Baby knows alphabet but…

[Breadandsticks]

It worries me that my 1 and a half year old can say the alphabet but only knows a few words. Less than 10.

He doesn’t follow instructions. He will randomly shout the alphabet. But doesn’t ask for anything verbally. He is very expressive and non verbal (so will point for bottle, cry when hungry or pretend eat). He reacts when he has done something naughty, and sometimes there is a delay when you call out his name.

Other than that he is very physically active and strong (jumping, running, climbing) and emotional (hugs, kisses, says goodbye, smiles). He is healthy except for needing B12 shots due to deficiency and low iron - I wonder if this could be a factor. But he eats all the time! And loves food.

I guess I want to know if anyone else has experienced this - as it is abnormal when I do a Google search but I also just want him to grow up before I action anything (e.g autism)

I don’t think you necessarily have to jump to ASD but if you’re thinking it’s a possibility, all of the research says that early intervention can help.

How did he do on his 12 month check?

What do you mean says the alphabet?

Do you mean says sounds like letters? So "duh duh duh"? Or do you mean chants "ABC to end"?

Both of them can be in the realm of normal.
Saying individual letters is part of learning to speak. It's not that they're saying letters as such, just a nice sound that they've learnt how to say.

If he's chanting the alphabet from beginning to end, then that's because he's hearing it somewhere. Again, it's not really saying letters, it's repeating what he's heard. When dd2 was about that age she learnt the alphabet from hearing dd1 singing it. I remember feeling really embarrassed when a parent of a child similar age (but oldest in the family) said she was really impressed by her knowing the alphabet, and trying to explain to a fairly disbelieving audience that she didn't, it was just imitation and didn't know it.
But she was just repeating sounds - as shown by a few days later she asked me what "el-em-no-pea-que" meant.

The good news is that actually they both sound like he's getting ready to speak. You say he has no words, but what they actually look for at his age is six "appropriate sounds". So moo for a cow, or "bu" for bus - or even "el-em-no-pea-que" as a word.

And if he's saying single sounds "duh", then he is trying to communicate with you. When he says a particular sound, is there something he'd looking at - he may be trying to say. You can help him by saying "yes, that's daddy" or similar - even if he isn't meaning that, it will help him understand conversation.

Children do learn at different paces - and for a majority of them it doesn't matter who has the one who is in full sentences at 18 months or hasn't said anything. Almost all get there, without intervention, in the end.

Thanks both.

my friends with similar aged children, seem to have babies that say mini sentences or repeat words -and they listen to instruction! but I’ve also heard there may be a difference between boys and girls. I have a boy and all of my close mum friends have girls - so unfair comparison maybe?

The words he know are 2 fruits, bye and he attempts to say his name. He does listen to some sentences - for example a friend told him that his trousers were falling down and he reached down to grab his trousers.

In terms of the alphabet I definitely think he is reciting it. But he also does know the letters. So for example we were at a museum which had the letter of the alphabet on each block and he went up and said ‘M’ - (which he says as Muh) and he knows J. When he sees the letter a, he says a. He knows the first few and last few.

I think it’s reassuring hearing from other mums as I know children are all different and there is still so much time - but it crossed my mind when he decided to randomly scream the alphabet in the kitchen (he will shout random letters).

Personally I think the old thing about boys being slower to talk is a bit of a myth.

If you do want to check that he’s on track you could do this very simple progress checker.