My son is 21 months old and currently only says "mama" and "papa" clearly. He does seem to associate who is who as he doesn't say "papa" to my wife, but looks at me and laughs when he says "papa" and I reply. My concern is that he is not saying other words. He's very vocal and will babble words and sounds, but not many recognizable words. When he wants something that is out of reach he goes up to it and tries to reach it often turning around to get our attention, but we can't get him to repeat the words "cookies, milk, water, etc.".
Physically he appears to be on par with other children his age. He walks, runs, can grasp small items and can even put legos together. He stores his pacifier in a little compartment in one of his toys and knows to come back for it when he wants it. He chases me when I'm walking away waiting for me to turn around, say something and run after him....he even anticipates that I'm going to turn around and he is going to need extra running time by not following me so closely all the time.
on edit: He's had hearing tests performed with no anomalies detected.
I also know that boys are supposed to be slower talkers than girls, but I'd rather be concerned over nothing than wait too long and lose some time where he can be learning. I've read that in most cases you should look for progress and not specific words or number of words, but I'm not sure how to measure oral progress if he's not repeating the words we're telling him.
I realize that the best advice will come from professional evaluations (and we're making appointments for those), but I thought a little first hand experience with many children might yield information that professionals don't often mention.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
M.
My son didn't talk either at 21 months and I was worried about it. He really started talking at about 25-26 months. He is now six years old and doesn't stop talking and also loves to read and write.
Have him evaluated and listen to the pros. But if they say everything is ok, then don't worry about it.
I wouldn't sweat it. My daughter was very vocal since she was 11 months old that was unlike my son. He didn't start stringing words together until he was 21 months. I remember my husband kept telling me don't worry about it. I would advise you to do the same. Give it time.
In general, boys do talk later than girls. BUT the standards for boys and girls are the same. At 21 months he should say at least a few words other than mama and dada. If your son has a speech delay, most likely he just needs a little help and there is nothing "wrong" with him. You are smart to get an evaluation now as it takes 1-2 months to start services after the initial call. Did you call your state's Early Intervention? The other moms are right as the baseline for speech is at least 50 words by age 2 and starting to put words together. Since that is 3 months away, it is unlikely that he will be doing this. They will have a lot of questions for you, write down things you notice, both good and bad. My son had speech therapy through Early Intervention. He did not really start taking off until about 2 1/2 and at 3 he exploded. He does not have a speech delay anymore and we were able to get him some occupational therapy as well that helped him a lot. Good luck!
First of all, all kids are different, so don't worry about him be EXACTLY like everybody else.... That said...Have you talked to his pediatrician, it sounds like he has a speech delay. I think I remember the 15 month check -up form asking if my son could say 3-5 words OTHER than mama and dada. By two they are looking for being able to put two words together.
If they find a significant delay (and it seems like they WILL say he has an expressive delay at least) they can give him speech therapy which at this age frequently also includes some signing.
Might be a good idea for YOU to start teaching him some basic signs as well. My son was a very EARLY talker, but he still struggles to make certain sounds. Being able to sign was a LIFE SAVER for him because it made his speech understandable and he could get his needs met (the signs are actually how I discovered he was TALKING and not simply babbling). Easy ones to start with would be "more" "milk" "water" "all done" "yes" "no" whatever else he seems to be TRYING to tell you.
HTH
T.
Boys talk later than girls. Do you talk to him repeating the same idea in different ways. He very likely knows what you are talking about. My daughter's son had a very limited vocabulary at 22 months when I returned from a five month stint overseas. Within a month he was talking a blue streak in small sentences. My daughter said "He talks because you talk to him and I don't." I was surprised she didn't that's what I do with children. I also talk to them using real words and no baby talk.
boys don't always talk later...my sons are proof of that, as are my nephews!
In my daycare, I have 2 boys....22 & 23months old. One speaks clearly & nonstop....since 18 months. He began singing the ABC song at 18 months, & now can sing 3-4 full songs independently. In 25 years of working with kids, he is the only one to hit these benchmarks at such an early age.
By contrast, the other little boy has a vocab of about 4 "clear" words & can babble quite a few other words....all without the beginning/ending sounds. It has been a trial for his mom to witness the differences btwn the boys! But she does realize that her son's speech is moving along.
To encourage your son's speech, I highly recommend eliminating the pacifier. With my daycare kids, pacifiers are usually stopped by 18 months. At that point, the kids just want to lay them down as they play & then pick them up randomly as they see/feel a need. At that point, it is no longer a necessity & more of a random habit. (for bedtime/naptime/stress time....teach your child to self-soothe using a fav blanket/toy.)
My other thought is: start playing kiddie music. Be repetitive with the same 4 or 5 songs. Sing along regularly & encourage your son to do the same. It's amazing how this will make the vocab explode! Make it FUN & he'll love it! Hope this helps....
