15 Month Old Not Talking

I'm not one to usually go against a Pediatrician's recommendation, but I would personally recommend starting the EI process sooner, rather than later. Our Pediatrician recommended it at the 15 month check-up, as our son was not saying anything other than non-descript babble (no Mamma and no Dada). We have just gone through the EI process and I couldn't be happier. There is no cost and no risk to calling to have your son evaluated. In fact, even if she is deemed "within normal limits" for speech development now, you have rights to have her evaluated in the future.

But the most important question you asked is "when should you worry?," and I say try not to worry at all! All kids develop at their own rate, and it all evens-out when they are a few years older (it really doesn't matter when they first walked, talked, etc!) If you wait, she may start talking by her 18 month check-up. If she's not, you can call EI for help then. 18 months is still very young, so getting help will still be optimal!

Please feel free to let me know if you have any questions about our EI experience.

Our son wasn't talking at 15 months either, so his pediatrician referred him to Early Intervention (EI). Best thing ever to happen to him. Perhaps you could call the pediatrician and ask if he/she would be willing to refer you?

Feel free to PM me with any questions about EI. We've had a wonderful experience thus far.

My son was not talking at 15 months and I called Early Intervention. I just couldn't wait...I would blame myself forever if I sat on it- and there was really something wrong. He was evaluated by EI and qualified fro both speech and physical therapy every other week. He is 17 and 1/2 months now and is walking and using more and more words everyday! Even if he didn't ever need the speech or PT- I truely believe it can't hurt him...My doctor told me to wait too- but I just couldn't- I went ahead and just called EI on my own.

If she has absolutely NO words, yes I would worry. If you haven't heard a hi, mommy or dada by now, something is probably wrong. I would insist on a full hearing evaluation and depending on those results a referral to early intervention.

N. (home daycare provider, trained in developmental milestones)

Hi, My sister is dealing with the same thing but this is with her son who is a little over 2. When she mentioned this to our dr, she reccomended speech therapy. She really couldn't afford it so she looked into the march of dimes. They will come to your house and do the therapy there. She now has someone come to her house 2x a week.. hope this helps :)

L.,

I had a little guy that just head-butted everything because he couldn't communicate with us. We actually taught him some simple sign language to help him get his thoughts out and he immediately started using those and stopped getting frustrated. Just a thought.

Also, I'm an elementary teacher by degree, but preschool teacher right now and it's not abnormal to have a child not talking just yet. You'll be surprised, once she starts talking, they actually are soaking more words than their mouths can actually form. Good luck!

J.

Both of my boys were late talkers. We waited like the doctor said, and waited. My oldest had some other issues, and we eventually called Early Intervention. They each qualified for speech (at different times) and we worked with some great speech therapists. The younger of the two just "graduated" out of the school district speech program he was in for a year after Early Intervention (EI goes from birth to age 3). The least they will do is have her evaluated and you will know for sure whether or not to worry.