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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Does my son really need speech therapy? (14 months)

51 replies

WillowF · 29/09/2004 19:13

Saw HV yesterday and she said to put my son down for speech therapy. I am alarmed. Is she right to be concerned? My son started babbling at just over 10 months. He has no words yet. He just points at everything and say "da!" He occasionally says mamamam and bababa but not much else.
Has anyone else's HV says anything less alarmist about a child with no words at 14 months?
I am starting to worry.

OP posts:

MeanBean · 30/09/2004 11:24

And Willow - Bertrand Russell was 5.

Many professionals seem to have a little bit of difficulty understanding what "norm" means. Yes, 14 months is somewhat behind the norm, but the norm is made up of some children being in front, and some being behind. That's how you get the bloody norm, and if a child isn't bang on, it doesn't mean there's a problem. I sometimes think HV's etc. should be more carefully trained in these things, so they actually understand concepts like norms, average etc., and don't immediately label above or below average development as a problem - mothers have got enough to deal with without having problems invented for them.

Jimjams · 30/09/2004 12:11

don't use einstein as an example - he was autistic! (as is my ds1 who started talking at 10 months). Speech isn't important at 14 months- its the rest of the communication that is.

Original poster

WillowF · 30/09/2004 12:39

How much should a 14 month old understand?
He understands a bit, but not much. He knows where the garden is, where his nappy is, what his drink is and what his toothbrush is. He has yet to work out who Mummy and Daddy are though!

OP posts:

Original poster

WillowF · 30/09/2004 12:42

... oh and he's pretty good at pointing out what he wants. The louder the 'da' the more he wants what he is pointing at. He shakes his head (generally for no) and he has just (only just) started pointing at pictures of babies in books.
All in all, I think he is pretty good communicator, with some understanding but absolutely NO words.

OP posts:

Jimjams · 30/09/2004 12:44

sounds about right to me WillowF. At 14 months he should be developing (note developing- not developed!) pointing to use for communication and beginning to do things like wave bye bye (again note I said beginning- not necessarily doing it yet).

scotlou · 30/09/2004 12:47

WillowF - my dd didn't really come out with anything recognisable till after 18 months. Even now (2 years) her speech is pretty basic - but she is a great "non verbal" communicator and just doesn't need to talk! She said "dada" for dog, daddy and her brother - now extended into Doddee (doggy) Daddee (Daddy) and Dodo (her brother - whose name starts with "A"!) My hv isn't bothered at all. My ds on the other hand started talking around 12 months and by 2 years was extremely fluent - I remember him saying "dinosaur" very clearly at 22 months. I wouldn't worry about your ds as seems quite normal.

Jimjams · 30/09/2004 12:47

If he has a functional no then I don't think you need to worry! (My 5 year old autistic son doesnt have a funcitonal no yet - as he doesn't understand the concept). No was ds2 first word (later than 14 months I think)- and it staggered me what a difference it made. This summer my MIL started going on about "please and thank you being the most important words in the english lanuage" I told her she was wrong "yes and no" are because with them you can communicate hell of a lot more than if you don't have them!

Original poster

WillowF · 30/09/2004 12:55

a 'functional no'?????
You mean shaking his head?
Sometimes I am sure by shaking his head he means yes.....!

OP posts:

throckenholt · 30/09/2004 13:05

mine have all done the shaking head means yes phase - very confusing ! My 20 month old twins are currently doing it. They do grow out of it - honest .

You DS sounds totally normal to me - maybe tell your HV to hold fire for a few months.

jane313 · 30/09/2004 13:18

I have a 15 month old and he talks all the time but doesn't really have any words he uses a lot. He understands a lot and points all the time. I know a lot of toddlers in his age group and none of them say any words either (except mama dada) so I can't see how that 14 months is behind the norm.

pooka · 30/09/2004 13:56

Goodness - have I missed something? 14 months seems way too early to worry. While my dd (14 months too) may (I think) have a couple of kind-of words - chair/fssshhh for fish/shhh for shoe, she still mostly says DAT while pointing vigorously. My nephew only started talking (saying any words "properly") when he was 2 and a quarter. Saying that - I suppose that if your hv wants to refer you, it couldn't do any harm just to be reassured that she's wrong IYSWIM.

GeorginaA · 30/09/2004 13:58

WillowF - my ds1 didn't say his first word until 15 months! Didn't walk until then either, come to think of it. Just did everything within a week!

