Talking?!

Bliss - posted on 09/06/2009

My son is 21 months and is deaf in his right ear. He is delayed in speech. He only says cat and mama and asks "is at." A child there age should be saying about 15 words. Has he has a hearing test done? You need to talk to your pediatrician if he hasn't. Even the mildest hearing impairement can effect a child dramatically in speech developement. I hope I have been some help if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

Courtney - posted on 08/27/2009

My daughter is extremely verbal. Just recently she's started speaking more in sentences rather than just words. She's come to know many words... and can even tell me when she needs to go to the bathroom! I wouldn't be too concerned until he gets to be 2 and if he's still saying minimal words, I would talk to his doctor about ways to help. Good luck!

Ellen - posted on 08/27/2009

Like all of you ladies, my daughter Kiera does alot of jibber jabber. There sre some actual words mixed up in there though. I do the same things most of you do( tell her each little thing mommy does) and I read to her as well. Even though she wont' sit through a whole book, I still continue reading to her.She is a smarty though. I am alwasy asking her where her nose,eye,ears,hand, foot and belly button are, and she knows where they are located because she points to them each and every time. It is amazing how our little ones pick up on our speech when talking to them and can understand us. I wish good luck too all the ladies on here.

Amanda - posted on 08/26/2009

My son jabbers away almost all day! lol He also knows a lot of words! It surprises me how many he knows! He knows almost 170 words (and you can pretty much tell what he is saying) He won't use them all everyday, but for the most part you know what he is talking about. He does have his days when he will do nothing but use his jibber jabber. My son is around nothing but adults all day everyday. We explain to him everything that we are doing, we will walk around the house and point to things and tell him what they are. We read to him everyday, play with him everyday, and we don't talk to him like he is a baby(well maybe sometimes lol)...We will have conversations with him and everything. Maybe try some of these things and see if they work!

Alissa - posted on 08/26/2009

Yeah, my son recently started whining/crying to get what he wants. I think we caved a few times not realized the damage we were doing and how HARD it is to break!

HelLO terrible twos.

Lisa - posted on 08/25/2009

I have a 20 month old daughter and she doesn't talk at all! I mean she has said words before but for a while now all she does is grunts and point no words. I am also VERY worried about this and was told by her dr. that she does this because she knows she can get what she wants by only grunting and pointing.. but the normal 2 yr old should be saying up to 50 words so we are getting a second opinion done!

Alicia - posted on 08/23/2009

mine jabbers away too in his own special language. I try teaching him words and he has no down good, but I taught him apple and now he jus goes around calling everything apple he jabbers constantly and even talks on the phone in this jabberish language for hrs. My doctor told me not to worry but a nurse I had spoke with wanted me to take my son to see a speech therapist, but I'm going to wait till he is 2. He points to his nose and says it (not to good it sounds kinda like no) but thats about it and he says mama but im not sure if he gets what it means or who it is.

Louise - posted on 08/19/2009

I agree with the suggestions on here with the books. I have read to my son since he was really small and I talk to him about what is happening on the page. I'm amazed at what he's picked up! Although I'm not a Welsh-speaker myself, living in North Wales means that he will have to speak Welsh when he is at school, so we've been reading him bilingual books and he's starting to pick up words from them too! Most of what he says are single sylable words, but whenhe sits and looks through the books himself and can tell us what is on the page without us asking we know he's on the right track. Problem is at the moment his favourite word is "No"! lol. Make sure you describe what you're doing throughout the day as well. As mudane as "Mummy is just putting the clothes in the washer. Now I'm putting the powder in..." sounds to us it's all helping his speech. Many of my ds's first words were actually animal noises as they were the sorts of games we played! Just try to make learning fun :oD

La - posted on 08/18/2009

Don't feel bad my daughter who is almost 20 months doesn't talk at all. She babbles and does some jabbering. My Dr. said don't worry b/c she is the baby of the family she probably want start talking until they stop talking for her.

Vicky - posted on 08/18/2009

my little girl is 20 months and can say lots of things but also talks a lot of jibberish too! she didn't walk til she was 14 months though! they have such a lot to learn i wouldn't worry as long as he seems to be understanding and obeying simple commands he is obviously understanding what u say! i think reading lots of simple books really helps! some other tips i have heard is that keep talking to them all the time, tell them what you are doing, where they're going what u can see, i.e. trees etc. also singing simple nursery rhymes and letting them fill in some of the gaps helps!

Denise - posted on 08/17/2009

No worries! My son uses jibber jabber all day. He does say actual words also, but mostly he comes up to his and talks jibberish thinking he is having a conversation with us. Its completely normal. This is how they develop vocabulary. I read up a lot on developmental milestones in books, so that's where I get my info (hopefully they're right!). So far seems perfectly normal!!! And your son will pick up on actual words. Mine says about 30 words, but unless you're with him all the time, it would be hard to understand what he means. :)

Erin - posted on 08/14/2009

I think it depends if he is an only child or has a sibling too. My 19 month old is saying a couple of words but she also has two older siblings. But she is so smart and understands pretty much everything i say so I'm not worried about the lack of words yet.

Jen - posted on 08/12/2009

The average amount of words is 4-6 by 18 months. However, that is the average so some kids are above that and others below. I wouldn't be too concerned until he turns 2. If he's still talking jibberish at 2 with less than 10 or so understandable words, I'd look into early intervention.

I suggest looking at some touch and feel books with him. They only have one picture on a page that you can teach him. Encourage him to say the picture and cheer like crazy whenever he says something close to the word you're trying to get him to say. "ball" was my daughter's first word and it's in a lot of books so I'm guessing a lot of people think it's easy to learn lol :)

I have the opposite problem from you, I have run out of appropriate words to teach my daughter. lol :)

Good luck. Just keep working with him and he'll be fine.

Alissa - posted on 08/11/2009

Mine's a little slow in the jabber stage also. He has his words: shoes, eye, hey, and the ever so popular see that and I see (just means look:), but he's nowhere near some of the other cute little talkers I see his age. He doesn't even say mama!!!



I'm betting your son probably has words gestures where you know what he means, and as long as you see progression in his speach patterns, I wouldn't worry. For instance, I was freakin out for a while because babycenter.com said at 18 mo.s your kid probably knows like, 20 words. It doesn't say that anymore, but at the time I was freakin out a little because my son knew like, 2 words. I noticed in the last month his jibberish seems to be evolving in to a more, uh, sophisticated jibberish, so I'm not going to make an oppointment with any speech therapists just yet:D



Some little bugars just want to take there time, it seems.

Sandra - posted on 08/11/2009

Got similar problem, Katie who is 19 months understands LOADS, babbles lots but says very few words that we can understand. Health visiter has said not to worry as she is understanding but it still plays on my mind. She still gets her point accross!