Speech at 19 months..should i be worried??

[katie05]

Hi,
my son is 19 months and im a bit worried about his speech and the way he pronounces some words. Im aware that my worries are not helped by seeing my friends lo (1 month older) say lots and linking words! I know they are all different but wondered what your children are saying or were saying around this age.

He says ma,ma (sometimes) da da, dog but it sounds like 'doh', nana, ball but sounds like 'dall', gone sounds like 'don'. taht but sounds like 'dat'. He also does animal sounds and babbles all day long.

Im aware that children pick up sounds in a certain order and im hoping 'd' is an early one because as you can tell he substitutes this for others.

He does however understand everything i say and points out things i say.

Hope to hear from you.

 

[Squiglet]

Well I can only give you information on my little girl, but if you are really worried you need to see your HV and your doctor...

My daughter Tia has quite delayed speech..and still does even though she's 8.

She was born with really bad glue ear, so that she had very little hearing in her right ear and almost none in her left... The rattle test they did came back that she could hear, but at a later date we had a proper test done and thats when we found out she was almost deaf.

At the age of 19 months... Tia could say about 5 words.. "at" which was that when she pointed to things, mama for mummy, da for daddy, ay for mine, O for No... she missed all the fronts of her words off..and we relied on sign language/macaton to communicate with her. What made me realise she was really behind was when I called my friend once and could hear her son whos the same age as Tia, chatting away, and I commented how good his speech was, to which she said...Oh no that was her youngest who was a year and half younger than Tia. It made me feel so bad.

around this time, the HV said she had possible speech delay and referred me to Parenting classes as seemingly I wasn't talking to her enough and that was causing the problems, which was rubbish....but I went, I would have done anything to help her... after this we were assessed and they realised that Tia's speech delay wasn't related to my parenting skills , so she was referred to a specialist speech therapy nursery school with a group of 5 other kids with problems... She was the only one not to improve... She had to leave the nursery because the places were only for one term, and she was sent to another nursery school, where a speech therapist was supposed to come into the school once a week, but because of a shortage, Tia was never seen.

Eventually, my parents paid for a private consultation with a speech therapist and hearing specialist and she got grommets fitted at 2 years... From then she started speaking but was still slow... Cup of tea would be dudda dee.., pussy cat would be duddie dat... We moved to Spain shortly after that, and she was lucky enough to get a place at a school here that has a resident speech therapist and educational psychologist and she was having speech therapy 3 times a week... but still it wasn't getting any better so now twice a week she attends a specialist unit for severe speech problems...and OMG has she improved.. It's fantastic.

Whatever happens..you are the mother, you know your child more than anyone else, if you feel that your child is definitely delayed, don't let the medical professionals fob you off with, don't worry, some kids are slower than others, your child will talk soon enough... well I've heard them all and there is nothing more troubling than knowing that your child isn't progressing as they should, and no one wants to help you. I can't tell you if your son's speech is delayed because I only have Tia to compare to, and she was soo far behind.. I think your child could have a problem, but you need to get the ball rolling with the HV and GP first... I really hope it works out and if you wanna chat please pm me...

 

[missac]

Gosh squglet that is awful that they sent you to parenting classes, how rude!!

I think all babies develop at their own paces and at least he has a few words in his repetoir as this is a start.

My cousin's baby is two next week and all his says is bah, this is at everything and it means absolutely nothing, I do however think this is due ti his mum who just doesn't talk, I can only get a few words out of her at a time and I have been more successful than anyone else in the family.

I am not suggesting this is you though, I am sure you speak to your lo all the time, I would mention it to the hv if you are really worried. If I were you I would spend lots and lots of time just sitting one on one chatting away, pointing at things etc.

Not really much help I know let us all know how you get on xxx

 

[*saulino*]

Hi

I think all kids just develope at different rates.
I would always worry as Kiaras friend only 2 months older talks so much and says please thank you ect and big sentences but there are other things Kiara does and says thats he cant .
If your worried i agree to speak with someone
Katrina

 

[bowmanzoo]

Hi

I understand your worry as Joanna is 20 months old and although she says a few words she doesnt put words together and I think the words she says are as follow:

ta
uh oh
Taco (our cat and have only heard her say that word once)
mom
mummy
muma
No (Her favorite word at the moment)
Banana
ta ta
night night

I can't think of any other words at the moment but I've quite possibly missed one or two but not many more than that. However I feel she is brighter in other areas. She knows excactly what the phone is and goes mental when it rings and telling me or her dad that it is ringing and she enjoys speaking on their in her gobblygook language. She will get things when asked like I will tell her to get a nappy and she'll go over and get it and take it to the mat and lay down and wait for me. I think all kids learn things at their own rate and my HV isnt worried so neither am I. I took my daughter to see her old foster carer at the weekend and the FC had 2 more children in her care a newborn and a 17 month old and the 17 month old was very forward with her speach putting words together ect and I was shocked but hey she probably can't do something that Joanna can do so there u go.

 

[Squiglet]

I think that the fact that a child speaks gobbledegook language is a really really good sign that they are on their way to talking...

Tia never spoke... She was silent... She only made noises if she was getting frustrated, and then it would be a mass of yelps, grunts, the word "AT" and general noise mixed with hand signals and signs, to get her point across. Also unless I was looking directly at her when I spoke she very rarely understood what I was asking her. Even now, she requires eye contact for somethings

Her silence as a toddler wasvery eery...

