OT: when do kids start talking??

[belle&beast]

wow, now I feel like it was a bad idea to even ask this. I was hoping to here other people say "yeah, that is normal, my ds or dd didn't talk until 20 mos. or didn't talk until xyz etc." I wasn't expecting so many responses telling me that there is probably something wrong with my son. Now I am totally freaked out about it.

I apologize if I am someone who freaked you out! I would never mean to! There is a wide range of average and your son could very well be in that range. As a professional, it is my experience that the earlier we can work with a child, the faster the progress and the shorter the time in therapy. It will also reduce the tantrums because he will be able to communicate his wants and needs. From my experience as a mom, 18 months is a tough time for kids- not quite a baby, not really very big and they want some independence. Hang in there and do what you feel is right- you are his mom and you know him best.

 

[HopperFan]

DSS#1 is handicapped and considered severe by most. But at 12 mos he had lots of words and by 18 mos probably close to 50. Guess what, at 22 YEARS old he hasn't progressed beyomd 18-22 mos. and that is with 22 years of speech therapy, some years intense. He was my early talker

DS#2 had hardly a word when it started to emerge at age 2, and it wasn't because his brother talked over him. At age 4 the preschool's annual speech eval by ST wrote a report that he was behind, had sound issues and needed therapy immediately to correct asap. I said "no thanks, he is just 4 trying to use big words". At 17 he doesn't shut up, has no speech impairment and is perfectly fine.

DD#1 decided to begin speaking very young and used huge words. But many she pronounced wrong. I had someone look at her and they said she has vocab way beyond her sound capability. She'll be fine. At age 13 she is just fine and also a continual talker.

I've been involved with multiple therapies/therapists for 22 years and no way at age 18 mos would I worry yet. Here is something to try. Our many speech therapists we have had all said it is much easier to sing than talk. I know my DS can sing very well. See if you can get him to sing along with some songs. And if he is responding and understanding all you say, I would just take a wait and see approach.

Don't get freaked out !

 

[all4fun]

Well, I'm in the "go ahead and get an evaluation done" camp. If it puts your mind at ease then it's time well spent. If there is something that needs to be done, better addressed earlier than later, IMO.

My ds was very premature and has speech delays which we are currently working on both through our HMO and EI. Since we started S/T his speech is dramatically improving. DS will be three next month. I simply don't want him to be farther behind than he absolutely has to be when he starts school so I'm glad we're addressing this now rather than after he's starting the first grade, or Kindergarten even.

I also have a friend who's ds was talking at three but you couldn't understand most of what he said. They got him evaluated and found out that he probably had chronic ear infections that he never complained about. The fluid in the ears were causing him to not hear properly which was affecting his ability to learn how to verbalize words. Once he had tubes placed and started speech therapy through EI his speech improved dramatically.

And the reason you should contact EI now as opposed to later isn't so much because 18 mos is a really important age to get started on this but because there could be a waiting list of people before you needing services, or a shortage of speech therapists in your area, or both! and it could take a few months just to get in to see someone. I know for us once we were aware there was a possible delay issue, it took about two months before we even met with the EI team for the actual evaluation.

Hope this helps and relax... my bet is nothing is wrong but there's no harm in having things checked out.

Cheryl

 

[Mom to Jordan]

After reading that your family has a history of hearing problems, I resend my advice to wait 6 mo. Kids are awsome are getting by with what they have.He may be responding totaly normaly but still not hearing you. I would get his hearing tested right away.

Jordan's mom

 

[cornflkgrl]

DSS#1 is handicapped and considered severe by most. But at 12 mos he had lots of words and by 18 mos probably close to 50. Guess what, at 22 YEARS old he hasn't progressed beyomd 18-22 mos. and that is with 22 years of speech therapy, some years intense. He was my early talker

DS#2 had hardly a word when it started to emerge at age 2, and it wasn't because his brother talked over him. At age 4 the preschool's annual speech eval by ST wrote a report that he was behind, had sound issues and needed therapy immediately to correct asap. I said "no thanks, he is just 4 trying to use big words". At 17 he doesn't shut up, has no speech impairment and is perfectly fine.

