18 month old not talking

[Mamma23]

18 month old, not saying any words (used to say mama/dada around 11 months old but hasn’t said that since around 13 months). No other words, can’t point to parts of body or say animal sounds. Tries to follow actions to some nursery rhymes but gets actions mixed up.
Points to things and babbles a lot. Can understand some instructions like ‘Go get your shoes’ etc. Doesn’t really attempt to copy words but will sometimes copy actions.
We read to him every night, talk to him lots and sing rhymes. Wondering if there are some positive stories out there of children who just suddenly started talking out of nowhere? Starting to worry!

My cousin didn't say a word until she was 2. Then exploded with vocab and is now a very smart teenager.

My son is almost 20 mo and definetely less words than most his age, but is understanding everything he should so I'm not too worried.

Have you been teaching him body parts? During nappy changes I always kiss his tummy and say "little tummy!!!" or something, then one day asked him where his tummy was and he knew! Same goes for feet - I had to tell him "this is your foot" before he knew what a foot was. But he doesn't really know any parts that we haven't named clearly

Understanding can be hard to determine because often toddlers just don't want to do as they're told. I would advise you to contact your HV for advice if you're worried; or google the 18 month ages and stages questionnaire

It could be a few things, but I think you're right to start querying things at 18 months.

I'd start by doing this SLT Progress Checker. There's a Helpline if it says he might need some support.

I'd then talk to your HV and ask for him to have a Hearing Test and I'd also ask for her to do the ASQ3 assessment.

Don't be fobbed off either by your HV. Our experience was that we were told to watch and wait and have really struggled to get support for our DD now she's older.

My DD hardly said a word until around 18 months. She said 'a' for 'cat' at around a year, then stopped. She very occasionally said "mama" or "dada" with a lot of encouragement but not spontaneously. She never (or very rarely) copied words or sounds. I think she didn't like the pressure. She always had great understanding though. I started to get worried but then her language suddenly exploded and now it's amazing.

DS1 didn't utter a single word, didn't even babble till a couple of weeks before his second birthday. Within a few weeks he was talking in sentences.

DS2 was even later, and then only said a handful of words for about a year.

Both read to, talked to, sang to etc. Both teens now and no problems at all.

DD didn't say her first word until after 2. She got referred to SALT at her 2 year check. Had the assessment 2 weeks before the first lockdown then didn't get seen for another 9 months. She got discharged a month ago, her speech now is fine and she doesn't shut up now! Does your child go to nursery or a childminder or anything? If so have you asked their thoughts?

This is all really reassuring as I have many the same worries as op

I was so concerned about my daughter at that age. I think she was nearly 2 before she said anything. I thought she was so behind.

she’s now nearly 4 and I think is probably a little above average for speech, based on hearing her friends talk, though I may be biased a I guess we can all understand our own kids better than other kids.

my HV said they don’t worry at all until 2.

My daughter (now 3) was well over 2 before she started speaking properly. She never babbled as a baby, then spoke a few words but stopped soon after.
She seemed to get stuck at the same point for a while then suddenly it came and her language is great now. She must have been 2.5 before we saw a good improvement and had started to worry there was something wrong.

Thanks all- some good advice. I’m a primary school teacher so know how important early language development is and been doing everything I can to encourage him. He goes to a childminder 5 days a week- she doesn’t seem too worried as of yet. Reassuring to hear the stories of children who just suddenly had a ‘burst’- he did the exact same with walking- walked around furniture/with his walker from age 10 months, didn’t take his first steps until 15 months but was running around with very few falls literally a. week after his first steps, so maybe that’s just how he learns! Easter holidays in 2 weeks so will ring HV then and get their advice. Thank you everyone!

Easter holidays in 2 weeks so will ring HV then and get their advice. Thank you everyone!

Definitely push for a hearing test and and Ages and Stages Assessment. Glue Ear can delay speech and can only really be picked up at a hearing test

Hi how was her understanding if she dint babale.. When she started to babble and hpw about other activities op

@Mamma23 sorry for posting so late in the day but just wondering how things are now as this sounds like my 18 month old and I’m anxious 😥 xx

@mwilliams33 I was really starting to worry about my DS at your DS age he wasn't saying anything.
He's 2 and half now and I literally can't shut him up.
If the understanding is there then there is no concern. If you ask him to look at something and he does. Or ask him to give you his shoes for example etc then I wouldn't worry. He might be like mine and just come on all of a sudden

Hi
I work in Early Years, at the 2 year check up / 27 month review they usually expect a child to be saying around 50 words. It varies from child to child and I wouldn’t worry yet. Sounds like you’re doing wonderful activities to encourage his speech.
review again in a few months time and if still concerned speak to your health visitor.

