Speech

[Nessynoonars]

Hi all, just wondered what words your 18 month old were saying? My little one is saying some words but not many. I know what he's saying but it's not actually a word he's saying. He understands what things are and will go and get something if I ask him... When I look online it says he should be saying about 40 words. Thanks all x

Barely any and a lot of them were garbled . For example ca - ca could've been castle or carrot depending on context.

HV was useless, didn't care and also told me "if she understood she'd be talking " when I was mostly trying to reassure myself.

She got referred to speech therapy by her nursery teacher (her delayed speech interfered with her phonics ability) and they agreed there was some delay , but to wait 6 more months , and if her reception teacher also had concerns to come back.

No concerns were ever raised again because she did catch up and she never had any issues.

Raise concerns if you have them, but don't worry too much yet.

DS wasn't talking much at all at that age. Just mum Dad yes no really.

I'm not joking when I say the day of his second birthday his speech exploded. Massively!

He's 2.5 now talks in sentences.

As PP says raise concerns if you have them but I wouldn't be worried at that age

They are all so different

My eldest had about 5-10 words at 18 months. Like PP it was the day after his second birthday when things exploded. He's 3.5 now and doesn't shut up.

If understanding is there, just keep an eye and try not to worry

Mine learned the word ‘poo’ at around this age (thanks to his cousins 🤣). Made potty training hard - we didn’t know if he needed a poo or was just developing his love of toilet humour.
Kiddo is 6 now and it’s probably still his favourite word 🙄

There maybe speech therapy drop ins and you can go and chat to a speech therapist who will give you more advice. They are held termly in my area.

It’s not about what words he is saying, it’s about how he is communicating with you. Is he communicating non-verbally? Pointing? It shouldn’t just be pointing, but also looking at you while pointing to draw your attention to something. Is he nodding or shaking his head for yes/no? Is he socially smiling at you and turning his head to look at you when you’ve called his name? If the answer to those is generally yes then I wouldn’t be worried about lack of verbal speech yet. Just model language and keep it clear and simple.

I'm a SLT. 10 words at 18 months is within the average range for your DS's age.

Remember that symbolic noises like animal noises (woof, quack), vehicle noises (brumm, beep beep) and "weeeee" (down the slide) count as words.

Don't worry if his words aren't easy for other people to understand at the moment. Just make sure you acknowledge him by repeating back the word clearly rather than in the way he's said it. Eg DS: "Bips" You: "Crisps. Want crisps. Ok, let's get crisps"

Baby signing or Makaton can be really useful at this age, to support communication while spoken words are emerging.

Read to him, sing to him, join him in what he finds interesting and enjoyable.

Keep an eye on his communication over the next 6-12 months but nothing you're saying in your post sounds too concerning.