BTDT. i looked up all that i could find to read on the topic, and i wasn't worried, b/c she was on track with everything else (besides not talking). it went on until she was 2 and a half years old. (she pointed, etc., and we (she and i) had our own little "sign language" system going.
long story short, right around 2 and a half, she started talking, went to sentences within a week, and now, at 3 years 9 months, she has an incredible gift for language. people are always commenting to me about what a good speaker she is, strangers ask me/tell me, "she must have been an early talker." i tell them, no, quite the contrary, she was a late talker.
and she was, and still is, a highly energetic child. she turned from tummy to back when she was 13 *days* old, walked at 10 months.
i now have an infant son, who seems to babble and "talk" to me more than DD did at his age, and even if he turns out to be a late talker, i'm not going to worry about it like i did with my first.
yes, sometimes not talking can be a sign of a more serious underlying problem that can benefit from speech therapy.
other times, though, i think (my child for instance) was just assimilating all the words and language elements she experienced, and taking her time putting it all together so that when she started to speak, she was a pro from the get-go.
ps: i always used "regualar" language with her, not dummied down to a child's level. i spoke to her like i would speak to an adult, or at least i stated things twice, once on the "higher" level of speaking and the second time a more basic explanation. don't know if this could be part of what took her so long to speak, and the subsequent highly developed vocabulary?
