Is this normal toddler speech development?

[redvlagrl]

My DD is 16 months old and has quite a few words (not worried at all about the number of words she has) and a lot of animal sounds. She also understands a lot of verbal instructions ("get your octopus", "where's the ball" etc).

Some of her words are true approximations of the proper pronunciation - "guck" = truck or "doe" = door. For multi syllabic words she often has the right number of syllables even if the sounds are incorrect - "bff-oom" = bathroom, "dzz-dzz" = teddy

However some of her words seem to bear no resemblance to the actual word. For example we only just figured out that "ow?" = water. Others are a bit closer but really not that close - "gah!" = dog (she says "dadda" very clearly so it's not the D that's the problem).

Is it odd that some of her words really aren't words at all but seemingly random sounds? Her hearing doesn't seem to be a problem as she hears distance sounds very well (she will woof when there is a very distant dog barking). I try and reinforce the proper pronunciation after she says a word ("yes, that's a DOG, isn't it?" or "that's right, the WATER is in the bath"), but it doesn't seem to help. Should I be worried?

Thanks

[crunchy_mommy]

I think it's normal. In fact, I think *part* (though only part!) of the reason some kids seem to speak way more words than others is that their parents are better at picking up on the approximations (whereas other parents are looking for the exact pronunciations)... My DS is a bit younger (12mo)... He says about 20 words. Some of the pronunciation is nearly perfect (hat, bye-bye, clap) and others are off ("iggy" for piggies, "ba" for ball, "key" for kitty) even though I know he can say all the sounds in each word. I think part of it too is the parents' pronunciation. DH always says, "Come on" really really fast so DS says, "gom" when he says it. DH & I both tend to mumble a bit, so we do what you're doing sometimes & try to reinforce the proper pronunciation, "Yes that's a KITTY!"

I really do think it's normal, most of the kids age 1-3 that I've tried to talk to (besides my own) sound like they are speaking a foreign language to me (but their parents can understand the words just fine since they're used to the approximations).

[Storm Bride]

The examples you gave of words that are really different ("water" and "dog) are both words she's probably heard many, many times, from a very early age. is that true of all the words she doesn't sound out even approximately correctly?

IME, toddlers will sometimes have sounds that they've used from a very early age that they keep using. I think what happens is that they hit on something with only a very tiny relation to the actual sound they're looking for (eg. your dd's sound for "dog" does include the "g" sound), and are understood - eventually. They then just continue to use that sound, even while learning other words more accurately. I've seen it happen with a lot of kids - not all of them, but a lot. It doesn't sound to me as though there's anything to worry about, especially as she does sound a lot of words very close to their actual sound.

My ds2 didn't say anything at all at 16 months. His vocabulary when he turned two was about 2 words. At 27 months, he gave me about 100 words, unasked for, in the space of a day. He's just fine now. Your dd is way ahead of that!

[moaningminny]

Sounds perfectly normal to me. DD 1 called milk "go" for the longest time. We have no idea why, but she stopped calling it that at around 2 years old.

[claddaghmom]

Sounds normal. They seem to make their own words up sometimes. My sister is 5 and to this day still calls milk "ump." And she is reading and writing so... lol

[redvlagrl]

Thank you for the great (and speedy!) responses. I had figured that I was being a little paranoid as it's not across the board, and like I say, I'm not worried about lack of words.

crunchy mommy - you do have an excellent point about pronunciation/accent. I have an Aussie accent so pronounce some of my words differently and my vowels are different to DH's. So perhaps this is part of it (when I say door, nth americans hear me say "doe")

Storm Bride - you also have a really excellent point about the frequency in which we use words. Who knows - maybe she has been saying water for ages but we have only just clued in.

This gives me lots to think about and thank you for reassuring me!

[LynnS6]

Totally and completely normal. It's my field. If she's still doing it when she's 4-5, then you can worry. Under 2? Nope.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mommy

I think it's normal. In fact, I think *part* (though only part!) of the reason some kids seem to speak way more words than others is that their parents are better at picking up on the approximations (whereas other parents are looking for the exact pronunciations)...

It's amazing how many words Lina knows now that she has the signs so that I have any idea what she's getting at. (Sooooo jealous of the kids who got like 90 signs at a year, as seem to be mentioned anytime a signing thread is posted in LWAB.)

[TiredX2]

Moved to Toddlers

[LadyCatherine185]

Originally Posted by moaningminny

Sounds perfectly normal to me. DD 1 called milk "go" for the longest time. We have no idea why, but she stopped calling it that at around 2 years old.

