Frustration with verbal communication?

TJ - posted on 12/28/2010

My son will be 16 months on the third and doesn't really have any words, although he babbles alot. He has recently started somewhat yelling when he wants something which is frustrating, I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on how to direct him better to tell him to tell us what he wants, if that makes sense.

Amanda - posted on 12/27/2010

I think it's great your child says three words. My son, who is just a couple of days from 15 months, really doesn't say ANY words. He says la, la a lot. I still don't know what it means. Sometimes he says da, da, but I don't actually think he means dada. Every once in a while he will say ma, ma, but I think that means YUM! Haha! He is my only child, so I don't have anyone to compare him too, which is probably a very good thing! :) I have been telling my son, who just points at things, that he has to tell me what he wants or he has to go get it himself. This is really helping me to keep my sanity-unless of course he wants keys or something out of reach! :) I know it's hard, but don't get frustrated!

Millie - posted on 12/22/2010

Every child is different, I remeber one of my son first 10 words included "lawnmower" at this age, This time round, my daughtercan say a range of.. mum, da, tigger, nana, bubble, no etc.. however nowhere near the same as my first. However... it's the little things I realise she understands like (nappy change, ta, grab your handbag, pick it up etc) She just has started signing for "All gone, and signs for eat and drink". I've also noticed that even though she may not speak much she is very observent.. can open glad bag packet of cracker, etc where my son who could speak would be biting the bag open.
Hang in there and be patient.
The only thing i can suggest nis kepping talking to her, and talk to her as you would an adult (limit the baby talk) and use BIG descriptive words.. like ENORMAS, FANTASIC, etc... they love it.
Children are like sponges more so between the ages or 0-6years make the most of it and take the advantage to play and make the most of every learning oppertunity

Ruby - posted on 12/21/2010

I have 2 boys that were born in September. My youngest (15 months) only says a few words and thinks the sound of a quack he learned from the duck in our backyard (not pets) is hilarious.
However, my 5 year old could run off words and letters on command at 15 months; I thought it was so cute and "smart"; fast forward to the present, he is incapable of shutting his mouth. He a vocabulary that exceeds his age and academically he is at a 1st-2nd grade level, but there is absolutely no quiet time with this one. This not the normal 5 year old banter. My 15 month is typically seen pushing my 5 year old towards his room ( sometimes closing the door) and comes back to me.
I said all that to say, your child is silently showing you he understands, and that he probably enjoy the quietness or the phonetic sounds he can make. From what I gather from your post, he is developing at a normal pace. So enjoy the "Nat Nat" and join in by adding your own silly sounds.
Good luck!

Kayla - posted on 12/20/2010

Our son was 2 before he started "talking". We got him in to Speech Therapy. Honestly, it did nothing for him. It maybe gave us a few new ideas... none of which worked. He has been coming into it all in his own time. Im also a stay at home mom and understand the frustration, trust me. The one thing that made me feel very confident that he would come around in his own time was being told that his physical capabilities were that of a 4-5 yr old at 2 yrs old. Even now (he will be 3 next month) he has a limited vocab. but he will copy alot of what we say then never use it again. Some days I think he uses it as a way to say that mom controls his daily activities... bath time, bed time, nap time, leaving the house, leaving the part, etc... so he wants to feel that he's in control of something in his life.
Maybe I'm wrong, but thats how I feel about it.

Amy - posted on 12/20/2010

my son is 15 months old and says more, ball, mum, daddy and car. he babbles ALOT so he might be saying other words i just havnt picked up on them tho. everything is a ball at the moment tho lol..

Jessica - posted on 12/19/2010

There is such a wide range of normal for language, as long as she has several sounds and a couple words, she's probably ok. If you're really worried about it, you can contact Early Childhood Intervention for a Speech Evaluation, I know lots of kids who get speech therapy and do very well.

My son is at the other end of the spectrum, 15 months and probably has 75-100 words/sounds. We did start sign language very early, around 6 months, I highly recommend the Baby Signing Time DVDs, if you watch them with the baby, you can learn the signs too. The songs are really catchy, so she would probably love watching them

Joey - posted on 12/18/2010

well first off it is good she is talking. My daughters cousin is 17 months old and he doesn't talk he just points. My daughter says the basic words, ball, no, mom, baby, mine, hot, bye-bye and hi. Congrats on being a stay at home mom. Do you think that she doesn't feel she has to talk because her older brother may do all her talking for her. I heard this happens sometimes with younger children because they have someone there who talking for them.

Sherry - posted on 12/18/2010

I was told it's OK if babies take a while to talk and that once they start talking, parents wish they'd stop. LOL! My son (9/10/09 doesn't say much yet either. His only "real" word so far is "yes" but when he's not happy with something, no matter how small, he says "Nang, nang, nang".

