Speech Development

Hi M. -
My son could only say 2 words at 18 months. My pediatrician recommended an evaluation by ECI. This is a self referral service through the county. You can just call them and they will talk to you about and see if he needs an eval. They determined that my son could use some speech therapy, but also said he may just be deveoping in other areas first or just taking things in. He had speech 2Xmonth for 6 months. I honestly don't think they helped that much, but they gave me some good tips on what to do at home to help. I personally think he just developed late. He is now 2 1/2 and we have conversations with him! After he turned two he started talking...a lot!!
Also, we found a video he LOVED called Baby Babble. He wanted to watch it over and over every day. It encourages speech development and I really think that helped. Good Luck!
Please let me know if you have and questions and I'll try to help. Good Luck!

Call ECI, have him evaluated for speech and they'll let you know if he needs therapy. Also, you might look into the Baby Signs classes at Gymboree or try the Signing Time videos. If he's already using gestures then he should catch on quickly. And, research shows signing helps kids acquire language faster, so if he's behind, it will help him catch up.

Trust your gut. Call ECI to get him evaluated as the other moms have said. You can get their number from your Ped's office or google them, too. I did not wait until my doctor blessed me and we are still dealing with recovering a lot of speech dev. time with my son, who had a similar ear infection history as yours.

Good luck and good job staying on top of your child's development.

I used to teach an early childhood class with many students who qualified for ECI speech services. Typically, you can wait until your child is 3 before evaluating their needs. By that age, he should be able to communicate his needs to adults, and not just those who are around him daily.

I think if he jabbers a lot and has some basic words, he is probably doing much better than you think. Just read to him as much as possible and talk to him a lot. Avoid "baby talk" and try to enunciate around him.

You need to call ECI and get him evaluated. It may be nothing and he is fine, but he may not be and you will regret not having looked into it sooner. I have a child with autism. He is very high functioning and I was concerned at 1 year. He babbled ALOT but still something was not right and nobody else seemed to see it but me. Our ped said he was fine and not to worry. Finally at 15 months I called ECI anyway and now that we know he is autistic I am soooo glad I made that call at 15 months. We would be so much further behind now if I had not. I have another friend who has a 6 year old with autism and her daughter was not evaluated until 3 years and her mother so regrets it. I'm not saying that your child may have autism, but the earlier you can intervene with any developmental delay will only benefit your child.

Good Luck
N.

you might ask your ped. just to see what they think, my sister had problems with ear infections & had tubes put in around that age...she had speech therapy all through middle school (private therapy until she started school & therapy in school after) just bc she was not pronouncing words like they wanted her, like not emphasizing certain syllables. but if he is saying words but you just cant always understand them it will prolly get better in the next year...that's the age my daughter really started talking where i could understand most of what she says... i would only be concerned if he is still not really wanting to talk............ hope this helps

Hi M.,

Your child is very fortunate to have a mother concerned about speech and language development. As a speech-language pathologist, who has been practicing for 15 years, I would strongly recommend you seek out an evaluation. The result will either be that you receive a detailed report stating that your child is well within the normal limits of speech and language development (and hopefullly suggestions as to what you could do at home to help your child continue along that path), or you will find that your child does have some areas that require intervention. The research in the area of communication development consistently states that early intervention is best for children.

I have never understood the need to "wait and see," in an area (the Metroplex) that offers so many services at various rates and locations. The assessment is usually fun for the children, and informative for the parents -- a win-win situation. Also, during my years of practice, I have worked with countless parents of three year olds who enroll in therapy and share their regret that they did not seek assistance earlier.

If you are not sure what children should be doing at various ages, I invite you to visit www.startherapyprograms.com, and click on the milestones icon. Those milestones are based on research from ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association). As for your child's assessment - you could contact Early Childhood Intervention (If you are in Collin County, they are listed under LifePath Systems), University of Texas at Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders, or a private speech-language pathologist.

Again, I can't stress how wonderful it is that you are expressing concern for your child's speech and language development. If you should have any further questions, please feel free to e-mail me directly at ____@____.com Regards,
S.

Talk to your ped, but 19 months is still really really early. My son wasn't evaluated until about 27 months and this was still considered pretty early. I think most wait until about 2 1/2 to 3 as long as all else is going well. I think they can get a much better idea of where the child is at that age as compared to 18 months.

I think the minimum requirement at 18 months is about 10 or 20 words if I remember correctly. You might want to start taking count if you're truly concerned. The bar is pretty low and they count words that have only been spoken one time in this count. Oh, and animal noises and uh-oh count too. Jabbering is a good sign too especially if he's using all sorts of different sounds and intonations. (Trust me, I have researched this all like you wouldn't believe). Also, if he is able to communicate his needs, that is a wonderful sign.

Please don't freak out yet. I realize this is easier said than done and I found the pressure from others to be difficult at times. Children all develop at their own paces. Keep in mind, boys are notorious for taking longer to develop speech wise; however, there's lots you can do to encourage speech development that you probably do already. Reading out loud and having him point out different things in the book is fantastic. Have you considered teaching him sign language? I highly recommend it and it was actually the first thing the Speech Therapists told us to do when my son was evaluated. I think sign language was what really opened the flood gates for him. I've noticed that many of the children in my son's peer group who were exposed early (and consistently) to sign language where among the first to talk.

Good luck!

I have a 19 month old and she jabbers ALOT!! (No past of tubes or ear infections) She can say milk, mama, dada, more and nanny. Those are her daily words. Out of the blue she will say other things, dog, bird etc, but not on a regular basis. She also points and grunts for what she wants. I have been told that the more we give into the cries and points the longer they delay the talking. Anyways, I think they are fine developmentally- but I too will be checking with my doc at her appt next week. I wouldnt worry about it- I think they will talk when they are ready. And then we will be saying "STOP TALKING" :) Good Luck!

My 3 1/2 year old was a slow talker. At his 2 year check-up I was determined that he needed evaluated by ECI because he did not have many words and the words that he did have were hard to understand and not really pronounced correctly. He sounded like he was speaking in Chinese most of the time. My pedi recommended that I give it a couple of months before I got concerned, but I was very concrened. We had him evaluated and they actually rated him higher than his age group (It took several weeks to get them to come out and have the speech therapist evaluate him). I was still a little bit concerned and then one day it was like a light switch went off and we went from very few words to full blown sentences. Now, we often laugh and say what happened to us wishing that he could talk! Now we wonder if he will ever stop! I would wait until his 2 year check up before I had him evaluated by ECI. They are really a great service - my nephew has been working with them for the past year and he has recently made very good progress in his speech. They also provided him with occupational therapy also. Good luck and try not to worry too much! I think that boys are sometimes a little slower to talk than girls! That doesn't change much after they grow up either according to my DH!

I know that when I went to my daughters 18 month check up they just wanted her to say 5 words. So I don't think you have anything to worry about. He will start learning many new words soon.