Speech delay at 15 months?

[ToftheB]

My 15 month old isn’t really using any clear words. Should I be worried?

He’s babbling and pointing and I think he understands a lot of words, he just doesn’t try to say them himself yet. For example, if you say point to mummy/daddy/doggy etc he always gets it right, and he’s really good at pointing to specific animals in books when you ask him... but I’ve just read that by this age he should have a few clear words and he’s not even really saying mummy or daddy.

Should I ask to see the health visitor? Or wait a bit longer before I bother them? He was about a month early, but that doesn’t seem to have held him back in any other ways.

Any advice on how to encourage him to speak would be much appreciated. He loves to read books together and I try and chat to him fairly constantly, but I’m worried I’m letting him down.

He’s 15 months!

Most children aren’t speaking by then.

Wait until he is at least 2 before worrying over something like this.

Please don’t worry yet. He’s so, so young. Don’t make yourself miserable over this. Mine didn’t really say his first word til 18m - probably pretty late. He’s six now with an excellent vocabulary. He’ll be taking plenty in.

There's is no such thing as speech delay at 15 months. It is quite normal not to say words then!

Thank you both. I hadn’t been worried until I started googling it today, I thought he was doing ok! Perhaps I’m just being extra PFB about him at the moment because I’m hormonal and newly pregnant and I really want to be doing a good job with my first before I introduce a sibling into the mix!

www.babycentre.co.uk/a1050145/your-childs-talking-timeline

It was this site which set me off - but I can see that all children develop different skills at different ages, so to set a ‘deadline’ for first words wouldn’t make much sense.

Really, don’t worry.

I can’t remember how old my dd was but she was an early talker, but she didn’t crawl until 15 months (she bum shuffled from 9 months instead) and then didn’t walk till 18 months.

Yet my ds crawled at 7 months and walked at 15 months yet didn’t speak till he was over 2.

In fact he’s just turned 4 and his speech is finally much more developed.

Trust me, don’t worry. Pretty soon your baby will be speaking and you’ll be wishing you never taught them to talk

I look after a 20 month old girl, and a few months ago her parents had the same worries. She was doing a lot of pointing and babbling but no attempt at any words, animal noises etc even though some of her contemporaries were saying several words. We were sure there were no hearing issues.
We read lots of books, lots of songs and nursery rhymes, loads and loads of talking, turned her pram back to parent facing so we could chat on school runs etc.
Fast forward a few months and you can't shut her up!!! It just seemed like all her words came at once!

It’s fine, I think health visitors look for them to be able to say 20 words by the time they are 2. My DD didn’t say much until around 23 months and just as I was starting to get concerned the words started coming thick and fast. They all develop at different paces and 15 months is very young to be saying much at all. As long as your baby interacts with you then I doubt there is much wrong.

DS1 did have speech delay. He didn’t speak until he was nearly 3. He didn’t learn to read well until he was 6. He got 3 x A* for his A levels, admittedly in maths and science and is on track for a 1st in his degree. Not supposed to be a boast, just an example of how children develop at different rates.

in my experience some children develop words from about 15 months and their vocab increases at a moderate rate, but an awful lot say very little til around 2 and then they all seem to come at once.

I'd wait til 2 as he seems to have the understanding.

My recently 2 year old still babbles. We have one or 2 unclear single words. Don’t worry at 15 month. Is understanding there? Will they go fetch a toy or close the door when asked? That’s just as important to watch, but no, don’t worry yet.