17mo with no apparent desire to talk - experience please

[nicetomeetyou]

Hello

I have a daughter who is almost 17 mo and she shows no real signs of wanting to talk - lots of other children around at that age are babbling a fair bit but she only rarely shows any signs of that. We had our lunch today almost in silence (this is not usual I usually talk to her) and she just didn't try to speak.

Does anyone have experience of this and presumably she will just talk in her own time? She understands very well so that is not an issue

so she understands

can she communicate what she wants? through body language or expression?

I'd relax - many children dont' talk (like at all) until over 2, sometimes over 3

If she's communicating then there's no real need

does she understanf you?
Can she hear OK?
My DS was nearly 3 before he started talking he would just grunt and point.
but he understood me and could follow instructions so I tried not to worry too mmuch bout it - easier said than done.
Speak to yr HV about it.

oh god don't talk to a HV about it - if you're concerned about hearing talk to your GP and say you want her hearing checked - HVs are pointless in general

Her hearing is fine and her understanding - she can already point to about 6 body parts and fetches things I ask her to get etc. I just find it odd that she has stopped pointing and doesn't do much babbling .

Get hearing checked and ask GP for a referral to a Speech & Language Therapist. As sweetfall says there is no real concern until they turn 2yrs, but the fact she isn't babbling is enough to definately get hearing checked. It might be something as simple as an ear infection in the middle ear.

Hearing tests this young are not simple:

1. neonatal hearing screen (the one at birth) only tests the inner ear
2. an audiologist will be able to test the middle ear and the inner ear but it will take time, over several visits she (or he) will train your child to look at a puppet when a sound is made

That is as much as I know about audiology, it may be different these days it is a long time since I reviewed the processes, but this should give you a starting point.

Advice for you at home: try and get some coo'ing rallies going where you coo (ih ah) at each other and take turns to talk, try baby sign, get DD involved in lots of action songs (e.g. Incy Spider).

Don't worry - it is not unusual for children to be late talkers, and if there is a problem a Speech & Language Therapist will be able to support you through the whole process - See RCSLT.org website for "talk to your child' information.
www.rcslt.org/docs/free-pub/helpyourchildtotalk.pdf

DD didn't babble, didn't talk till 26 months, can't shut her up now

I wouldn't worry. Presumably given her age they would've done the newborn hearing screening? At our local childrens centre they have speech and language person. Maybe yours does too if you wanted some advice. My niece is 18 mo and says about 5 words. My friends ds is 2.1 and says uh for nearly everything only car and mum other words. Her other dd is now 4 and still not talking very clearly. Her eldest talked clearly by 2.They are all different. My dd1 is 22mo and chatters, singsand counts all v clearly and has been doing so for months but in our circle it is clear that she is the exception rather than the rule.