Toddler has lots of words but won't combine them

[Rgb1993]

My 21 month old son has lots of words. He had ~50 at 12 months and that's when I stopped counting. He has nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns, uses plural and tenses correctly but he doesn't form sentences. He learnt the alphabet at 15 months and knows his colours. But when he's talking he just says one word at a time and waits for my answer or further question. Sometimes when he's VERY frustrated he'll say multiple words like 'more peaches now!!!' But it doesn't happen often. When I ask him to repeat me saying multiple words he'll just give me a synonym. Is this normal? I'm starting to worry because it seems unusual

Following with interest as my 19 month old is similar - has hundreds and hundreds of words but only just starting to put 2 together.

My DD is 11 months and can't speak yet (but she does sign a few words) and we're raising her bilingual (I'm English, DW is German).

I cannot yet speak from experience but from what we've read this sounds completely normal.

Just as with walking, language development happens within an age range, not from a specific point. It sounds like your son is learning well. The sentences will surely come. Just keep what you're doing and remain patient, which I'm sure you are already :-)

I think putting two or three words together is a milestone but they all won't be meeting that milestone at exactly this age. How does he do on the rest of the Ages & Stages?

He does everything else listed on the form. What worries me is that he has hundreds of words, ie he can correctly identify lots of car parts (from accompanying dad to the garage) and over 20 plants in my garden, calls multiple people by their names, correctly names towns we arrive to etc. Our language is a very low context one and he uses all 8 noun modifiers correctly, which is unusual in small children. But he just won't connect words while other kids his age are already doing that with much smaller vocabularies. We're not raising him bilingual either. He does hear me speaking other languages sometimes but not often. I am on the spectrum but I'm not worried about that a lot because, unlike me, he's very social, has good eye contact and demonstrates no other signs.

I can see why you're concerned then if you have ASD.

Having good eye contact and being social are good traits but I'm sure you're aware that they don't rule out having ASD so perhaps it's worth keeping an eye on his behaviours?

Are you due for another check with the HV any time soon? Next time you have to do an Ages & Stages I'd ask her to do the Social & Emotional Ages & Stages as well. Marking them both together should give a clearer picture

Thank you. Our next appointment is at 24 months. His paediatrician was never concerned because he hasn't missed a milestone before and has been way ahead with social and cognitive ones. He's also a very friendly and chill kid.

I'm worried because he seems like he should be able to communicate in a more efficient manner because of the range of his vocabulary and general cognitive abilities but just won't because of reasons unknown to me. Example from today: I left him outside of a store with his dad. When I came back he was shouting 'mommy, mommy!' and seemed exited. I said hello and he kept pointing to the road, saying 'previously! previously!'. I asked him what was there previously and he just said 'yellow'. I asked what was yellow and he replied ' a car'. I asked him if he saw a yellow car there and he said 'yes. {5s break} went away' (went away is one word in our language). All our interactions are similar, he'll talk about all sorts of things he saw, wants, etc but only one word at a time.

I try to encourage him by modelling 2 word phrases but it doesn't seem to work. Like I encourage him to say 'very big' and he'll just say 'huge'. I say 'big car' and he says 'bus' or 'truck' or 'jeep'. And so on.

My husband thinks I'm overthinking, which I admit I tend to do, but I feel like I should be doing more. I just don't know what.

I'd have thought reciting the alphabet at 15 months is fairly unusual too? As you have ASD I'd be wondering if he was ND too. DS didn't display any stereotypical signs at that age either, was later diagnosed at 11.

He's still very young though so everything could change in the next year or 2. I would say just chat away to him and read to him lots.

Again, speaking not from experience as our daughter doesn't talk yet, but it sounds like his vocabulary range is huge for someone his age. Perhaps it is a case of his brain is focused on learning new vocabulary rather than putting that vocabulary together. One thing I've learned in my short 11 months being a parent is to never underestimate how difficult and cognitively overwhelming things which we take for granted are to initially learn. Like learning a word and stringing words together is such a huge leap from one to the other. Perhaps so long as he's learning lots of words he doesn't have the mental capacity to start stringing them together yet?