@mwilliams33 so he will be 2 in a few weeks- I would say he’s still not saying as much as a lot of other children his age however the progress he’s made in the last few months is amazing!! I would say he can say around 20 words now, which is still on the low end but I’m no longer concerned and just think he will get there in his own time. Hopefully the same will happen for you x

@Mazza7412 hi, I actually posted this thread quite a while back- he will be two in a few weeks! He’s still on the low end in terms of amount of words he says (I reckon around 20-25) but he is progressing quite quickly now so hopefully won’t be long until he catches up. He knows some animals and animal sounds, knows a few words for food, toys etc. He even said ‘oh no, choc-choc gone’ earlier when I moved my box of chocolates that he had his eye on!! So even if at his check up the health visitor is concerned, I’m not worried any more because I think he’s done amazingly well ❤️

I have a little video of my DS saying 'I am 2' on his 2nd birthday. It was a big deal as he'd never said 3 words together before. And saying 'I am 2' took A LOT of coaching. He used to point at things and say 'whassa?' (What's that) but said little else.
He is the most verbose 7 year old you could ever meet now, his vocabulary is insane. Loves new words. When he finally started talking a lot it was in paragraphs.
So of course it could be something concerning but it really also could be that he'll talk more when he's ready. Great to hear he's doing well.

@Mamma23 thats fantastic :) have you spoken to your HV at all about it? If so what was her initial reaction? X

I realise that thx is a ghost thread, but here my story if it gives anyone reassurance.

At DS's two year check, he could say fewer than 10 of the thirty or so words on the HV's 2 year check list. A few months later, I got pg again and was quite poorly, and had to spend a few weeks in hospital. We didn't tell DS why I was unwell, but one day - having been largely untalkative for 2.5 years - he told his nursery nurse that I was having a baby, that I was in hospital, that he went to visit the night before, that the nurse had the same name as me, that he'd like a brother.... and from then on he talked. Just as the HV was about to refer him for SLT.

I don't know what triggered the talking. Maybe it was the disruption to his cosy routine. Maybe he just had something to say.

He's 15 next week, and uses far more words than necessary, and prattles on in Spanish (he's teaching himself on Duolingo) as well as English.

Don't panic yet.

@mwilliams33 I haven’t as I decided I would leave it until the 2 year check. I don’t actually have a specific health visitor anyway (that’s a whole other story!) Childminder has never had any concerns and is thrilled with his recent progress so I’m happy enough with that!

@Mamma23 @IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads thank you both for your replies - I really hope I don’t have anything to worry about. Xxx

Hi @Mamma23 - I’m starting to worry about my 17.5 month old son. He says nothing except for mama and dada… sometimes. Otherwise he is pretty quiet, content and chilled. I’m starting to get worried that what I’ve taken as being just a chilled little guy, is actually a sign of something underlying.

I’m glad things improved for you quite rapidly over the summer! do you have an update since August? I’m really hoping for this ‘burst’ of speech at some point but just no sign of anything yet.

There’s been an improvement! I would say his speech is very much centred around his interests rather than being interested in speaking (if that makes sense!) but he knows lots of words now and is starting to string together short sentences. Personally I would still say he is behind other 2 year olds I know but not enough to concern me as the progress is now steady- he repeats lots of words now and can use them in context. I’m still awaiting his 2 year check so will speak to the health visitor then and see what they say!

Thank you so much for the quick update! Glad to hear things have improved since the beginning of the year.

i think I need to start spending some more time focusing on trying to teach my little one how to interact. I work full time and probably rely too much on just leaving him to entertain himself / with the childminder rather than giving him the attention he really needs. Then I can see how he is coming on by the time we reach his 2 year HV assessment. Goodness me - mum guilt never ends.

My daughter started with speech quite early and had 3 or 4 words at 10 months. She gained a few more between them and 16ish months but by 18 months it was quite apparent that she only ever had a working vocabulary of 3-4 words. If she learnt a new word she lost an old word including mama and dada.
She had already had a hearing test at 7 months as she didn't respond to any noises at all until 5 months - hearing test was ordered at 4.5 months and by the time it came around we no longer had concerns.

We spoke to the HV and she had a speech and language assessment at 20 months. She score 0 on the 18-24 months but did ok on the 12-18 month one so she was half a step behind but not by a concerning amount. The HV gave us some worksheets to help bring her language along. I can't remember much of the details but a lot of narrating life or that's how it felt.

Between 21 and 24 months we had a lot of turbulence and she started a new nursery at 2. At this point she had now got a list of 20 or so words and mostly communicated through pointing and whilst she didn't respond back she had a very good understanding of what we were saying. After 2 months of this new nursery she was communicating with words and using 2 and 3 word sentences. We had her 2 month assessment with a new HV (a house move triggered the nursery move) and she had no concerns. At this point her language was probably the worst of the few toddlers of equal age I saw regular but only by a fraction where as at 2 it was quite pronounced. She is now 3 and is pretty average with some aspects a bit above and some a bit below.

The only thing that caused us real concern was the going backwards in language especially as she was developmentally delayed at 4month due to undertreated reflux and undiagnosed allergies.