Nearly 18 month year old not talking

[windy2909]

I’ve finally bitten the bullet and created this thread, after googling and reading countless historical threads that maybe don’t quite match my boy. He’s approaching 18 months and is saying very little and making very little effort to talk. He has no siblings and gets a lot of adult attention. From a very early age he has been read to and sung to and spoken to. He can say mum (or mum,mum,mum) and make sounds involving m and b but has never really babbled and I have never heard him make other consonant sounds. He seems to have a very good understanding and can point to different things in books etc when we ask him to. He has a puzzle with numbers 1-10 and shapes and consistently points to the correct numbers and shapes when we ask them to. However he makes no attempt to talk and shows no interest in trying to. Could probably rhyme off a good few more examples of what he can do but the lack of speech continues to niggle at me. I’m looking for any suggestions on things I could do, experiences, reassurances...anything really?! My most recent google searches have done nothing but reassure me that I’m doing all the recommended things. Should I be worried?

Try to trick him into it. They never talk when you try to make them say dog (for example.) Try little games. Or leaving a word off a favourite song. Twinkle twinkle little .......

Maybe get some photos one of you, one of your DS. You point to his and say DS. Then say who's that ( and point to yours) If he says Mum then great, if not l, then point and say Mum. Say who's that and point to his photo and say his name. Repeat and then do it again later and the next day. Add more people you want him to learn or even an picture of something. But start with the word he knows Mum.

If he points to something in a book or says anything even b or just uhhh gurgle you say baaaa sheep or just what it is - sheep. It's the repetition, lots and lots of repetition of just the key word. So simple picture books and repeating the key words often helps. Maybe keep repeating the same 3 books everyday for a week. He might pick up the animal noises first or even beep beep for car. But it's hard for little ones to work out what to copy in a long sentence so keep it simple.

If the understanding is there the words should come. Some children pick things up quickly, others need to hear the same word over an over more times before they can form it themselves.

Don't worry, and just keep and eye on him, see how he progresses any other concerns then note them all down and speak to your HV.

My 2.5YO was similar, understanding fantastic and I probably still take for granted just how fantastic. However only said a small handful of words til taking off a bit at 18MO and then just jumping to sentences at about 20MO. Now at 2.5 I would quite like to find her off switch sometimes she talks tonnes. She's still quite unclear sometimes but speaks long sentences and comes out with I think some quite advanced vocabulary. I'm confident that in a year or so you won't be able to tell the difference between her and the kid that was reciting Shakesphere at 6 months old If your LO is understanding well and finding ways to communicate his needs then chances are he is fine and just keep doing what you're doing and give him til he's 2 at least and flag it up then if he's still not saying much or joining a few words together. You could always do the MCHAT screening too if you're really concerned. The only thing I'd do right now is get his hearing screened even if you think it's ok as this can have big effects on speech but otherwise I wouldn't panic. Kids are learning so much at this age that they might focus on other things and seem behind for a while but most do level out by school age x

@dumdumdumdumdum - thank you so much for your reply and advice. I’ve been trying this today and will continue to do so. I didn’t mention in my earlier post but he just shows no desire whatsoever to speak. I’m worried that as he gets older he’ll become more frustrated if he can’t communicate.

@Jannt86 - thank you also for your reply. I’m hoping this will be the case with my LO. I went online and did the MCHAT as you advised and it came back low risk for autism, which gave me some reassurance. I’ll bear in mind getting his hearing checked as I had considered this before, but his hearing appears to be excellent.... this boy does not miss a trick....can’t even sneak upstairs, as he hears me edging the baby gate open 😂.

I’m open to any other suggestions that people have. Or should I just chill and stop being a neurotic mother 🤷‍♀️😂???

That's great, honestly you'll do fine. I learnt all this the hard way. My DS didn't speak at all at 2 years, and I've learnt so much via private speech therapy, a training course the therapy service send parents on and a parenting course run by the council. ( you could always check what your council / family support service offer. I know it's tricky now with Covid. Your HV can put you in touch with this, if it runs in your area can be called chatterbox/ speak to me .)