At 2 years old he was able to speak a 7 word sentence, and at his 3 year check I was told he had the verbal ability of a 4 year old. So didn't have much indication of how he was going to turn out! Much too early to worry about it yet, I would think!

cellulitequeen · 30/09/2004 14:00

WillowF, my DS is also 14m and still talking gobbledegook. It never occurred to me that this is not the norm for his age. He also points and communicates in his own little way. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about.

jamiesam · 30/09/2004 14:05

Sure that this concern is misplaced. My ds2 is 14 months and sounds exactly like yours vis speech, babbling etc. His older brother, 3 years old now, was quite a slow speaker and I (not my hv) was getting concerned, thinking about asking for referral to speech therapist. Then close friend in similar position got an appt for her 18mth year old. Speech therapist virtually said, yes he is a little slow, lets keep an eye on him - see you in a year! Needless to say long before the year was up, he speech had come along in leaps and bounds. I took comfort from this, was a little more patient, and he's absolutely fine now. No reason to think that ds2 won't be the same.
Good point made (can't remember by who) that can only work out an average from a range - our ds's are to one side of the average, but probably not by very far (hope this makes sense)
Don't worry. Not all hv are as neurotic as yours.

jamiesam · 30/09/2004 14:06

Doh
'18 month year old'?!?!
Not spotted all the other typos yet

MancMum · 30/09/2004 15:32

my ds did not say anything - not even Da! until he was 2 - now never shuts up and has huge vocab..

my dd is now 16 months and is babbling and I ain't worried at all

Jimjams · 30/09/2004 16:10

All I mean Willow is that he understands the concept of yes and no- which my 5 year old doesn't. Sorry I spend too much time in the land of non-verbal autism. Unfortunately these days I don't even notice that "a functional no" is a weird thing to say. I wouldn't worry from anything you've said though- he sounds right on track to me,

aloha · 30/09/2004 16:15

My HV suggested speech therapy for my son (only just turned 3) because he apparently said 'soos' instead of 'shoes' to her!! And this is the boy who when I told him the HV was called Dominique, said, "Dominique is a French word, isn't it?"
I firmly turned her down.

motherinferior · 30/09/2004 16:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster

WillowF · 30/09/2004 17:10

Thank you all for your messages. Seems my hunch was right - she's a bit alarmist. She even suggested getting a private one-off speech assessment. My question was - how do you assess the speech of a baby that does not talk!!! Money for old rope if you ask me.

OP posts:

Workingmum2004 · 01/10/2004 14:09

Your chils souns fine to me. I am a mum to twin boys now aged 3. One was referref for occ and speech therapy at 13 months which I thought was very young. It wasnt much good anyway as it was infrequent. However my DS went on to achieve all his speech milestones, ie 12 words a 18 months (6 - 0 is whats expected), 2 word combinations at 2 and is now speaking clearly in sentances. Loking back I think we were sent just to rule out any possible communication disorder as he had not really started waving and pointing although he did shortly afterwards. he also walked late at 16 months.

willow2 · 03/10/2004 22:25

Sounds pretty normal to me. I know lots of toddlers that hadly grunted at this age. Mind you, I also know a fair few HV's who did little more than grunt.

Heathcliffscathy · 04/10/2004 19:44

i really don't pay much heed to my hv...very well meaning but extremely alarmist imo. and from the mn reaction i wouldn't pay much heed...your little one sounds fine!

p.s. oh no! two willows!!!! confusion-ness... could new willow change? old willow is so set in her ways...

almost40 · 04/10/2004 20:28

I wouldn't worry about it. DH still doesn't talk, and he is nearly 40 years old. . . Seriously though, I know plenty of 2 year olds who have very few words. 14 months seems really early yet to be worried.

celandine · 11/10/2004 15:22

You're definitely not alone in this. My ds is nearly 15 months and doesn't say anything recognisable. He started babbling at 9 months. He makes a lot of garbly word noise and looks at me when he says it but there's certainly no real words in there. The only thing he says which is consistent in meaning is 'brrrrr' for 'more'. I don't know if this counts as a word, cos it's only recognisable to us. He also doesn't make any animal noises or 'brmmm' engine noises and is a very reluctant waver. I talk to him a lot (have used BabyTalk programme for months) and also make sure I listen to him when he chooses to garble at me, but still nothing.

I do baby sign with him and he signs for quite a few things. I doubt this has hindered his speech at all. I find signing really helps us communicate and makes him more confident about getting me to understand what he wants, or what he's referring to. e.g. he makes the milk sign when he wants a drink of milk, the car sign when he hears a car outside, tree sign when he sees a tree (he likes trees and cars! ). He can also nod 'yes' or shake head 'no' when I ask him if he wants something but makes no attempt to say the words at all. I guess he doesn't need to if I understand him anyway.

I am actually continuely amazed at how much he understands and reckon (puts her very unprofessional hat on) that many late-talking children are actually spending their time thinking and will be grow up to be intelligent, thoughtful people.

I'm not worrying about it at all and nor should you. I haven't thought about taking him to the hv but after reading your message I reckon if he's still got no words by 18 months then i will go then, just for the sake of getting on a list early if necessary. 14 months is, from everything I've ever read, far too early to be concerned and putting worry on yourself.

Good luck

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