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Does my 17mo have a speach delay?

829 views 16 replies 14 participants last post by  khrys 
#1 ·
DS is 17mo and basically calls me: 'maaah', calls dh: 'paaah', grunts alot, says: 'oooh!' when something falls and can say the word "agua" which means water in spanish, when he's thirsty. He loves books and points at the pictures so that we can name the animals in the books. He also points when he wants something.

I have been trying to not get paranoid over this and so far I have been trusting that he will eventually begin to say more words -- when needed. We also have 2dds of ages 5yo and 3yo. They were much more verbal when they were his age. They even spoke in short sentences that were fairly clear to others.

People (everywhere) constantly comment on how short he is for his age. He fits into clothes that are the size of 9-12mo. Could it be a deficiancy in his diet? Or mine? He still nurses all the time.

Is there something I might be doing wrong? Help.
 
#2 ·
I'm no expert, but my 16 month old is the same way verbally. Mama, Dada and NONONONO! She does some signs and understands everything. Her older sister was much more verbal at this age. I have a handful of friends with babies 16, 17, 18 months old that are the same with language. I think as long as the receptive end is doing well, I'm going to try not to stress about it.
 
#3 ·
Have you tried teaching him sign language? My almost 17 month old has a very limited vocabulary, speech-wise, but uses sign language all the time.

The ped told us that if she is using words verbally to communicate to us and we understand their meaning (even if no one else does), then that counts as speech. And he said that sign language is a wonderful tool to help with her communication. We agree 100%.
 
#4 ·
My son is only 13 months so this is from first hand experience, but most boys I know don't really start talking until closer to 2 and 2.5 Have you tried teaching him sign. My son has abotu 16 signs and can communicate many things. I love it. I have heard and read and seen that girls develop much faster verbally.
Hang in there,
Sarah
 
#5 ·
My dd is 17 mos and similar. She says "Mama," "Dada," and "hereyogo" (which means give it to me, take this, and I want or I need X). She has two other words I can identify, which are "nah" (nose) and "DAAA" (dog). Then she just babbles a lot . . . seems to say whole sentences and look at me expectantly and I just have no clue what she's saying.


She's also on the smaller side (still can wear some 9 mo clothes and all her 12 mo clothes; 18 mo are pretty darn big on her). I don't think she has a speech delay; she seems bright otherwise and clearly understands a lot of what we say to her. She's also a very physically active child. I've read more than once that very physical babies/toddlers often have fewer words and speak more later, but seem to catch up in the end.

If you're still concerned, though, I would bring it up with your ped or family MD at your next appointment.
 
#6 ·
It's worth looking into, just to be safe. I am not an expert by any means, but my nephew had severe speech delays. Does your DS put vowels and consonants together regularly, or does he use mostly vowels? When he learns new words, does he mysteriously stop using words that he previously used? Does he choke a lot on food (a weird question, but indicates problems with muscles used in speech)? I'm sure there's more indicators, but I didn't get much sleep last night...

Many states have programs which offer help in diagnosing these types of things, most free of charge. See if the health department has a nurse that makes housecalls to assess development. My nephew got free speech therapy at the local elementary school when he was not even two years yet. My DD1, I thought, was speech delayed when she was 17 mos. By the time I made an appointment with the public health nurse and arranged a meeting, she was 18 mos old and saying nearly 300 words. So on the bright side, things can change really quickly and he may just be gearing up for a just language explosion!
 
#7 ·
At 18 months DS said 3 words (mama, dada, kitty) and none of them was very clear or easy to understand. We were talking with the ped about a speech evaluation but decided to wait another month. Well, one week after he turned 18 months his language exploded! He started saying a new word every day. It was amazing.

I think that boys do develop language skills later than girls. It added to my anxiety because DS's "friends" are all girls, and even the ones 5 months younger were speaking at a level way beyond him. But now a year later he is at the same level as them, it just took him a little longer to start!

That said, I think you should get a speech evaluation for your DS if you are really worried. It will have no bad effects on DS, so might as well be certain he is okay if it will ease your anxiety.
 
#9 ·
Is your family bilingual? Kids are often a little later with language development when learning two languages (or more) at once. If you are worried, it would be a good idea to get a speech language evaluation for him. You can ask his pediatrician for a referral or call your local regional center (if you don't know where that is, you can call the school district to help you). A specialist would help determine whether his overall communication skills are age appropriate. It's important to consider how well he understands language, and how well he's communicating nonverbally too. His language development could be fine, but if he needs some extra help, it's best to get it as soon as you can. Getting his hearing checked would be helpful too. (I'm a speech language pathologist and a mom).
 
