Vocabulary 16 Month Old

[breezyleigh]

Does anyone have any creative ways to get a 16 month old to use the vocabulary she already has more often?

My 16 month old DD has over a 20 word vocabulary, consisting of: hi, mom, daddy, dog, bye, i, do, me, what's, that, go, been, ready, grampa, nana, ball, bubble, GG (for her Great Grandmother), Bob Bob (for SpongeBob), one, three, five, and Bart. When she really wants to get something across she will string a couple words together, like "Me go," the other day in the car when I asked her if she was ready, she said "I been ready," (not something that sounded like it, but clearly...possibly having heard me or someone else respond in that way), and her favorite is, "What's that," as she points. The problem is, though, I'm not sure really how well she knows this vocabulary for sure because oftentimes she will use things only when she really wants to for a purpose. I want to encourage her to use words more often, but I want her to enjoy it and have fun with it. She's quite stubborn, so I would appreciate any ideas anyone has!

[Rlin]

Just talk to her all day everyday about everything you do and see. Ask questions, wait a little for an answer, then answer it yourself. And in a while you will get the answers from her.

(example getting groceries, what fruit should we get? pause Apples? pause You like apples don't you? Yes, we'll get some apples etc)

[whatsnextmom]

This is totally normal and I wouldn't push it. Her language will develop at it's own pace without anything special from you. Just continue to talk to her, read to her and let her figure it out on her own. Plus, look at the list you gave. How is she really supposed to use "been" more... particularly when she doesn't have the vocab yet to attach it to anything but "I" and "ready." It's also probable, she doesn't know that "been" is it's own word. Often tots pick up phrases and only use them in that context as if it's a single word. She will figure it out but time is all she needs.

[loraxc]

I don't think you need to worry. She has a good vocabulary and is learning all the time. Just talk to her a lot and respond to her sounds and words.

[Holiztic]

She's doing things in her own time, which is the way it is supposed to be, just let her go with it. I really believe children switch between working on mental pursuits, physical ones, spiritual ones, etc. So maybe she's going through a growth spurt of some kind other other than vocabulary right now.

I agree that just talking to her, talk around her, read to her, etc. is all anyone ever need to do with a normally-developing baby/toddler to encourage language.

[breezyleigh]

Thanks, Rlin. We do that a lot, so it will be one thing I keep doing. I've always fostered independence and choice when possible with her, too, from very early on, like letting her choose between two outfits, between two different things for dinner, etc. Of course she usually grabs or points. We also do nature/neighborhood walks and I ask her to find different things, I answer her what's that questions. It was nice last night at the pediatrics' office. I was distracting her (poor kid has a bum throat), and we played I spy. She pointed to different things when I used their names (like I spy with my little eye, a round clock), so I tried, "something BIG and orange," and she pointed to the big, orange door. I'll tell you what: Children are such amazing little people and it's so awesome to see how much they know, understand, and can do.

[breezyleigh]

She definitely has, Holiztic. She was a bit behind in her gross motor skills a few months ago and is now far ahead, so she's been working on those skills, instead. I just don't want to get too overly excited, but she just picks things up so quickly...and only when she wants to.

[HeatherB]

Moving over to Toddler Years for more input.

[physmom]

I can be really frustrating when your toddler knows words but is not really speaking yet! We've definitely BTDT. She had quite a few words at 12 months but just would use them a handful of times or every now and then, definitely not consistently. At about 14 months she found an old signing book and then she really took off with signing (and sort of put speaking aside for awhile). We figured at least we could communicate with her, even though signing was limited (due to my own limited abilities). However, it was a good bridge between the time when she had words but wasn't speaking to now when she is actually speaking more.

