Talking

[alicatsg]

DS is just 16 months and although he chats away in his own language he isn't really showing any sign of interest in trying words other people might understand. Should I be worried?

We talk to him and read with him a lot and do all the things books tell you to do. Am I just being a pushy mom here??

Agree that understanding is far more important. Ds2 is now 2 and can say about 20+ words. The problem is that his language development is disordered and means that he actually understands very little. To him "Fetch your coat " would be as meaningless as "do the Highland Fling on your coat". He would understand "coat" but nothing else of the sentence.

Not to worry. DD is 19 months and says about 15 recognisable words. She gets confused between what is a dog and a duck, s/times calls a cat a dog, etc. Although she's got 'Want that!' as in 'I want that!' down pat. Point is, she's trying to communicate using language. That is what really matters. If your son is doing stuff like pointing and gesturing and speaking gibberish he's fine.

Just to add, that if the child was being officially tested (according to the Bayley scales) then, the offical guidance for a child of 15 months is to accept their attempt at a word - so brum for car, woof for doggy etc. This is included as a 'word' at that age, from what i can see!

When my DS was referred for speech therapy at 13 months (never heard of anyone referred as early as this, was discharged at 2.5yrs and is now 3.5 yrs) I was told that as long as word was being consistantly used for the same object then its considered a word no matter what it sounded like. For example my DS used to call a bath a "bu" and a light a "dat" and i counted these as words at 16 mnths

well in that case DS2 has 3 words then - Dada, my mama and DAT - with a pointed finger at something