Should I Worry?? My Toddler Isn't Talking Much

I had to smile when reading this, because I have asked that exact question in regards to my 22 month old's vocabulary. It seems like everyone else's child spoke words and short sentences by now and my son speaks a combination of a Japanese/French-sounding babble mixed with words on occasion. It's good to know that this may just be normal after all...

My daughter was just like that, but once she turned six she wouldn't stop talking!! She has won English prizes in her school, so I'm pretty sure she doesn't have any language problems, hope this helps!! :)

With my daughter we would not give her the item until she said it or made a good attempt to say it. She is stubborn and just didn't want to spend the time to talk when pointing got her what she wanted. I would encourage you to sound out the items she wants and make her give a good attempt at saying them. She may get mad, but it will do her good in the long run. Once she sees what you expect of her, she will not fight as much and just go along to get what she is wanting.
J.

my third son did this too, but i believe it was because his older sister and brother spoke for him, so all he had to do was point and someone would give him his juice, etc. he started a mothers day out program right before his 2nd bday and started talking clear full sentences in just a couple weeks. i think it was all up there, he just didn't have to use it until he was separated from his 2 yr older sister. I'd say if she isn't talking by 2 or right after, then i might ask the pediatrician, but sounds like she's getting there. also, you can help by asking her what she wants and try not naming it for her. if she doesn't around 2, then you might just want to have her hearing checked as some children have fluid behind the eardrum therefore delaying speech. good luck!

I worried about the same thing with my son. Once we put him in a Mother's Day Out program, at age 3 for three days per week, his vocabulary began to increase at warp speed. One question everyone asked me and I will pass on to you, "Have you had her hearing checked?"

S., I would contact your local health department and they do free development screenings. If they say she is behind in talking then they will refer her to a speech pathologist.

We have a similar situation, but our son is a little older. The easiest thing is to just get her tested. There are agencies that are free through the state. If you are not sure who to contact, ask the special education coordinator in your child's school district. After she turns 3, you will have to go through the school system and they can get pretty bogged down. If you can get help now, it would be better and getting her tested won't hurt anything, plus it would give you a little peace knowing everything is fine. We were told this is the age to start getting help. Hope this helps!

My youngest son did not speak much until he turned 2 years old. We took him to Disney World with his older brother and he seemed to learn to speak sentences instead of just words overnight. (I had read to him daily and said what I was handing to him so that he might repeat me, also.) I was a stay at home mom then and spent a lot of time with both my boys playing, listening to music, and reading their favorite books. Neither of my sons took a pacifier, so I knew that it wasn't that delaying the speech. If Emily has developed in all other areas, I would not worry. ( And if all her regular check-ups has been ok with the doctor, hearing, etc.) Don't worry unnecessarily, this takes away energy that you could funnel somewhere else (like prayer). I wish you much success and lots of fun with your daughter. Children are amazing!!!

Realx a bit Mommy. It sounds like you are doing all of the right things. Keep encoraging her to talk, and don't get stressed about it, or she will know. SHe might even have a little adjusting to be done from her recent life changes. Her 2 year check up is coming, and you can ask the Doc all about it.

My daughter was a bit of the same way. it seemed that she had so much to say, it just came out a little jumbled. I am happy to say that she is an excellent speaker (some say professional) and she has a vocabulary that shocks most people, all at the age of 4. her speech took off like a rocket at 2 thru 2 1/2. Now I would just like a little silence on occasion. Sigh.

Good Luck!

Have you had her hearing checked? She may just be waiting to talk in her own time, but she may have some hearing difficulty. You could ask her pediatrician to test her hearing if you think that could be the problem.

Please have her hearing checked. I have a daughter who wasn't speaking as I thought she should when she was a toddler and come to find out, she had a hearing loss. I also thought that she understood what we were telling her, however, the doctor pointed out that we were using a lot of body language and that is what she was following.

You are correct in saying that all children develop their language at different rates, however, the sooner a deaf child is diagnosed the sooner help can be given to that child. My daughter started speech therapy at age 20 months and now speaks very well. She is currently in college at Gallaudet University on a full academic scholarship.

Good luck and I will pray that your daughter's hearing is fine and she is just developing her speech at a slower rate than some other children.

I wouldn't worry too much. At 22 months, I was still nervous, too, because my daughter was very particular with what she would say and didn't say much over the 2-word sentences. "No want", "want banana", etc. And kids within 3 months of her were talking like 4 years olds. Well, not all of them, and around 27 months, something hit and she just started talking. I think 27 months is kind of a breaker. One thing you can do is look for a Parents as Teachers program (you've probably heard of it since you're a teacher, but if not look it up) in your area. It's a federal program regulated by the states, but teachers or retired teachers come and spend time with your child once a month and evaluate their development. They give you ideas for helping them, and then - at least in our state - if they have speech development issues, the state pays for them to get speech therapy. It's generally available for ages 0-3 as a free program, so you should definitely check it out anyway. :)

Hi S.,
My two year old son is not talking much either. Before he turned 2 (I think at about 18 months) I started worrying that he was behind, just as you are. I talked to his doctor about it and we discussed how many words he knew, etc, and he was still considered within the range of normal. At 2, I was still concerned, and since it was his 2 year old well-child, I talked to the doctor about it again. He agreed at that point that he was behind, but said he was not concerned about it since there is such a huge range. He did schedule him for a speech evaluation though. It took awhile to get the appointment, but with some phone calls, etc I was able to get a free evaluation through early intervention. He passed his evaluation fine. He was 85% on his expressive speech, which is considered a mild delay. He only says a few words, many of them are not clear, and he doesn't usually make sentences on his own. He doesn't even babble like your child. But besides expressive speech they also test receptive (which is how much they actually understand). That took awhile because the therapist has to keep going until he messed up and he was starting to get into the 3 year old range with a few of his skills, so he was definitely ahead on that front. Because the average the two things together he averaged out to normal.

With my free evaluation I also got to sit down with the speech therapist the next week to discuss the results and she gave me some ideas on how to work with him. She will re-evaluate him at 3 to make sure he continues to progress, but they weren't worried about him. I also took him to an audiologist, which cost about $75 and took about 10 minutes for them to tell me his hearing was fine as well. :)

Anyway, I am just hoping this will encourage you. If you feel that she is understanding well, then she is probably doing fine. But if you are concerned, check into the early intervention program in your area. Like I said the evaluation was free (though I think you might have to be recommended by your doctor) and if they test over 1/4 of their age behind, they will also receive free speech therapy.

I got him tested because I didn't want to leave a potential problem too long, and even though I could tell that he was understanding me, it was nice for a professional to actually tell me how smart he was and that he is doing fine. He has improved slightly since then.

How much exposure to other children does she get on a regular basis? My oldest took a long time before he started talking and my two younger ones seemed to start talking earlier since they have older siblings who talk up a storm all the time. Of course, as the other moms said, development and hearing screenings can help give you peace of mind. I had a friend tell me that once they start talking, you won't be able to get them to stop... I would encourage you to not stress over this...have a great day!

I will echo what the others have said. As long as you know that she can hear correctly and she seems to understand what you are saying, I wouldn't worry too much yet. Our firstborn said just enough words at each checkup to be considered "normal". He didn't really start speaking until he was three. Now he talks ALL of the time eight years later. :) I would mention it to the doctor if you have a checkup just so he/she can check out if there are any areas of concern, but like you said, all kids develop at different rates.