DD#1 decided to begin speaking very young and used huge words. But many she pronounced wrong. I had someone look at her and they said she has vocab way beyond her sound capability. She'll be fine. At age 13 she is just fine and also a continual talker.

I've been involved with multiple therapies/therapists for 22 years and no way at age 18 mos would I worry yet. Here is something to try. Our many speech therapists we have had all said it is much easier to sing than talk. I know my DS can sing very well. See if you can get him to sing along with some songs. And if he is responding and understanding all you say, I would just take a wait and see approach.

Don't get freaked out !

Thank you very much for your post. It has put my mind at ease greatly! I really wanted to hear someone say "wait it out a little" as opposed to "You need to get him to therapy now." My mother thinks I am being crazy about the whole thing and to be honest I never would have ever worried about it had I not read a couple parenting articles and tried to compare him to other kids and we all know you can't compare one child to another. And your idea about singing with him is a great idea and suprisingly something I have not yet tried. We read to him often and we walk around pointing out objects and saying their name and their color ect. but I have not done much singing with him and he LOVES music. His favorite program is Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin (a silly kids show about music). He loves to dance and clap. We will try some singing with him.

 

[cornflkgrl]

DS only said mama and (sometimes) dada until his 15 month appointment. At that time they sent me home with one of those "what to expect at this age sheets" that said he should have 10-20 words! Ack!

Anyway, long story short, DS wasn't developing his speech because he is a pacifier addict. In just a month of limiting the pacifier he's gained 10 words and he definitely communicates more (mostly letting me know that he doesn't appreciate me taking his pacifier). I really didn't realize how often he had that darn thing in his mouth until I was trying to get him to talk. DD wouldn't have anything to do with a pacifier so I'm a novice on breaking the habit, but we're trying. Just thought I'd share my experience on the off chance you have a pacifier addict of your own.

My son has his pacifier and up until 4 mos. ago he probably had it in his mouth a good 80% of the time. Now he has it at bedtime. He has it when he is fussy (he goes and finds one and pops it in his mouth). He uses it at naps and when we go out somewhere shopping or riding in the car. I had my pacifier until I was almost 4 and then my parents buried it in the back yard and told me I lost it. I stil managed to speak non-stop though even with the Binky. I am wondering if him having it all the time when he was between 10-14 mos. at the time when he was supposed to be starting to learn to speak has messed up the process? Thanks for the input.

 

[penel3]

I pm'd you

 

[camouseketeer]

Early intervention is usually free from the state until age three. Then the school district takes over. As a PP said, speech development prior to age 3 is crucial. Could the problem fix itself? Sure, but if it doesn't, you've lost precious time waiting. Why wait to see if it fixes itself if you can get some further information now free of cost?

Everyone has their personal experiences with this issue, so I'll go ahead and give you mine.

At 18 months, my Ped said kids should have minimally 6 words other than Mom or Dad. My DD had one, duck. She could understand everything, but say only duck. My Ped had DD's hearing tested - came out fine. Then I was put in touch with California's early intervention program. My DD tested at 12 month level and qualified for help. She was also diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder. Basically her brain pathways take sensory input (like hearing sounds and feeling things) and they get jumbled. My DD was very overly sensitive to sounds and some textures, and this contributed to her speech delays. With both speech therapy and occupational therapy, she has made great strides, and now, at age 4 sounds no different than her peers.

She had state funded private therapy until age three. Then the school district took over, and she was put into a group speech class. She made FAR more progress in her one on one therapy (from age 20 months to 36 months) than she did from age 3 to age 4 with the school district.

I urge you to seek professional opinions (from both an audiologist and a speech therapist) now. You will have more information and more peace of mind whatever the results. If your child does qualify as needing assistance, you will probably receive free services and perhaps better ones than if you wait until the school district takes over at age 3.

