Forgotten speech

[Coli]

My daughter is 14 and a half months old and although she was beginning to say up to about 10 'words' (eg. 'u u u' for 'up', 'neh neh neh' for 'no') at 12 months she now seems to have forgotten them. She does seem to understand most of what we say - even when we don't intend her to! - and can follow instructions - like 'go and get your shoes' but even when I try and get her to copy me saying words she would say previously unaided she doesn't. Is this normal? I am worried because I know that one of the signs of autism is regression at around 18 months - although she doesn't seem to show other signs of ASD.
She enjoys listening to stories with me and looking at books on her own as well as rhymes and songs. She also points at things she wants or is interested in and at pictures in books. But she doesn't make any animal noises, even though I've been doing stuff like that with her since she was tiny.
She is walking (and running and climbing) so maybe she's just been concentrating on that (?) but it worries me that she's now not using words she previously knew. Any andvice?

Coli, I can only say that I have experienced similar with DS - he was starting to say things like "uck" for Duck, and "bubbah" for bubbles at about 12m, and we got quite excited - then he seemed to forget them, like you said, and has even regressed with bubbles to "Buhb". BUT in the meantime his physical achievements have come on in leaps and bounds (forgive the pun ) and his understanding is fine. He is now 18mo and can make about 15 animal sounds, but his articulated speech is no better really than it was 6m ago - I am not worried because everything else seems fine - might worry a bit more in a few months time if nothing has improved by then!

I think it is a "known" that at this stage they progress quickly either in physical or verbal ways, but not both at the same time - that's my understanding of it; so give your DD a bit of time and keep doing what you're doing, I'm sure it will come back.

Isn't it quite normal that children lose ability in one area whilst they are developing ability in another area? For example ds didn't walk until he was 22 months but spoke very early. When he started walking his speech regressed for a while. It all evened out eventually.

Very normal

Both my DSs and all their cousins did the same. As Mollie says, some areas of development go on hold as they work on other bits. So long as she's understanding simple instructions etc nothing to worry about. Keeo on encouraging her and she'll be jabbering on non-stop before you know it

my dd did exactly the same, at 12 months she could say "look" and "read" along with many other words and sounds, then suddenly at about 16 months her ability to remember the words Look and Read disappeared, along with a few others most probably, but i didn't notice as much. By then she had started to say other words, and now at 21 months the words look and read have re-appeared and she is a real chatterbox!

I think their little brains are working so hard to learn everything, that some words and actions get temporarily forgotten.