When did your late talker develope words?

amother

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 1:04 am

My son is 16 months and has no words so I'm getting kind of nervous. Sometimes he says "mamamama" and "mama" to me sometimes to the air conditioner. My husband claims he says "ma" to mean "more", but it is really inconsistent.

He babbles endlessly.

His understanding is hard to tell, because his attention span is very typical of a busy, boy his age. Sometimes he can go and retrieve the exact toy I'm asking for and sometimes he looks at me like I am nuts. He use to wave hello and goodbye and blow kisses, but now has no interest. He loves to clap, roll his hands like the wheels on the bus, and make "ah-wa" noises. He knows a lion goes "rrrar" and will find the lion, but he shows no understanding of other animal noises and we do them all the time. We also go over body parts all the time, and he will wiggle his toes when I ask where his toes are, and just recently he started pointing to his head, but it still only happens one out of ten times I ask.

We were never consistent with sign language. He has some obvious body language like "all done" or "more" with food and "down" from the high chair. He drags the boppy pillow over when he wants to nurse.

I know I could just get him evaluated for early ed, but my doctor encouraged him to be evaluated for physical therapy when he was around 5 months and the process was such a pain and stressful thing for me. The evaluator told me all these horrible problems he had and then EI acted like I was making up his problems. Then we had one visit from a therapist I didn't like so I requested a new one. Meanwhile my son was up and walking at 11.5 months and he can climb everything. So, yeah that is why I was looking to hear some difference experiences before looking into EI again.

For reference, my husband and step-father were those children you hear about who do not say a word until they are three and then spew out a whole sentence. At the same time my sister ignored her daughters' delayed speech and now they are four years old and sound like they have marbles in their mouths and probably have apraxia. So I'm torn, between not worrying and worrying too much.

RachelEve14

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 1:15 am

My twins didn't say anything until after 2. Then words came very slowly. Rena's first word was "no" and it was very clear, maybe a week before they turned 2. We used to ask her if she wanted to go to bed, only to hear her say "no"

catonmylap

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 1:26 am

I think it's too early to worry.

My son is almost 2 and is not much of talker. He doesn't say that much that is comprehensible, but if I start to add it up, I find that he does have a decent amount of words. Just because some kids at this age are speaking in full sentences doesn't mean that he isn't developing normally.

Marion

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 1:30 am

My son is now three, and now finally has a vocabulary. 16 months is NOT a "late" talker. 27 months IS.

lubmommy

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 1:39 am

ds1 and ds2 started talking around the same time. Ds1 was 2 and ds2 was 1 LOL

mimivan

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 1:59 am

I was told not to worry seriously until 3 years of age. Mine didn't talk properly until almost 4 (in terms of actually forming ideas and being able to convey them in sentences)...they diagnosed him as PDD..but it turns out b'h that diagnosis is false. Now he b'h is living a completely normal life

boy number two also a late talker..didn't really say actual words with any consistency until almost 2. (I mean beyond babbling)...now b'h he says sentences and can express ideas (2 1/2) Keep an eye, but don't worry too much.

Marion

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 2:32 am

And each child is different. My 2nd (16 months) says "nana" (banana) "mayim" (mayim - water) and "my" (motzetz - pacifier) clearly. Abba is clear. He does NOT say Eema.

alpidarkomama

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 3:36 am

He sounds *exactly* like my 16-month-old. He says mama and papa, and occasionally nana (banana). Otherwise, lots of happy little babble. I definitely would not be concerned at all.

supermama2

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 7:58 am

My first didn't say much at all 'til he was nearly two..after that, he didn't stop talking! LOL

DovDov

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 12:22 pm

My son had 1 word at a time between 12 months and maybe 16-17 months. (One week he'd say "ba" for "ball" then he'd stop talking and the next week he'd say "baybay" for "baby" or he'd say "bye" but never two words the same week.) Between 18 months and 22 months his language exploded and he was saying 10-15 word sentences easily by the time he was two.

yOungM0mmy

Mon, Feb 23 2009, 12:26 pm

My DS1 started saying dada very clearly at about 8 months, and by 1 year had a vocabulary of about 100 words. DS2 is now 16 months, and doesn't say A SINGLE WORD! His understanding is brilliant - he really understands everything we say to him, and knows exactly what he wants. Until a couple of weeks ago, he wasn't even doing much babbling, only shrieking for things, and he doesn't blow kisses either. I was starting to get really nervous, but in the past few weeks, he has started to develop some signs - video, down, bye...and has started babbling lots more, so I'm not as worried, but still thinking of taking him someplace...