Best of luck to you.

 

[cornflkgrl]

Early intervention is usually free from the state until age three. Then the school district takes over. As a PP said, speech development prior to age 3 is crucial. Could the problem fix itself? Sure, but if it doesn't, you've lost precious time waiting. Why wait to see if it fixes itself if you can get some further information now free of cost?

Everyone has their personal experiences with this issue, so I'll go ahead and give you mine.

At 18 months, my Ped said kids should have minimally 6 words other than Mom or Dad. My DD had one, duck. She could understand everything, but say only duck. My Ped had DD's hearing tested - came out fine. Then I was put in touch with California's early intervention program. My DD tested at 12 month level and qualified for help. She was also diagnosed with Sensory Integration Disorder. Basically her brain pathways take sensory input (like hearing sounds and feeling things) and they get jumbled. My DD was very overly sensitive to sounds and some textures, and this contributed to her speech delays. With both speech therapy and occupational therapy, she has made great strides, and now, at age 4 sounds no different than her peers.

She had state funded private therapy until age three. Then the school district took over, and she was put into a group speech class. She made FAR more progress in her one on one therapy (from age 20 months to 36 months) than she did from age 3 to age 4 with the school district.

I urge you to seek professional opinions (from both an audiologist and a speech therapist) now. You will have more information and more peace of mind whatever the results. If your child does qualify as needing assistance, you will probably receive free services and perhaps better ones than if you wait until the school district takes over at age 3.

Best of luck to you.

That is great but I am fairly certain there is nothing in our state like that. Alabama is the cheapest state when it comes to public programs. Our state has cut public funding for mental health, childcare, WIC for pregnant women, and even the food stamps program. I would be shocked if they had a free program to have kids evaluated for speech problems.

 

[nliedel]

What is being said about Early Intervention is so true. One of my kids needed it after we moved here when he was three. It was like pulling teeth to get it for him. One of the babies needed it soon after he came home, he got it immediatly. It's easier to call now than wait and see with them.

 

[macmahony]

First of all I would not freak out, second of all I would most definatly find out if your state has early intervention, and call if not today, monday. Why? Well, I waited with my oldest daughter, everyone, including the doctor told us she would catch up, even though I was worried about her slow start to speaking. So, on her 3 birthday I brought it up again, and we finally got her privately evaluated, and guess what? She needs speech. BUT...in our state Early intervantion only helps out birth to three, so now we have to go throught the school disctrict. We have a great program, but it takes a lot of time, months to do the evaluation, to get her placed, etc. I WISH someone had pushed me or I had pushed to get her evaluated.
There is nothing wrong with calling and having someone come out to see him, once he turns three, it takes a long time to get services. Plus, most insurance won't cover speech delays (our claims it has to have been lost through illness, or injury, one of the illness includes coma). So, please if you have any concern call. It can't hurt, and soon he will be too old for Early intervention and then it takes a lot to get services.
Early intervention is a great program, I believe you pay what you can, I have a friend that pays 30 a month for her 16 month old to have a private speech therapy in her home, twice a week for an hour. You can't beat that, we have looked at private speech therapist, they are outrageous!!!!
So, it can't hurt to have him evaluated, and it could save a lot of aggravatoin as he gets older. It is a great program and I recomnd it to everyone. Yes, every kid is diffrent, and yes, some kids don't talk until later, but don't take that chance that your son needs a small push in the right direction.
Good luck in what ever you decide!

 

[belle&beast]

That is great but I am fairly certain there is nothing in our state like that. Alabama is the cheapest state when it comes to public programs. Our state has cut public funding for mental health, childcare, WIC for pregnant women, and even the food stamps program. I would be shocked if they had a free program to have kids evaluated for speech problems.

