.

Geogtech, thanks, you're right, I should probably make the most of the relative peace and quiet. People have said to me that once they start to talk they never shut up.

It's good to hear that my ds isn't too far off course. I also seem to remember reading a thread here some time ago about people with children who were saying words from a frighteningly young age -and a friend of a friend's dd can now say things words like "outside" (she's 14 months!). Must admit it started me worrying.

Tarka- My eldest (now age 5) has severe language problems- he's still non-verbal. My youngest (now 2 and a half) has a speech disordser Although he kind of seems to be sorting himself out a lot. He was a late talker - didn't say much before 2 and its only really in the last couple of weeks that strangers have begun to understand him, but I never worried about his language after 12 months as he was "communicating" so well. He was pointing, and able to get across to me what he wanted and needed. He also understood (whereas ds1 hadn't). !5 months may be a little early- but over the next few months your son should start to be able to follow simple (big emphasis on that!) instructions. If he's doing that and continues to point and communicate even if it doesn't involve speech then you don't need to worry.

Thanks Jimjams - ds does communicate (albeit non-verbally for the most part), so that's good. I'll keep an eye out for how he responds to basic instructions over the next few months; sometimes it's quite difficult to work out whether he's not responding to what I'm saying because he doesn't understand, or whether he's just ignoring me.
He can often appear quite self-contained iyswim.

well both of mine are good at that (actually ds2 is worse at that than ds1!) lol

The first tip you are always given about talking to babies young children is keep the language simple. Rather than go and get your shoes we're off out to grandmas in a minute la de la de la - say "name shoes" Also don't use negatives. At the early stages of language develpment if you said "don't touch" the child will only process "touch" instead tel, the child what you want them to do- so "come away" for example.