19-month-old very active with great non-verbal skills but few words

[AleksIva]

Hello,
my son is 19.5 months. He is a very active young boy (started walking at 10.5), and his non-verbal communication skills are excellent (pointing to desired items, shaking/nodding head, grabbing hands to lead adults, mimicking actions, mantaining normal eye contact, having social smile, waving goodbye, etc.), but he talks very little (says papa, mama, grandma, says yes (for no, he just makes a sound that imitates no-no), calls our dog by name, says “hello” when given a toy phone, says short versioned words for “milk”, “throw”, “spin”, imitates some animals and vehicles but those are more sounds than real words, and bubbles a lot). His development so far was normal. Our pediatrician says that we have no reason to worry. A speech therapist agrees.
Have you had similar experiences?
Thank you 🙏

I would agree with your SALT and Paed but why are you not reassured by their professional options?

Have we had similar experiences of a child developing in the expected and 'normal' way?

Yes. Lots of people have children who develop in line with expectations.

Some people will have children who don't.

Walk or talk.

theyll catch up with the other set of skills. Honestly it's normal don't stress about it! Just keep talking to him in full sentences & he'll be totally fine 🤗

My DD only had about 5 words when she turned 2. Everything else - eye contact, pointing, shared attention etc was completely normal. Hearing checked, all fine. Everyone told me not to worry but that is like telling me not to breathe air so I got a private speech therapist to come in and do an assessment, I was so worried about it all the time. After two hours with DD she said “she’s ahead in terms of receptive language (she followed complex instructions like “can you find the pink cup, put a ball in it and hide it under the blanket”) and she’ll talk when she’s ready”. About a month later she came out with a full sentence out of absolutely nowhere and now she DOES NOT STOP TALKING. Honestly her key worker at nursery the other day was like “do you remember when we were a bit concerned about her speech, that seems so funny now doesn’t it” 😂😂😂 she’s so confident as well, she’ll tell long convoluted stories to anyone who seems interested 🫣 she’s 4 soon and I have noticed with a lot of skills that she seems behind her peers but will then do it out of the blue and do it well. It’s like she’s waiting until she feels she can do it “properly”. Like - wouldn’t hold a pen properly, scribbled like a really small child all the time, then one day just writes her name 🙄

My daughter was cruising furniture at 9 months and could say 3 words. She refused to walk until about 15 months and she ran the next day. Around 18 months I realised that the speech of a friends son who had been similar to her 6m previously now was so much better. I sat and watched her for a few days and realised that she still only said 3 words.
I kept and eye on things for a few weeks and realised that she had a working vocabulary of 3 words and when she learnt a new word she lost an old word. I spoke to the HV who said that her only having 3 words wasn't a concern but they were slightly concerned by the losing of words.
At 4 months she had developmental issues which resolved when her reflux and allergies were addressed so in the context of that background she arranged for one of the HV team came around to do an assessment at 20 months and she scored 0 points on the 18-24 month questions and okish on the 12-18 month questions so she was possibly slightly behind but not concerningly.
We were given some exercises to help retain language and build on the words she did know. She would have done a salt referral but we were due to move house in a few months so instead she suggested that we reached out to the HV when we moved if we were still worried.

She was able to get all of her needs met with expressions and points. I could have complete conversations with her without her saying a word. We moved when she was 24 months exactly and she had about 10 words and communicated almost solely by pointing. She had had a lot of upheaval in the previous few months and we had 12 weeks without reliable childcare as her nursery closed with no notice when she was 21 months so the HV didn't repeat the check on her language straight away but booked an appointment when she was 26 month ... Just like with walking she went from wobbly to running and pretty much overnight went from speaking a few barely audible words to speaking in sentences. We have learnt this is very much her MO for how she does new things. She is very cautious and won't show you she can do something until she knows she has mastered it. By the time we had the 26 month assessment we had no concerns.
She's a summer born and at 2 we thought we would have to defer her school start but she's in year 1 and done amazingly!

Why are you worried if no one else is?

Fwiw my child only said mama, dada and yes, no at 2. By 2.5 he was spouting paragraphs.

Chill.

My DS was similar, walked early etc 2 days before his 2nd birthday he swallowed a dictionary overnight and was spouting new words all day.

My DD did this too! Pulling herself up at 8ish months and cruising around everywhere via furniture at 9 months, never crawled, everyone was like “oh she’ll be walking soon”. Nope. Wasn’t until 15.5 months she finally walked, not a hint of a wobble and two days later she ran after the dog 😂 it’s like she’s got no interest in doing something until she thinks she’s got it figured out 🫣

Thank you for your answer.

On a cognitive level, I am very much aware of that. I guess that just emotionally I need some reassurance to feel settled.

Thanks again🙏

Thank you. I’ll do so.

He caught a cold a few days ago, and just when he stopped talking (his throat was sore), I realized how much noise of different kinds he actually makes in a day☺️

We are back on track now♥️
Thank you again🙏

Good point. Chilling as of - now☺️

All the best and thanks🙏

Thank for your prompt response 🙏
To be honest, I am not sure what’s behind my worries.
I am an MD myself living in Serbia, a poor country with one of the worst medical systems in Europe.
So much negligence, so many unbelievable mistakes, an amazing lack of medical and personal ethics..and I see it and live it everyday.
Obviously, husband and I chose professional who we trust, but I guess that I just need some “mom only” emotional reassurance from people coming from some different place where human lives are actually worth and well-cared.
Thank you so again♥️

The fact you have spoken to a pediatrician and speech therapist seems excessive, I assume you are not in the UK. I didn't even think most kids spoke til 2, mine is 18 month and has the odd word, hadn't even crossed my mind to worry. All kids are different.

Haha, seems she is one quite amazing little girl!
Thank you so much for sharing, I hope we’ll follow the same path.
He also seems to understand much more than his peers, and I guess quite soon we’ll start hearing those funny “why does wind blow? questions☺️
All the love ❤️

Well, you see, I am an MD and, per usual, having some additional knowledge about certain medical conditions doesn’t help at all when it’s about MY own family🥴

We are not for the UK, you are right.

It’s just that developmental milestones (the one from Stanford School of Medicine, for example, but others are similar) say that by 24 months of age we should expect “speaking in 2-word
combinations and > 50-word vocabulary” which - wow, seems too far away from where we are now!

I am perfectly aware that all kids are different, it’s just that a geek inside me insists on following the rules all the time (and yes, I hate it!).

However, I feel so much better after reading all the responses here. It seems many kids don’t hit quoted verbal-communication skills by the age of 2.

Thanks for your answer☺️♥️

Oh poor little sausage!

even when they're not talking they're still quite vocal!

you'll be back in a year asking how to get him to shut up 🤣💕

😅I most probably will😅