toddler not talking but using alternative means to communicate, anyone else have this?

[biskybat]

My 15 month old has a handful of words ie cat, mummy, daddy, yes, no and open and there. However she has recently taken to using books/magazines to communicate her needs.

For example if she wants a biscuit/orange/apple/banana, she will find the picture in one of her many books and bring it to us and point repeatedly at it and then walk to the kitchen and wait

Today she found a picture of a Charlie and Lola book in an old waterstones catalogue and kept pointing at it and then the television (she's only seen it a few times). When I asked her if she wanted to watch Charlie and lola she said 'yesh'

So far it seems to have gotten all her needs met. She seems to be able to find a picture for everything she wants. However should I be doing something to help her try to verbally communicate her wishes more. Will this affect her talking or should I just go with the flow.

Oh that's so sweet, wish my 19 month old DD would learn to do that - she just points to what she wants and whinges.
We have a songbook with colour photocopies of lots of songs and DD leafs through that and points to the one she wants me to sing.

I think you should applaud your DD for her efforts at communication. words will come soon enough, I'm sure.

Don't worry she does whinge...just about different things. Had a major tantrum today over the pushchair. I stupidly let her walk for a bit then she didn't want to go back in it. We had the whole shopping centre staring at us all the way to the car I have definitely lost the ability to feel embarrassed.

So I should just chill then.

Thats a good idea about the songbook. I have to go through the list of the songs I know and she says yes or no to which one she wants me to sing.

awww she sounds so clever! has a lot of words for her age too. to be honest any communication is to be applauded. i am a big believer that you should judge her language by her level of understanding rather than the amount of words she has. to be able to do all that at her age shows she has a huge understanding and has found a very effective method of getting what she wants. communication by any means possible at this age be it pointing/ talking/ signing/ showing you pictures, all good positive ways of getting the message accross!!

thanks meandmyjoe, how is your little man doing these days...I am a name changer, but you might remember me from the days when we had little screamers, was on that thread started by bodkin.

You know the funny thing is she won't do much in the way of babysigning but understands it if you sign to her. I guess they just pick the way they want to communicate. Its so funny how different they can at this age. Just reading the threads on talking in this section shows such a wide variation on what is normal.

That is really clever and resourceful actually! I mean, she's had to realize that you don't understand when she just points (or whatever she was doing before) and has found a way to make herself perfectly clear. Very creative.