Liam says "guh guh" for milk! i think because we called it "milka milka" and the "g" sound is replacing the "lk" sound.... funny to see another baby calling it a similar name!

He also has a lot of real words, and a lot of "made up" ones. Around 100 words total.. I think it's pretty normal at this age, though I'm wondering when it will clear up....

ETA: We actually sat down last night and wrote down DS's words.. we came up with 120! I thought it was 50, so I had to edit... I had no idea!

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by sapphire_chan

It's amazing how many words Lina knows now that she has the signs so that I have any idea what she's getting at. (Sooooo jealous of the kids who got like 90 signs at a year, as seem to be mentioned anytime a signing thread is posted in LWAB.)

I remember going online to brag b/c DD learned her 5th sign.

Bad idea!

[Kim919]

My DD is also 16 months and that post could have been written about her. Exact identical point of development. You described very well the whole "correct # of sylables" but wrong sounds thing. My thought is that its perfectly normal. sometimes it confuses other people. she says "ba-ba" and people get her a drink because they think she wants a bottle, but that is what she calls our dog (Maebell.) "duck" and "dog" and "yuck" all sound similar. "hot" "hat" and "cat" are similar. "dada" and "david" sound similar, "alex" is just "xxx" sound, love you is "vo-vu," elephant is "ef-ef-tt". and so on. I think it just takes time to get it all figured out.

[Nature]

My son is almost 26 months old and this post sounds exactly like his speech. I am concerned. He'll be having a speech evaluation this week.

[LadyCatherine185]

Originally Posted by Nature

My son is almost 26 months old and this post sounds exactly like his speech. I am concerned. He'll be having a speech evaluation this week.

at our 18 month well baby visit, our ped said that at age 2 they should have around 50 words, and about half of them should be easily understood. you are probably just fine!

[Everrgreen]

I'm one of those moms who did not realize that my DS was in fact saying words, but they don't sound exactly like the word, so I wasn't counting it My parents are the ones who pointed out to me some of the words he was saying: he makes the k sound for 'cat', basically it's just 'kuh', he also said 'ah-da' for 'all done' the other day (I totally didn't get it, my mom pointed it out), and now that I've clued into how new words can sound, I noticed he was saying 'duck' too ('dah'). I'm trying to be more observant

I've been signing with him for about 2 months now, and the only thing he has signed back is 'milk' which he does WHILE he's nursing not to ask to nurse. But he does understand other signs/words (more, all done, eat/food) - he will smile for yes or shake his head for no.

[sapphire_chan]

Gillian, that's where we were at about the same time. Now that you can pick up some words and now that he's using signs at all, you'll probably get more words and he'll use more signs faster and faster.


For us "ub" means down and "dahmp" means up.

[Ayame87]

My son does that.. a lot. He also makes a lot of animal sounds. He's 19 months old, I'd say he probably has at least 30 words and sounds total. He does a little signing of his own, when he wants to play "drive" in his car he will roll his hands.. how he put that together I have no clue. He also rolls his lips "brum-brum" haha. cute!

[Nature]

Originally Posted by LadyCatherine185

at our 18 month well baby visit, our ped said that at age 2 they should have around 50 words, and about half of them should be easily understood. you are probably just fine!

Just following up to what I wrote; Early Intervention came the other day and said that he was in the 98 percentile for receptive language, but in the 4th for expressive language. Though technically he just squeaks by as "ok" on their charts and not in need..they are qualifying him for services based on the discrepancy between the two, the fact that he isn't using words to communicate well, obvious sensory issues, and some question about his feeding/oral motor abilities. They said their clinical impression was that he was in need of some help.

[Amanda Williams]

Originally Posted by Nature

Just following up to what I wrote; Early Intervention came the other day and said that he was in the 98 percentile for receptive language, but in the 4th for expressive language. Though technically he just squeaks by as "ok" on their charts and not in need..they are qualifying him for services based on the discrepancy between the two, the fact that he isn't using words to communicate well, obvious sensory issues, and some question about his feeding/oral motor abilities. They said their clinical impression was that he was in need of some help.

My dd, Nov. 2007, qualified for Early Intervention in Feb.
I bought the two Baby Babble CDs that Amazon sells and let her watch them each once a day. I have been using 1-2 words phrases with her and she has FLOURISHED! The last time the EI gal came, she said our Molly will not need them after one more month.

Seriously, those DVDs are amazing! Check them out if you can.

Amanda