Speech development delay - bilingual environment

[katendmom]

Hello,

we have a wonderful almost 19-month old boy who doesn't say any words (according to his pediatrician, he should have a vocabulary of about 20-30 words).

We have been referred for a hearing test (next Mon) to make sure that he can hear ok. We really-really think he can because he reacts to conversations; he always points to the sky when he hears an airplane (even if he is playing inside at the time).

We hope that his delay is due to the fact that we speak Russian at home and he is in daycare 5 days a week, where he hears only English.

Has anyone else had an experience like that? What was the outcome?

Thank you

When did he start going to daycare? I think he may have been confronted with English at a time when he was about to begin actively producing his own words in Russian and it has just set him back temporarily because he is now starting from scratch again acquiring that level of his second language will enable him to begin producing it too. I think it was just a question of timing, not bad timing or anything. Sure it will work out fine.

Actually he has been in daycare since about 14 months... You're probably right - I guess we're more ready for him to start talking than he is to tell us things

my dd's best friend is a boy who grew up in a tri-lingual house. when he was 2 years old he said mummy and daddy and that's it. now he is 3.5 and he is fluent in two languages and understands a third.

When he does start I bet you one of the first things he'll say is "no!" or "nyet!" and he'll say it over and over again and you'll be yearning back to the days of silence!

Seriously though, if he has been in daycare for 14 months, that is a different scenario altogether so he has been exposed to both languages quite intensively. I would say it is still early days to be worried about it. I don't think at 18 months my daughter (3 languages) was saying anything more than "no!" and "more meat". Some dc are like that, they store up a lot of knowledge and then when they do start, they say a great deal.

Thank you SO much! You made me feel much-much better! He is just so wonderful in all possible ways and I feel a bit guilty exposing him to so much information (like 2 languages) that it is confusing him, causing a delay. I am also worried that kids in daycare might start making fun of him if he doesn't catch up (even though right now like you're saying - not many of his buddies say much).

Hi my son is also bilingual and I did notice it took him longer to speak sentences.

Now, he is 3, speaks both languages, Spanish and Enlish and does not like it when I speak o someone else in his other language. The most important thing is to be consistent with your mother tongue and always use it to speak to them.

Katendmom, don't waste even a moment feeling guilty. You don't know that being bilingual is what's making your son slow, nor do you know that being slow hurts him in any way. I know non-bilingual kids who spoke much later than this, bilingual kids who spoke early, kids who spoke late and went on to become unusually verbally gifted- and vice versa. It's probably just a normal stage of his development, though naturally it's always worth having his hearing checked, just in case.

Potxola, being absolutely consistent is one way of doing things; it's not the only one possible. Many families (including us) have had a more relaxed approach and been equally successful. If my dc hadn't liked it when I spoke to other people in the majority language, they'd have had a miserable life, as I'm very social and always chatting to my English friends. And they're very social, too, so always wanting me to talk to their friends, arrange playdates etc. The important thing is organising LOTS of stimulating input in both languages; how you set about it is less important.

Katendmom - I think what you are experiencing is normal - many children don't have many words at this age, and they catch up. Of course, other children will need that bit of extra support to catch up.

I doubt that it is the bilingual environment that is causing the problem (if there is a problme!) - I know many bilingual /trilingual children who cope fine with one then one language. In fact, i think most children in the world are brought up bilinigual. You are giving your child a huge gift by teaching him two languages!

My dd1 has been slow with talking, but she does seem to be catching up, she is nearly four and bilingual (dd2 is two years old, also bilingual and doing fine). Finally it has occured to us to get her hearing checked out - and we were very surprised to hear she needs gromits inserted in both ears. So possibly a hearing problme that we never norticed is the cause of her speech delay.

I'm glad you are taking him to get his hearing checked.

I really should have read through that before posting!

My DS 3.8 is like the little boy Florence described.

Just before 2 he started speaking fluently in 2 languages and understands the 3rd but does not bother because no one but me and DH speak it.

PS: we never practices OPOL.
DH and me grew up mixing languages and we actually never thought of doing it differently.
But you are doing it by the book!!

We have 18 month old twins and speak both Russian and English at home. I do try to stick to Russian only but it is quite hard. The girls started the nursery a month ago and I noticed their Russian is disappearing fast. They used to say a couple of words in Russian but now they are not saying much in either language. I hope it is due to starting the nursery and they are catching up on English rather than Russian.

We had this with my Dd (russian english too - snap!).

She was slow to start talking. When she was about 2ish I started to notice that her reticence talking seemed related to 'not wanting to say the wrong thing' i.e. to speak the wrong language. It was a dispiriting time, but it suddenly clicked and she's pretty hot in both languages.

What really helped us was joining a russian saturday school, for her to socialise in russian with kids her own age. Before that, I think whe thought me and my mum had 'made up' Russian just to be contrary.