18 month not talking much.

[Dimosaur]

Hi,
Just wondered when your toddler boys started talking more?
DS is 18 months now (first baby) and was expecting more words,
He fully understands everything you ask him and acts on it, like bring it to mummy please, or put that in the bin please, so comprehension isn't a problem.

I try to do picture books with him, and ask can you say... He's just not that interested, more than happy playing in his own little world most of the time.

Also is there a Regression with this at this age?
He was saying more a few months ago, but now only says
Oh dear, oh no, ta, daddy/dad.

Just looking for some reassurance I guess.
Thank you!

Just bumping for replies!

The fact he can understand you is fantastic and reassuring. Does he find other ways of communicating his needs? How about pointing? I wouldn't push him into saying words but just concentrate on giving him chance to have 'back and forth' conversations with you and play similar back and forth games etc. Another thing you could try is giving him a choice of 2 things to encourage him to vocalise what he wants. A website called www.teachmetotalk.com is worth a look and explains speech development and gives lots of simple things to encourage speech. The regression is perhaps a little concerning. I think the amount he's saying is pretty acceptable at 18MO providing he's meeting other social milestones and even forgetting some words or not using them as much is normal (my 2YO did this a bit) but you should still really be expecting him to be able to say more and more month on month. If he's really regressed in this sense then I think this would definitely be something to discuss with your HV or GP. Hope that helps xx

Thank you, he's hitting all other milestones, a very active little boy.
Just feel he used to say a few more words than he did, and he's babbling an awful lot now.
Ill keep a close eye over the next month.
My friends keep telling me it'll be a burst of language one day.

It is a hard one because I think they can be quite sporadic with how they learn language. Mine really didn't say more than half a dozen single words at 16MO but all of a sudden she came out with 'I want more' one day in context and clear as anything. Never heard it again until about 3 months later when she said 'daddy I want more' in the car, again only once. It took til she was about 21MO before she was convincingly using sentences though. They can be so funny about how they learn and relearn things. On the whole though I would say you should be seeing progression not regression with how they're communicating. I think it is common too though for them to learn it in 'bursts'. Mine is definitely doing this. Every time I start to worry about her she has another burst and I realise I'm being daft If he's meeting his other milestones and your instinct is that his social and communication skills are otherwise good and advancing then I would just keep an eye on it and raise concerns with the professionals if he doesn't seem to have improved in a few weeks/months. Sadly you're unlikely to get too much support right now anyway with the coronavirus going on. From what you say though I think it's much more likely that by age 2 you're going to be wishing he would shush for a minute than still worried and a lot can happen in this time so try not to worry too much xx

PS babbling is GOOD. It means he is understanding and participating in active conversation which means that he's willing and engaging in conversation even if in quite a basic way. I have found with my LO as well that she seems to be a lot more babbly before she has a language explosion. Just in this last couple of weeks actually she's been back to babbling a lot which she hadn't done much for months followed by literally tonnes of new words and sentences. They are so funny and definitely don't all learn speech in the way that the textbooks tell you xx

Thank you for reassurance.
He Defo babbles with expression and tone so maybe he will have a burst of language soon.

He was saying grandma and bramble (the dog), but maybe he's not saying those as we haven't really seen them with everything going on.