#12 ·
He said "papa" and "mama" before, but now he rarely uses two syllable words. Now he only calls us by the uni-syllable version which is "maah and paah". He used to say "this" and point at my breast when he wanted to nurse but now he just starts grabbing and whining. He once said "teti teti teti teti teti" (which is what dds call my breasts) but I think he said this out of desperation because he was very hungry and sleepy and I wasn't noticing all the other signs he had given me, yk?

He doesn't babble a lot either. He usually grunts, screams, points and uses many vowels. None of that baby talk that sound like sentences in baby language.

He understands many things and he communicates through gestures and signs. It almost seems like he is just plain lazy to talk.
 
#13 ·
Does the speech regression correlate with anything, like timing of vaccinations or a big change, like a move or a new daycare? I think many toddlers go through some speech regression, forget certain words and learn new ones, etc. - but it may be helpful to think about whether you can connect it with something in particular that happened. My dd stopped speaking (she was babbling a lot prior) for about 3 wks at 7 mos when she got her first shots, DTaP and Hib. Not sure if there's any connection or not, particularly since we haven't tested the possibility by doing any further vaxing.
 
#14 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by kakies View Post
He said "papa" and "mama" before, but now he rarely uses two syllable words. Now he only calls us by the uni-syllable version which is "maah and paah". He used to say "this" and point at my breast when he wanted to nurse but now he just starts grabbing and whining. He once said "teti teti teti teti teti" (which is what dds call my breasts) but I think he said this out of desperation because he was very hungry and sleepy and I wasn't noticing all the other signs he had given me, yk?

He doesn't babble a lot either. He usually grunts, screams, points and uses many vowels. None of that baby talk that sound like sentences in baby language.

He understands many things and he communicates through gestures and signs. It almost seems like he is just plain lazy to talk.
Alex never really did the jargoning thing, either. Before she talked much, she'd babble in the car and places like that but it didn't sound like "baby language" at all (stuff like "bababagagaga"). Once she started talking, she'd use a nonsense sound as a verb sometimes like: Alex <nonsense> water. But I don't remember much that sounded like a long string of complicated syllables with appropriate pauses and inflections. Before she knew many words, she was actually pretty quiet. I don't think all normally talking toddlers go through the jargoning stage.
 
#15 ·
My 16 mo. old daughter doesn't babble a lot either. People often say wow, she's so quiet.
She choked on food for a longer time than other kids seemed to. I never knew that was a symptom of problems. I've only recently been able to let her have apple slices and whole crackers in the past couple months. We have her 15mo check up in about a week. (a little late) I'll see what the doc says. She has been trying to imitate me some when we read books. She can point to her eyes, ears, hair, hands, feet, nose, belly button, etc. The other day my DH asked her where the remote control was. We have two remotes and one had been lost for about 3 days. She went and got the one sitting on the floor. DH said, no where is the other one. She toddles off into the kitchen and fished it out of the back of one of the cabinets where she had stashed it! So we aren't worried about receptive language at all.
 
#16 ·
Just another vote to not worry for right now. I think IMHO as pp mention: bilingual kids are different, boys develop verbal skills on their own timeline, and it is important to consider what overall language skills the child has. The only situation I might be considered is if you don't think your son understands a lot of language or doesn't seem interested in communication -- but it doesn't seem to be what you are saying. Also, it seems I have heard that sometimes children with multiple older siblings often don't speak until late -- maybe in part because older siblings help communicate for the child and maybe because parents are better at anticipating what the baby needs. Have no idea if this is true.

My 17 mo ds also only says a few words, but I haven't gotten to worrying yet because I hear him trying to make new sounds all the time, he understands a lot of what I say to him (whether he listens is another issue
!), and he signs up a storm. I'm not saying it doesn't make me antsy when our friend's same age child says 25+ words, but I am resolved to not start worrying until he is 2 yo when I think lots of kids explode with language.

All that being said, I was a speech delayed kid and without intervention appear to have no problems finding words these days!
 
#17 ·
Does he also have any difficulties with eating? Eating and talking use a lot of the same muscles, so if they are both affected there could be oral motor issues (weak muscles, lack of coordination, something like that). If so, you can ask your doctor about it or call Early Intervention for an evaluation (they do free therapy through the school district).
 
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