[breezyleigh]

Thank you for moving it, Heather. Phys--yes, it has been frustrating. Dd's gotten much better with things and is saying a lot, anymore, with consistency, and seems to be on the verge of flooding us with speech, soon. She's seemed to have been working more on her motor skills, apparently, as though she is just approaching 17 months, she's catching and throwing a ball, using a slide by herself (climbing, positioning herself, and going down it ), doing very well with writing utensils, can feed herself well with a fork and a spoon, and an array of other things. She just seems to like to perfect things before really showing if she can do them or not. I see her trying a lot on her own when she thinks we aren't looking and when she wakes up from naps/in the morning, I can hear her over the baby monitor trying to say different words with some small successes, when she thinks I'm not listening. It's interesting.

[shnitzel]

Can she really choose between 2 things?
My 16 month old DD doesn't seem to be able to get that yet, if I ask her which one she wants she always picks both no matter what I am asking about.

Other than that your DD sounds just like mine developmentally, DD is much more into her motor skills and less into her verbal skills and is timid about using words. She also has about 20 words but she will only use them randomly but her motor skills are very impressive.
It's funny because DH and I both spoke early and our family is always surprised that she isn't jabbering in sentences yet, but they really are their own little people with their own interests and abilities.

[jellybeanandkids]

My DD is also 16 months, and while she has quite a lot of words, she only seems to use them when she wants to. I just talk to her, and and answer for her the way a PP mentioned. I'm sure she will use the words more when she is ready.

She also calls Spongebob Bob Bob, btw. Thanks to the 8-year old brother.

[crunchy_mommy]

Something DS LOVES to do is "fill in the blank"... It also helps minimize tantrums some because he winds up thinking it was his idea to do something (not sure if that makes sense? lol) OK so think of things you say every day/consistently. For ex., when DS wakes up, after a few minutes, I always tell him it's time for a diaper. So one day I started saying, "Now it's time for you to get a new _____" and he'd chime in "DIAPER!" Or I'll tell him we're going to the playground & we'lll get in the car & as I'm buckling him in, I'll say, "We're going to the _____" and he'll say "PLAYGROUND!"

I find if I ask him, "What do you want?" or something like that, I only have about 50% success rate getting a real answer out of him. But if I rephrase it to a fill-in-the-blank sentence, "You want a ____", he nearly always gives me an answer. We do the same thing when we read favorite books or sing songs, I will stop mid-sentence to let him say the next word or two. He loves our little game!! He was already very verbal so I don't know exactly how well it would work with a less verbal child but it's worth a try & I bet it would help a bit!

[breezyleigh]

Yep, she can choose between (or among) things. She knows for sure what she likes. I try to let her choose whenever I can. I let her choose among the four colors of trick or treat pumpkins, yesterday. She was so funny! She looked at one, then the next, the next, and the last, then grabbed the bright pink one. I also let her choose between two things for dinner. I just hold things up and she points to or takes one. I let her choose between two shirts or pairs of shoes (we did shoes, today) if we're getting her clothes, and she takes the one she wants. Another thing she will do to choose, or if she wants something in general, or if she wants to know what something is (I can usually tell by the situation), she will point and say, "dat!" We play a game with it when she's asking what things are. It's nothing elaborate, just her asking what they are with her point and dat and I tell her what it is and she ponders a moment and says it if she can/wants, and she moves onto the next thing. She loves lights and always has, so that's her latest word: "ight!" She can't quite get the "l" sound on it (though she uses the L in other words, but she has the idea.

Thanks for the ideas. I will try the fill in the blank thing with her. She knows what most things are (she will point to something when asked, "where is the...?" and we played a toddler version of, "I spy," one night in the doctors' office, where, for example, I said, "I spy, with my little eye, something BIG and orange," and she pointed to the door. She knows the basic things like what a triangle is and a circle and a square. She started identifying things by pointing when asked at around 9 months, so I know her understanding vocabulary is large, but I'm not sure quite how large until she starts spitting out words. She can't "say" most numbers, yet, but she will point to objects in her counting books and "count" them mostly with "da's," emphasizing the last number, up to 5. She's been able to say one, three, and five (not perfectly, but more like, "un," "ree," and "ive." ...and typing this makes me see a pattern, here, of missing first consonants...hmmm...