I would talk to his pedi about Early Intervention evaluating his speech (maybe it's called something else in your area?). 2 of my children needed speech therapy, and they were wonderful. The speech therapist came out to our home, and our children always loved when she came.
Here's a little info you might find helpful:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_your-20-month-olds-language-a...
Best wishes =o)
Our son started speech therapy at around the same age. They had us start with sign language. I would recommended renting the Baby Signing Times videos from the library. My son loves them. At first we would have to move his hands for him, so when he wanted to eat. We would say eat and prompt him to say it and then move his hands n the sign and then give him the food. We've been doing therapy for just over a year and we no longer use the signs, though a lot of times he still signs while he talks. The reasoning behind using the signs is that you can't make someone move their mouths to make words, bu you can move their hands, this will help them to figure that words have meaning and if they use the words they can get what they want.
My son didn't start really talking until 27 months or so. He is almost 4 now and talks quite a bit. Just give it time.
By any chance is he going to be bilingual? This can slow down the process of speaking since learning more than one language requires more time for the brain to learn and sort the various words.
Also, it's not so much him repeating the words you say as it is using them correctly. Which I understand he's not doing so note: does he respond appropriately when you ask if he'd like cookies, milk, water, etc., and point to the item or get excited? If he is I would take heart in that. And know that babbling is good, it's actually a precursor to speaking clearly.
Since you are concerned, though, why not schedule an appointment with his pediatrician for a evaluation, suggestions and referrals?
My guess, though, is that your son will start speaking soon.
you could always do speech therapy. our almost 2 1/2 year old has been in speech therapy for a year now. His speech delay is due to him being born with cleft lip and palate and not having the ability to make certain sounds when little etc. We have First Steps here and it is wonderful. They really work so well with the younger kids. They play lots of games and do puzzles and bubbles and the kids dont even know they are learning so it is super fun to them. My son loooooves his speech therapist. I think she said a 2 year old, "normally" averages a vocabulary of about 50 words and should be starting to put 2 to 3 words together. but please also remember, that every child is different, every child learns to talk at different times. I totally agree with you about being proactive and having him checked out just to be safe, I think that is being a very good parent!! Our son mostly has issues with making certain sounds because he cant fully close his mouth, so like he calls me Nonny or Nana instead of mommy or mama. his m's, b's, and p's are the hardest for him. His speech therapist also said that at the age your son is it is totally normal when they sometimes leave off the end sound. Good luck!!
Seek Early Intervention immediately but go private. Early Steps will not give him services and it's a waste of time anyway to even receive what they will offer. It costs money to have good people work with your children but they will gain skills quicker and catch up to their peers faster. Do not wait till after he is two like most drs will tell you. I work with these kids and I wish I had every one of them at 18-21 months..they would not have all the millions of problems they now have from "waiting" PM me if you have any particular questions.
If you have access to a program called First Steps in your area set up an appointment through them for an evaluation. Also if you have Parents As Teachers in your area they are great as well. My own son started speech therapy at age two. He had other delays as well though.
It is good to be concerned but as you said, boys are sometimes late talkers.
My best advice is to remain open minded, if it does come to you needing to seek speech therapy. The one thing that really caught me off guard was the different ways they went about my sons therapy, they had us start using simple signs, which in the beginning I was worried that signing would interfere with his desire to talk, far from it...it gave him another way to be able to communicate effectively and so that led to fewer tantrums. Also for a while we used PECS, which is Picture Exchange System...ours was on a pretty small scale, in the beginning we used it for simple things like snack time choices and then we also used it for prepping him for transitions...bath time, bedtime, play time, meal time etc.
I wish you luck.
We had our boy evaluated at about 20 months and he was speech delayed. The next week he started using full paragraphs.
Your little guy may be speech delayed and it can't hurt to have him evaluated asap. That way if he is you can start working with him. We had our state medical card and they set up the appointment with Sooner Start.
I would talk to his Dr.
I think that he will be fine.
I would just give him some more time.
Maybe his pacifier is holding him back.
Try sitting him down and tell him that for now on if he wants something he will need to tell you (( like milk )) before you give it to him.
I have a boy in my daycare that has been very much the same way. Because I see him in various settings playing with various kids, I have noticed some things. He will often talk to his friends. But he does it so quiet that if I'm real busy I'll miss it. When he wants to say something it's usualy loud and clear. When he wants something from an adult he'll mumble. He'll talk to quiet to hear or he'll mush up his sounds. He's over 3 now. But he was just like your son a year ago.
Yesterday I asked him to tell me about the video we watched before nap time. I wanted him to recall some of it so he could tell his mother. He wasn't saying anything and acting like he couldn't remember. But after I coached him on part of it he piped up and said that we learned about Butterflies. He said the word Butterflies loud, clear, and strong. For this boy it seems to be emotional.
It think it's great you are having him evaluated since you are right, waiting too long can slow things down if there is something wrong. But usually I'm an advocate of waiting a bit longer if everything else seems pretty normal.
