speech 21 month old

[worriedmumma21]

My 21/22 month old is delayed in her speech. She has about 30 words where she's supposed to have around 50. However, she's still very inconsistent with her words- like she will say them some days and other days she won't. She will also imitate some days and other days she won't. It's like she's being very selective and stubborn.

She's the same with body parts- some days she will pat her head if you ask her to. Other day she will ignore the request.

She's very good at following instructions. Like if I ask to to put her shoes away she can run from one end of the house to the other and open the drawer and put her shoes away. If I say it's teeth time she will runt to the bathroom and grab her brush. So I am confused about why I ask her about body parts that she's hit and miss. And why she's hit and miss with imitation.

I am at a loss about why she's a later talker as I have done courses and had her in speech pathology. I just don't get it. We can't get into the paed until September

Recently she has decided to experiment with toe walking- just to add to my worries. She, however will only do it at home and NEVER out.

I google so much despite it not achieving anything, I just can't help it. Some websites say she's behind and others day she's not. I will admit googling makes me worry she's ASD, however the only things that make me think that are the speech delay and occasional toe walking. She's not sensory and doesn't meet any of the other common symptoms of ASD. She points, is good with her name etc.

I am hoping someone might have a story of their child who sounded similar and caught up? All these posts that are similar to my daughter, the poster never comes back to say how it worked out and sometimes I wish they did.

She sounds just like my son, who is the same age! He also does the toe walking - but only inside when he has no shoes on, I think he just likes the feel of it.

He understands so much, he just... Doesn't say loads and loads. He rarely says a full word, so bird is "bir". I've not counted his words tbh.

Honestly, I'm not worried. He does understand, he just won't perform on command. He's got plenty of time to get the hang of it, I don't think they start worrying until about 2, and all kids are a different. My friend's son was born at the end of the month my son was born at the start of, and his speech is so clear! But he also has an older sister to learn from.

I've not really been much help here but you're not the only one. My son very much does things in his own time!

Your son sounds completely normal to me. My son's 25 months - he's definitely not advanced with language for his age, the opposite I'd say. I've no idea how many words he says in total but the majority aren't pronounced clearly. I doubt it's as high as 30 but I'm not sure. His two favourite words are cat and car (which both sound like kaa).

I have no concerns whatsoever. His speech is improving and progressing all the time. In the past month he's really started to say more words and starting to say the full word rather than just the first sound. He has two 2-word sentences that he uses. So he's getting there.

These milestones on the internet are based on averages. By definition a lot of children have to be below average!

My son only had around 15 words at two, but he had caught up by the time he was three. He's 14 now and doing well at school. I'm not sure why he was slow to speak, but it hasn't had any lasting affect as far as I'm aware.

She sounds within the normal range to me. I have twins and the boy was very similar to your daughter at that age. Relatively few words and badly pronounced - especially compared to his twin sister who spoke earlier and better. So nothing to do with parenting or environment; it was just not something he was especially interested in.

He's now 30 months and coming on nicely. Lots more words, pronunciation improving though he still often leaves off the last consonant, 2-3 word phrases. I am not worried at all.

This sounds fine to me. Children need to have the motivation to communicate. Imitating you or naming body parts on demand may not be that interesting to them that day and they don't bother.

At my work we look for at least 50 words (and joining 2 words) by age 2, so she has a bit of time.

Sorry I am one of the posters that never came back to update.

I was worried about my DS at the same age last year. By 2 I think he had 20 unclear single words. Now he has just turned 3 and is doing really well with long sentences.

But he is stubborn even now. Eg he wont say colours properly for me but I have heard him get them all right with my DM when I overheard from another room!

At 23 months my DD still only had between 10 and 15 words, and I was very worried. But a month or so later (so around 2) her words started growing exponentially and by 26 months she was at 120 words and I stopped counting! By 2.5 years she could say anything she wanted to.

She also experimented with some tip toe walking for a while (and I was also worried about that!), but she doesn't do it any more.

She isn't speech delayed, she is well within normal limits.
Carry on chatting to her and , in particular singing and speaking in an exaggerated sing song voice.
If you have any concerns re her hearing obviously get it checked.

She is talking
She is not delayed
Please relax

Autism isn't about being "selective and stubborn". I've got two autistic DC both of whom presented very differently when they were young (and now).

I can't see any red flags in your post. Sounds like a little girl who's just an independent and strong-willed individual who's developing her own personality in a completely normal way. Speak to your HV if you're worried but from what you've said I can't see anything to be concerned about at all.