19 month old no speech

[Sunshineandbubbles]

I am starting to feel a bit worried about my little boy he’s 19 months and he doesn’t say any words, doesn’t do any gestures such as pointing, waving, clapping.
He’s a very happy little boy always smiling and laughing. He does babble a lot saying mamama dadad but I’m not sure if they are aimed at us he seems to just say them randomly.

I did get in touch with the health visitor at around 16 months because of his lack of speech and she told me to give him lots of time to respond to me which I’ve been doing lots, I talk to him about everything I’m doing and explain everything.
He understands some things I say to him but he wouldn’t understand if I asked him to bring me something.
He is so clever in some ways with his toys he knows exactly what to do with them.
Sorry for the long post I suppose I’m just asking if anyone has been through similar and what you have done? I’m not sure if I should be getting in touch with my doctor or health visitor again

Thanks for reading

I think I'd be going back to the GP or HV and asking for a development review, highlighting his lack of gestures and limited understanding, rather than lack of words. There's such a huge range in when the first words come that no words by itself wouldn't be concerning at this age, but he does seem to be on the later side with things like pointing and understanding, so I think that's worth getting checked.

@skkyelark Thank you for your reply, he’s always been on the later side of things such as crawling and walking ( he crawled at 12 months and walked at 18 months) but I wasn’t too worried about them it’s more the lack of understanding, speech and gestures.
I will definitely be getting back in touch with the health visitor today

Hello ! Just wondered how your little one is getting on ?

My little boy (now 18.5 months) is acting quite similar, however he does clap , and give eye contact . No words though and understanding is 50/50 with basic things xxx

@hazelrae hello sorry for the extremely late reply I somehow logged out and couldn’t get back in!
so he’s just turned 2 and still no words we are now on the waiting list for speech and language therapy with the nhs but we are starting private speech and language in the new year as the waiting list is crazy for the nhs.
we have made progress on gestures he now claps and points and eye contact is getting better and his understanding has come on leaps and bounds he understands most things now.
we are on a SEN waiting list too hopefully we can get the support he needs.
how are you getting on? X

@Sunshineandbubbles hello! Thanks for your reply! Ah I'm so glad he has made progress and you have managed to get in waiting lists at least ! Sounds like a good move going private also if it's going I be so long i think this is what I will end up doing .....

So my little boy is nearly 21 months now and the only word he has that he uses in context is 'yum' and 'mam' , nothing else at all . He still doesn't point at all either I have worked on it but he doesn't seem to grasp it or want to do it .... gesture wise he claps , high fives and occasionally waves but not consistent. His eye contact is great now and his joint attention quite good and he is starting to babble more . He is very loving happy and smiley! He understands basic instructions would say.

I still am very concerned as he does show some typical signs such as hand flapping , spinning , and as previously mentioned no pointing and speech delay! He also isn't too social with other kids he doesn't seem that interested.

I have informed my HV and they are coming out to see him on the 10th jan and I'm hoping for some referrals for support also !!

Keep me updated how you and your little one get on

Hi similar to you my little girls was slow with her speech she is 19 months old now and says a hoast of words and does gestures but still not great with her eye contact and following a point if we point out something.

I did have a private speech and language assessment done for her and the did say she was age appropriate shes never called me mama or her dad dada but seems to understand when we said thing like give to mummy or daddy and her eye contact has since improved but still not great. Good on you for pushing and getting on NHS waiting list the list are quite long even for private I had to wait a few week for an appointment but it's definitely worth getting done as there a lot of thing I guess we don't fully understand in terms of the building blocks of communication.

You can get a free 30min call with a speech and language specialist they can advise on some home solutions which honestly help check out the speech and language UK website they also do free seminar which have so much advice

Sorry new to posting here @Sunshineandbubbles

@hazelrae that’s good that he is using some words! I suppose it shows you that he can talk it’s just getting the support he needs.
when I say pointing he points to things in books and things that are close to him but he wouldn’t point to anything far away from him.
I have the exact same worries as you, no interest in playing with other children and hand flapping also.
im hoping the waiting list for the SEN team isn’t too long, he was referred in October and haven’t heard back yet.

Thats great news hope all goes well on the 10th let me know how it goes 😊

@Lolalane thankyou that’s great I will check them both out. My health visitor did give me some websites to look at and a video which to be honest hasn’t really helped as of yet. So I’m hoping once we start with the private speech and language we can hopefully get the ball rolling.
he has started to babble mama a lot in the past few days but I don’t think it’s directed at me he can say it randomly.
Your daughter sounds to be doing brilliantly 😊

Hi ☺️ any update please ?

Hi @Claire123e
Yes we have made amazing progress, he now talks brilliantly using sentences. He does use echolia a lot where he copies a lot of things he hears but he can use his own words also, answer questions and his understanding has come on brilliantly.
We're still on speech and language wait list, we have been to a couple of appointments but they've not really been much help just come away with a few activities to do.

His nursery has been brilliant, he is under SEN support at nursery and he's made amazing progress. Currently on the waitlist for an autism assesment through CAMHS.

He said his first word in June last year and if you'd of told me where we would be now I wouldn't have believed you. Really proud of him 🥰