But I stress yet. He seems to understand strings of words when others speak to him, so being able to make strings himself seems like just a cognitive leap he has yet to make, but which he will make.

Don't worry. I'm sure it'll happen and when it does it'll be in his own time :-)

I too think that reciting the alphabet so young and having such a breadth of words is exceptional too.

Have you read up on Hyperlexia OP?

And how did you get on with the progress checker from Speech & Language UK?

He cannot recite the alphabet, I probably did not express myself correctly. He could point to a letter when asked for example 'where's the letter b?' and he could also say what letter it was when asked. He could not (and still can't) pronounce some of them correctly. He had wooden letter puzzle toy and was very interested in it, he would ask 'what's this' pointing to letters and learnt them very quickly. For quite some time he was obsessed and would point out letters everywhere but now it seems that he has lost interest.

I did read about hyperlexia, thank you. It's probably something I had too as I could read at 2.5y. That's why I didn't think much about him learning the letters early.

I did not know about this resource because we're not in the UK. I did the test for 2 years old and the only thing he does not do was the not using 2 word phrases consistently. We did have something similar at his 18 month check up and I was told he was ahead in language. At the time I was also concerned about him being very careful and was laughed at and told I should be happy he doesn't climb and fall. He is climbing now and is much more confident after we installed a play gym for him and encouraged him to use it. Before that he was scared to climb things in the playground or use the slide.

Perfectly normal.

Just keep answering with the full question he's asking you and then the answer.

Don't rush into trying to get him a label.

I did the test for 2 years old and the only thing he does not do was the not using 2 word phrases consistently

Sorry to keep asking questions. When you did the Progress Checker, did it say that he needed some support?

Totally normal at 21 months, some children are not talking at all at that age

I think you’re worrying unnecessarily. Neither of my children had sentences till after 2. At 21 months only a few words. But they understood a lot, listened to books, moved to action songs and physically were walking good distances, climbing etc. Every child develops at different rates. I wouldn’t be worried at all, I think you actually have the opposite problem!

My little one is 20 months and has only just started saying words. She said mumum mama dada Jake before she was one but then that was it. I was really worried but then this last 6 weeks she had suddenly started repeating words and saying more.

I understand why you are worried, I was, but I really don’t think it’s anything to be concerned about

At no point has she said she wants a ‘label’ and FYI, it’s a diagnosis, not a label.

He's 21 months - not even 2 and she's worrying. He can say lots of words but not stringing them together yet.

By posting on here it's like she's looking for someone to say 'yes he's got xxx'.

If people spent more time playing and interacting with their toddlers instead of comparing it'd be much better for everyone.

Far too many people being 'diagnosed' in the last few years and some are most definitely labels.

I would say what your son CAN do isn't the norm not what he can't

Don’t ask him to repeat things you say. Even thought it’s tempting and difficult to get out the habit of doing.

Instead ‘model’ what he should say in specific situations. For example if he’s just saying ‘car’ you could say ‘yes, big car’. Or ‘fast car’. Or ‘blue car’. Etc etc. My twin boys both have speech delay and this was some of the best advice we had.

Even with manners etc. if one says ‘juice’ i say ‘juice please’ and then I say ‘Thankyou’ when I hand it to them. It’s taken a while but it really has worked and although they don’t always say the extra juice words they do a lot of the time :) once they can do 2 you can expand on that again. ‘Juice’. ‘I want juice please’ etc.

My daughter has just turned two (end of May) and was very much like this till about 23 months then all of a sudden started stringing sentences together. I was also getting a bit worried she was behind with her speech. She’s says 3/4 word sentences now and is doing more everyday

i wouldn’t even worry at this point. Also so many comments about the child being ND 🤣 he isn’t even TWO!!

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My little boy has just turned two and every week his speech gets better. Noticeably so. I suspect at the age of your little one he was similar. He speaks wonderfully now - I think - although I’ve never looked up what he is supposed to be able to do. He is gradually getting better each week so it might be more positive to focus on progress rather than what other people can do.