How to encourage 20 m/o to talk

[TwittleBee]

Hello,

Very aware we have our review coming up and DS has gone backwards in his speech. At around 14 months he used to be able to say at least 15 words and would put a few together (although they were more learned phrases).

Nursery have put him on some sort of watch list as they have noticed he doesnt talk anymore. I did also raise this with the HV when we first noticed his speech going backwards (before Xmas) but they said they will assess at their next review.

But how can I encourage him to say proper words? I think he meant to say at least 8 proper words now according t this form I have to fill in!

Currently he will only use simple sounds to describe something; e.g. Mummy is now Mu, Daddy is now Da, blanket is now Ba and please is now Pee.

If he is progressing well in other areas then I would not worry too much about words, lack of words or speech delays are so common and hence the least of any concerns, unless there are deficits in other areas (for 20M things like lack of pointing to share interests, lack of joint attention, lack of social referencing, etc). However, loss of words can be concerning, and should be investigated. What words has he lost? and can you prompt him to say them again? as loss of words can be classified in two ways; him actually forgetting them (bad), or him just not using them because they are no longer useful/relevant in his daily life (good).

Thank you for replying. I'm not sure what to make of the loss of words, they're still relevant words and phrases .g. Hoover, nappy, poo, wee, out there, shoes on, lunch now, what's that.

He communicates to us through facial expressions mainly now with added gestures and noises which I suppose is good still.

He's 100% on social interaction but behind on fine motor and problem solving skills too.

That is interesting as they do sound like functional words that he would use, specially "whats that". Does he point to communicate? to request things that he wants and to point out things of interest (like a plane in the sky)?

Yes he points and also shrugs, upturn his palms, waves excitedly and other sort of gestures. If he was pointing out something, like a plane, then he points at it and uses his usual "ba" (slightly different to his Ba for blankie) noise that he uses when exclaiming.

Then I wouldn't worry too much, it sounds like a simple speech delay to me, they do tend to clear up by themselves or after a bit of speech therapy.

Is there anything I can do to help him though?

Speech therapy at this age will be play based, and making him complete sentences for things to happen. For example, you would excite him doing something he likes, you would repeat it a few times by you saying something like "ready, steady, go" and then doing it. After a few times, you would do it again but this time you would say "ready, steady" and then stop while looking at him and waiting for him to say "go". If he does not say it, then you will go back to the beginning and start again. He doesn't actually have to say the word go at first, him making any kind of sound would be enough to start with (i.e. he is acknowledging that it is his turn to talk) and eventually he will hopefully say "go". This type of game can be performed with many other phrases and words, specially nursery rhymes, i.e.you would sing "twinkle twinkle little..." and then stop and hope for him to eventually say "star". This is how professional speech therapy works at this age.

Ah thank you so much, I really appreciate all this btw. I'll give it a go with him whilst we wait for the Review

My pleasure - as they say, we spend the first 3 years of their lives asking them and teaching them to talk talk talk and then we spend the following 7 years telling them to stop talking so much and all the time! :)