I am fairly certain that the early intervention programs are avaiable in all states because they are nationally governed by the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. Call your pediatrician or public school system and they should be able to direct you to the people in charge of early intervention. Or you can probably search the internet and find it as well. In our state there is a minimal copay if a family's income is high, but there is a cap of $20 per month.

 

[cwnhokie]

Here's what I found for your state. http://www.rehab.state.al.us/Home/default.aspx?url=/Home/Services/AEIS/Main
I haven't read it yet, just wanted to go ahead and pass it on to you. Looks like it's run through the Dept. of Rehab services in Alabama and goes through age 2, the school system must take over at that point. Here in WV it is run through heath and human services, goes until age 3 and is free. In VA it is until age 2 and then the school system takes over and it is on a sliding scale. Good luck to you and feel free to pm me if you have any questions.

 

[DisneyPhD]

I am fairly certain that the early intervention programs are avaiable in all states because they are nationally governed by the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. Call your pediatrician or public school system and they should be able to direct you to the people in charge of early intervention. Or you can probably search the internet and find it as well. In our state there is a minimal copay if a family's income is high, but there is a cap of $20 per month.

That or PL 94-142 or something like that (it as been a few years since grad school when I had some corses in speical ed for school social work.)

Either way it eveyr state has to have some program. Things like mental health sadly are not protected in the same way (I know I was laid off due to budget cuts in mental health. )

The bottom line is more then likely your DS will be fine, but on the off chance he needs help it is better to do now then later. It can make a world of difference to get any set backs early.

 

[rt2dz]

OK, I have NOT read the whole thread, but anyhow...

DS#2 started talking, clearly, at 14 months.

DS#1 did not start talking until he was 2 1/2. They evaluated him at 2. I was told that their main concern at 2 was after ruling out the physical (hearing problems) was comprehension. My DS had the comprehension of the average 5 year old. BUT, if he wasn't still talking at 3, we'd have to look further. At 2 1/2 he just started talking up a storm--in complete, grammatically correct sentences, but not the clearest. My pedi says this isn't all that unusual, especially with kids whose motor skills are way above normal (which DS#1 was).

Of course, you never know. I would suggest watching your DS and having him evaluated at 2. Do it earlier if it really bothers you. If nothing else, it will give you piece of mind. At worst, it will give you a chance for early intervention.

When we had DS#1 evaluated, we did not use state resources (although they were available to us) because our health insurance provided for a better (more in depth) private evaluation. Check what your state will do for you--here it is actually through the school district--and check what your health insurance covers.

 

[1of6]

Please don't get freeked out by everyone saying to go get him evaluated. It is very true that kids develope at different rates. Your son could fall in the normal range by age 2. But it won't hurt anything to have him checked out.

DS1 talked exactly when the book said. It was like he had a copy himself.

DD1 (22 months later) was a talker. She was 4-6 word sentences by 2. All day long!

DS2 never babbled using consonants. He did have a lot of ear infections but got tubes put in when he was 8 1/2 months old. The best thing we ever did! Like your son, he was the master communicator. He could grunt, point, take us, sign and gesture with the best of them. He just would not verbalize. I questioned the ped. at 12m, 15m and 18m only to hear that he was a boy, he was the third, everyone was talking for him... Let's take a good look at it when he turns 2.

I did what you are doing now. I talked to everyone about it. I found out that the Intermediate School District sevices kids under 3 so I called them up. He has passed every hearing test he's every had. His receptive language (what he understands) is well above average. But when we finally got in for the eval. (it took a couple of months when all was said and done) he was 22 months old and his expressive language was that of a 12 month old. We did a year at the ISD and are now in our 2nd year with the school district. He is now 4 1/2 and does not stop talking.

DD2 is another early talker. She turned 2 in Jan and is using 4-6 word sentences.

Singing is great. As is giving 2 choices for everything...Do you want juice or milk? Which cup? green or blue? You can also sing-song many words by dragging them out. please becomes puh-lease, blue is buh-lue

Feel free to pm me.