Jessica - posted on 12/18/2010

my daughter will be 15 on christmas day and she says mama, dada, book,cup, milk, juice, num num,(for food) wawa (when she is thirsty) hi bye papa, puppy, cat,go, no and a lot of baby talk but i just keep talking to her and when she points at something i tell her what it is but she is eager to learn. oh and she says night night

Tranda - posted on 12/17/2010

My daughter did not talk when she was little either... I had her tested for speech, she had a 40% delay cause she refused to talk because she is OCD. If she could not say it perfect, she wasn't going to say it at all. I didn't know that babies could be OCD. We worked with the theropist every other week, but did most it on our own. We would sit for hours with picture books, my first dictionary type. She did not do much at first, but after a few weeks she did start trying more. Within six months we were done with speech.
I can totally understand your frustation; both of my boys are talkers! I think all kids have their frustrated traits;-) Right now I am dealing with the over active baby that destroys everything that the others leave out! lol
Good luck!

Lisa - posted on 12/15/2010

I am right there with you! I did a blog post about this just the other day http://lopacinskidziecko.blogspot.com/20...
I also wonder why my son isn't talking! Was it something I did? Is there an issue?

Mandy - posted on 12/14/2010

My son (15 mos as well) used to call EVERYTHING and EVERYONE "da da" and it was sooooooooooo frusterating.. i too would try and teach him new words and he would reply"dada" he eventually stopped and has recently been trying to say new words.. its just a waiting game with them. My best friends daughter can pretty much repeat any word you say to her and my son barly knows 5 words. I too was very worried but after being reassured by my doctor he is fine, im sure its the same case with your daughter. Just hang it and keep trying she eventually will stop lol.

Melissa - posted on 12/14/2010

sign language is FANTASTIC!! My daughter, 15 months, can sign more, all done, food, drink, sleep, please, and I'm teaching her toilet. It helps so much! Otherwise I get confused as to what she's actually wanting. Just a few minutes ago, she came up to me and signed sleep, so I put her down to bed and she went straight to sleep! No hassles.
At this age they have no real way of communicating what they want, and even sometimes they get frustrated because what the know they want but can't tell you. I strongly suggest starting sign language, even as early at 6 months, asking if they need more milk and signing 'sleep' for when you put them to bed. My daughter says thank you, so luckily that's one less thing to sign, but I highly recommend it - children pick up on the learning SO quickly! we only taught our daughter please just over a day ago, and she's already using it.
good luck! don't get too frustrated :) It's not her fault (or yours, for that fact), just be patient.

Aicha - posted on 12/14/2010

my daughter knows about 20 words in Arabic and 40 in English when I offer her food I ask her if she wants bread or a apple I talk to her all day long as I am a stay at home mom and when her dad is home he talks to her in Arabic and she responds to both

Crystal - posted on 12/14/2010

It seems that over night my daughter has decided to talk.. SHe repeats lots of words now. She has added Grammy, Pappy, cat, dog, juice, love you, bye bye, niight night, and a few more.. Guess now we really need to watch our words carefully..

Anna - posted on 12/11/2010

i was really worried about my daughter and her vocabulary level. she is my first and i didnt know what to expect. she went through a phase of saying "mama" and "papa" but that is long over, now she only waves and says "bye bye" when she sees someone leave, or we walk out a door lol and she also says "klaa" {meaning finished}. she babbles baby talk all the time though. at her one year check up the doctor said as long as she has a wide range of sounds i shouldnt worry about actual words.

Afton - posted on 12/08/2010

my son is a grunter lol from about 8-12 months all he said was dad, now he'll only say mom...can't get him to say dad no matter what. He has his different grunts for yes and no and up lol he will say ba for bath, and na for nap but nothing really understandable. I'm not too worried though because he understands everything you say to him, if you ask to change his diaper he'll run to his change table and that sort of thing, they'll talk when they're ready :)

Alecia - posted on 12/07/2010

my daughter only says mama, dada, cat, hot, and papa. but she knows signs for eat, drink, milk, play, baby, snow and flowers. she LOVES learning new signs, but will only sign when she wants (which is pretty often, especially when she wants something.) the signs give them a way to communicate before they really have the ability to say all those different words. she still tries to speak, signs are not going to keep them from speaking. they are just useful!!

Noreen - posted on 12/06/2010

She is only 14/15 months. She might be a observer, which is REALLY good! My 14month old (9/23) doesn't say anything but "no" every great once in awhile, and "mamamamamam" when she wants me. I am not pushing it. I have 2 older children, one who was talking in 2 word sentences at 18months, and another who didn't talk until he was 20months but said WAY more then my older one who was talking a lot at this age.



We taught Abby how to sign. She knows how to sign and she understands everyhing I say and sign, but has decided that she doesn't want to sign back. They are still babies! Don't rush them. :)

Michelle - posted on 12/06/2010

I have a 15 month old. She knows a couple signs how to wave hi and bye , the only words she says are baba for bottle, bubu for brother and thank you. EVERYTHING else is E, E. or a shake of the head for yes and no. I felt like my son what talking alot more but when I looked in his baby book he was about the same. I try to show her diff. ways to communicate and some she gets and some not so much. I have two ten year olds and I wish They would forget how to talk for a day or two;) Don't worry before long she have a large vocab.

Rebecca - posted on 12/05/2010

From what I've heard that at 15 months 3 words is fine! My daughter doesn't say more than two words (I think) but she uses sign language and she know's about 6signs which is really helpful. I'd say the best thing to do is try not get frustrated at her as it might stress her out and she won't want to try say the words. Maybe look at it from another angle, enjoy her using her 'baby' language, because it won't be there for long!