Signing and speech delay?

[paranoidprego]

My dd turned 14 months today.  She has been signing since 8 months or so (i can't remember when it all started).  She says "dada" on command.  she will sometimes say "mama" when i ask her to (but not often).  there has been a few times that she says mama when crying for me.  she understands EVERYTHING i say to her and will follow commands well.  she has the habit of kinda grunting when she wants something, like "ah, ah, ah" over and over again until she gets what she wants - this is getting quite annoying - and if she knows the sign for what she wants, she will say ah, ah, ah as well.  she was an early walker (8 months). 

my dh keeps asking when we should be worried about if her speech is delayed.  our other two children signed too, but I started it later with them (around 1 year).  i can't remember what they were saying at this age, but I think it was more than my dd.  the 2 older children are VERY verbal and speak like little adults now at ages 3 and 5. 

should i be concerned?  

[healthy momma]

Not IMO. :-) Every child develops differently. If you had said that her comprehension level seemed to be low than I might say differently. Just give her time. I was a second child with a VERY chatty older sister and I just didn't feel the need to talk. I talked late and very little when I was young but I make up for it now. ;-) And my DS used signs (not all that many but some) from an early age and truly didn't start talking until after 2. Now he's a little over 2.5 and is closer to other kids his age but he is still my "man of few words." I just look for fairly regular progression and as long as I'm seeing that and he isn't bothered by his level of communication then I'm a happy mamma. 

[peainthepod]

As far as I know, there's no evidence that signing delays speech.

My son didn't really start talking until 23-24 months. The ability to sign before that kept his tantruming and meltdowns to a minimum because he wasn't in a constant state of frustration at not being understood. I did briefly worry that he was "delayed", but he had a language explosion around his second birthday and my worries evaporated. In reality, we think signing helped him far more than it could have hurt him. When he did start talking, it was almost immediately in complete, understandable sentences.

14 months is very early to be concerned about speech IMHO. I wouldn't stress too much quite yet.

[beebalmmama]

We started signing with ds1 when he was 9 months. He picked up on it at around 12 months and started signing pretty consistenly. I don't remember exactly when we tapered off but it seems like somewhere between 15-18 months his speech took off that we got kind of lazy about signing.

I've been signing with ds 2 (14 months as well) since about 8 months. He was such a quiet baby that I thought I would help his communication skills by getting the signing going. He "knows" about 6 signs BUT he just won't do them. He's done them enough times that I know he knows what it is. But for whatever reason is not doing them. We just keep reinforcing it and repeating. He is more verbabl now but probably a lot of babble that most 8-10 month olds do. He is communicating in other ways though and seems to understand a lot so I'm not worried at all. He also was a somewhat early walker at 11 months and his motor skills are good.

I agree with peainthepod that signing can only help.

[pbjmama]

I think alot of 3rd, 4th, etc children speak less than their older sibs because their sibs often speak for them! In your case, I would not worry at all. Many children don't even have 1 word before 18 months. 

[mckittre]

Certainly seems very early to worry.  My son had 0 words at 13 months, about 7 at 14 months (he did quite a few signs, as well).  After that he took off, and was soon a bit ahead for his age.  Short sentences at 17 months, now he's 2 and talks in paragraphs. 

[LiLStar]

At 17 months, ds had NO words, except maybe dada. I don't think he even said mama. He DID use over 30 signs though.  Right around 18 months he started talking like crazy. There's a huge range of normal, and you know those charts they use to determine how many words a toddler "should" be saying at different ages? Signs count! Think of it this way. ASL is a legitimate language. Its just as valid a language as English, Spanish, or French or any other language! The language part of her brain clearly works, and works beautifully. You mention she understands everything you say. Her receptive language skills are excellent. She simply chooses to express herself mostly through ASL at this time. Thats fine :) In a few weeks or months, she'll be a chatter box like your other two. "Communication does not delay communication"

[physmom]

Like PP's I think it's too early to worry about a speech delay, all kids are different..

As for the "ah ah ah" I can really relate to that!  DD did that too while signing (she signed a lot until about 1.5 years old when her speech took off) and she used to say "eh eh eh" the entire time she was signing, which drove me NUTS! Then I realized that whenever I was signing to her I was speaking at the same time.  She was just imitating me but at that point she could verbalize what she wanted to say (or not at least at the same speed as her hands could move) so I started switching things up more.  Sometimes I would just speak to her, sometimes I would just sign to her and sometimes I would do both.  She realized she didn't have to "talk" the entire time she was signing and stopped making the annoying "eh eh eh" noise!

[SpottedFoxx]

Studies have shown that signing increases a child's ability to speak.  Remember - signing IS language.   I agree that 14 months is too early to be concerned.  My son didn't say Mama till he was 27 months old - he does have a language delay.   Looking back (and spending time with my friend's babies now), he was never a very verbal baby.  He didn't coo or nonsense talk at all.  I'd say give it a few more months and then, if you are still worries, speak to your pediatrician.   Here is a milestone chart - remember - it's a guideline not a hard and fast rule so if it says your child should be saying 20 words and she's saying 19 - I wouldn't worry too much :)  http://www.ldonline.org/article/6313