 

[KimberlyC]

Have you had his hearing tested recently? My DS is 21 months. His hearing was fine until he had a series of ear infections beginning at 7 months. I went through my fair share of pediatricians, all highly recommended - Whatever! After several rounds of antibiotics I said STOP! The pediatricans were content to keep treating ear infection after ear infection but I lost all patience with that. By this time he was 11 months old and I found the best ENT I could find. Sure enough DS had a hearing problem caused by the ear infections. I kicked myself for not doing something sooner. His walking was delayed. He sat up at 4 months, crawled at 6 months and was standing and taking a step at 9 months, but his balance was off and it took me awhile to figure out he couldn't walk because his ears threw his balance off. Just after his 1st b-day he got tubes and walked the next day - no kidding. He says 2 word phrases and some things clearly (pooh, rabbitt, elmo, ernie). Other things, well its hard to tell but I know that "ub duh" is Rubber Ducky. He's catching up but the kid couldn't hear well for 5 full months of life. His daycare did teach him some sign language and that was very helpful to ease his frustration. He tends to get perturbed when we don't know what he's saying - some of it sounds like babble babble babble.

So this may not apply to you. Your child may hear fine. But I made a big mistake by not finding out sooner and if learning from my mistake helps anyone even a little bit, I'll be thankful for that.

 

[SGB13]

My DS, now 4, was very similar to yours. He had said DaDa. But did not do it regularly and said very few words. He could communicate by pointing and his own kind of sign language. But would have a temper tantrum when we he could not communicate what he wanted with us. We discovered that he was toungue tied. The toungue is actually connected too far forward in the mouth. It is pretty common. (DD stuck her toungue out at him and when he stuck his back out at her, I noticed it did not go out past his lips. Also the tip is heart shaped instead of pointed in the middle.) After a short procedure at the dentist to correct the toungue tie, we went thru the full testing to see if he would qualify for speech classes. He did and still has speech once a week paid for by the state. I would get him tested as early as you can. I had question my son's not talking but didn't worry since he could get his point accross to us. I knew he understood what we told him and didn't have a mental problem. I didn't know about the problem with his toungue. And it has taken him a long time to relearn how to use his toungue and speak clearly.

 

[bartleby1]

I did not read the whole thread so forgive me if I am repeating.

Children do develop very differently so don't be upset if an area of development isn't falling in the classic textbook type range. However, don't ignore possible warning signs either. So much help can be offered if delays are caught early enough. Try hard not to enter a state of denial if something could possibly not be on track. I know that is difficult because we all want our children to be the best, but the best you can do for your son is pay close attention and get whatever help you can find for him if it is needed.

That being said, my DD1 was a late talker. At her 18 month checkup, she wasn't even saying ma-ma or da-da. She grunted, but never babbled. Grunting was her only sound. I knew she was very bright because she learned her colors by 13 months and could recognize all numbers and letters by around 16 months, but she was so busy learning and taking it all in, that she never concentrated on spitting anything back out! We were beginning to think she would learn to read before she learned to speak, lol! She rarely made noise and usually showed very little expression or smiling because she was too busy learning. We even thought about having her tested for autism at the time.

Since she wouldn't be going back to the doctor until age 2, the doctor told me to keep a close eye on her and if she didn't have a "huge word explosion" by 21 months, we would have her evaluated. They didn't want to wait until age 2 to start evaluating. Well, around 19 months she started trying to say a few words and by 21 months she was putting sentences together. She was however, very unclear to most people because she never practiced making the sounds through babbling so it took quite a while for other people to understand her clearly.

She is now in kindergarten and she still has a few sounds that aren't perfect but I am told it is nothing that isn't considered age appropriate so she doesn't classify for speech. I'm happy to say that she is now a well-adjusted, happy, social, smiling, chatterbox!

So, I would give it a few months to wait and see what happens. You may be pleasantly surprised. If nothing happens in a few months though, be sure to get him evaluated. It can't hurt.