18 month development

[OLLY38]

Hi,
My little one is 18 months old. I am worried about his development as he is not speaking yet. He is babbling non stop and he does say some stuff which we think are words for dog etc. He points, waves and claps when he wants to. He understands some stuff when we ask him to do it. He responds to his name about 50%. The times he dosent is when he is engaged in something. Just wondering should he be talking more?

Sounds absolutely fine

I agree this sounds on track to me. He is making an effort to communicate with you appropriately and he understands you. Mine didn't say much at 18MO. She had a handful of words at best until she was about 21MO and then just sort of started having conversations with us almost overnight. She had to have a tiny bit of speech therapy at age 3.5 as I noticed her speech still wasn't very clear but she caught up very well. She is now a bright, articulate 6YO and one of the best readers in the class.

Just carry on doing lots of talking and singing and face to face play and chances are it'll come.

I'd say red flags are

-not pointing or making any effort to communicate or showing understanding by 18MO (but your LO is doing these)
-Not saying 3 word sentences by 2.5
-Not understandable to most by 3.5

Of course even that is just a guide though. Many kids will still be fine even if they aren't acheiving the above.

Thanks Goldenshare for your comment. I appreciate it. We are worried about his speech and Google is no help as it tells you they have this and that wrong with them.

Thank you Goldenshare for your comment.😊

Thanks user860131 for your comment. I appreciate it.