But your DS points and that is a massive positive. Offer him choices and see if he points to the one he wants. So it's all about exposing them to words. It feels a bit weird because you most likely know the answer already. But say he always has a cup of milk with his breakfast, hold up the milk and hold up some water in a cup. Say milk or water. Long Pause. Ask again. To start with he might do nothing, leave a long gap, then he might point, it's all communication and words will come. You could extend this by starting with say blue or red cup ( always show them the item when they don't speak yet) . Then Milk or water ( ideally show water in jug and milk in the bottle) . Biscuit or crisps / apple or grapes etc.

You can do this giving options all day long blue socks or green. Tv( show remote) or book. Seesaw or swing. Train or car. Bear or monkey.

But I will say my DS is now 4.5 speech is ok now. He can get muddled, he's not had as much practice being a late talker, but he's started school and they have helped him with his confidence. He had lines in the school Christmas play and nailed it ( we watched a video of it due to Covid) I had so many worries and he's turned out absolutely fine with the extra effort. I think I spoke to him as a adult really and just not enough repetition.

Hi Op

I spoke to a private SALT at 18 months, and she suggested paring back the language we use (so instead of saying 'do you want some juice?' i'd say 'juice?') getting on the floor a lot/down to eye level when you play and talk, playing games/songs that encourage imitation ('if you're happy and you know it' was a good one, DD liked to copy all the actions and trying to copy the 'hooray' bit) and games with a lot of repetition on one word. I sounded like a mad woman repeating 'up' and 'down' on the slide at the park.

From what I've read, not understanding simple commands and a lack of gesture use to communicate (pointing for example) is more of a concern than no words, as that could indicate a language delay (rather than an expressive speech delay = i.e spoken words).

DD said 3 words at 18 months, now at 23 months says around 150 and is combining 2-3 words to form sentences. It didn't happen overnight, but pretty steadily from 20 months ish. She had good understanding at 18 months, her gesture use was ok.
Her non verbal communication improved dramatically right before she started talking.
We taught her some makaton for 'more' and 'open' and it was like she realised she was able to communicate clearly.
If your DC uses gestures well then it's a great sign.

If you can, try talking to a private SALT and seeing what they think.

@dumdumdumdumdum - many thanks for the suggestions. Happy to try anything, although I think it’s going to be a long haul....he is so reluctant to speak!

@Marimaur - hi there, thanks for your post. I’ve been trying to simplify my language since reading your post, as I do think I have a tendency to just speak to him as I would any other person. I sing to him all the time and he’s getting really good at attempting actions. He clearly understands things him saying to him. When I’m prepping meals I tell him to go get his high chair and he drags it round to the spot on the floor where he eats (strong boy). I said to him earlier let’s give daddy a phone and he went over to get the phone and bring it to me.

I’m not sure what’s putting me off but I’m reluctant to contact SALT. I think I’ll give it a month or two and see how he goes.

@windy2909 he sounds lovely and switched on tbh. I think you're right to hold fire on the SALT referral and tbh i don't think anyone will be interested til he's at least 2 anyway unless there's a barn door delay. I would just think about getting his hearing tested but otherwise I think you habe every reason that he'll be talking your ears if in the next few months x

@windy2909 he sounds lovely and switched on tbh. I think you're right to hold fire on the SALT referral and tbh i don't think anyone will be interested til he's at least 2 anyway unless there's a barn door delay which it doesn't seem there is. I would just think about getting his hearing tested but otherwise I think you have every reason to suspect that he'll be talking your ears if in the next few months... grin x

@Jannt86 - thank you. He is lovely. He’s just great! 😁. I’ll maybe get in touch with health visitor to see how to go about it. I honestly think he can hear and understand because he responds well to commands etc. Could there be anything wrong with his hearing that makes it difficult for him to pick up individual sounds? 🤷‍♀️