NOW I can't get her to be quiet..

 

[bowmanzoo]

Aww bless her. Joanna is very good at both listening to you and also ignoring you when it suits her. she can be very stubbon to say the least and i just dont know where she gets that from

 

[katie05]

Thanks everyone for your replies,
I do sit lots with him and have been repeating words over and over to see if he'll copy me lately. He did copy hello today but in a strange deep voice..ha ha! He is also very good at listening and following instructions.

Will speak to a collegue in work tomorrow who works in the nursey (as im a teacher)to see if they know the order the tend to learn sounds as its the 'd' thing that worries me most.

Thanks again.x

 

[tracyM]

Alex is 21 months and has a grand total of 2 words - mum and di (dog!! or cat or any furry thing) There's always somebody talking to him, but that unfortunately means there's always somebody who understands what he wants without him having to speak .

Our eldest was 3 before he said a word - and then came out with a full sentence, swearing at a man who couldn't park . Callum was talking full sentences by 12 months - his first words were 'good girl' at the dog at 7 months. Charlotte went through the normal stages but had problems forming some sounds (chicken was pricken)

I know Alex will speak when he wants to (I don't swear any more so hopefully he won't do what Dan did). Charlotte had speech therapy because we knew there was a problem from fairly early on. I think it's the mother's instinct that tells you something isn't right.

 

[melhoney]

hi,

just saw this as I don't have time to come on here very often!!!

Maheen is 19th months, and can say loads, I couldn't not put the list up here, i cabn't remember all the words she says, and she has started to put 2 or 3 words together, but I have to confess that being a MFL teacher I obviously dedicate a lot of our time to speaking BUT, she still does mispronouce a few words, or she would only say the end of words. she often confuses n with m, though if I make her repeat, she will end up saying it correctly (but that's after 5 or 6 times sometimes!!!). the sound "D" is probably the very first sound babies say, and it migt ust be that he finds it easier to say this sound.
Everybody told me (I mean professionals) that Maheen would probably be late at speaking because she has 3 languages to tackle (French, Urdu and English). She understands the 3 of them quite well, speaks more French words than uru or english, and as I said, her pronouciation is not always great, but I know she is progressing.
I would also echo that if your little one speaks to himself or his toys or you in a "babytalk", then, it's very positive, and I wouldn't worry. I met ladies at my postnatal group with babies of the same age as Maheen and some of them hardly say a word! Unless there is a big alarm bell ringing in your HEART, I wouldn't worry.

Have you bought him a few alphabet/emage dictionary books? Maheen has started loving hers, and that's how her vocab has increased so rapidely over the last month or so...

Also, one last thing, if you are a teacher you must know as well as me, people always experience learning dips in order to progress, and it can start very fast once the interest is there...you'll see, you will soon have enough of his talking

take care,
mel x

 

[mary70]

hi hun i wouldnt worry hannah was 2 a month agao and her talking as come on all at one over the last fornight, she was only saying the odd words up till recently and now i couldnt write all the words and sentances she says the page isnt long enough. keep talking and it will come in time

 

[kellysomer]

Isla is nearly 19 months and says about 30-40 different words and makes links of 2 words for example 'wiwow no-no' when she actually means the cat (willow) is doing something naughty. She tries hard to say words but they do come out with odd sounds as all babies do. Some of the soft consanants are particularly hard especially 's' and 'h' which is why speech therapists concentrate on these sounds. Kids will learn a bit at a time so i wouldnt be worried unless your child says nothing that resembles a word, this may indicate hearing loss.

The funniest word Isla says is boobies, and i have no idea where this came from as its not a word i use!!!

I would see how she reacts to simple instructions like their name followed by ' can you put the cup on the chair' and see how she reacts, Isla can do simple tasks and i use this to help her speach. I will say 'Isla put the ball on the floor' and she will say 'ball' then i say 'good girl you put the ball on the floor' and praise her. Then the words are said twice without patronising her. Likewise if my step son who is 6 says something like ' i runned all the way' i will say 'wow you RAN all the way here?' and emphasise the word he got wrong but not point it out. He normally says 'oh yeah i ran' but doesnt feel put down. This seems to work as his use of tenses and words is very good.

Talking in babies seems to vary hugely, my friends son who is 2 1/2 says next to nothing and my other friends daughter of the same age is fluent.

It makes me giggle every time Isla says a new word at the moment its 'ot ot' for anything hot.

 

[leckershell]

This is going to sound really bad but my half brother went to school this year, he's 4 I think, nearly 5..?

He was still saying wahwah for water earlier on this year and couldn't string sentences together at all, he would just point at things. This summer though it's as if he got his act together all of a sudden and now he's a bit behind other children his age but not really bad.

When you've got a kid of 4 who can hardly talk, that's when you need to worry! (I felt sorry for him, my dad didn't give him much interaction which is why I think he's a bit slow).

 

[sarah113]

Jordan is 20 months and can only say a few words
he says
mummy
daddy
Tia (his sister)
Abi (his sister)
nana
Ziggy (our dog)
juice
Dilly (his bits)
and a few others i cant remember at the moment, i thought there was something wrong but all i got told was each child develops at a different pace
Tia was the same could only say a few words at jordans age but now she talks loads and she is nearly 3

 

[sarah113]

Jordan is 20 months and can only say a few words
he says
mummy
daddy
Tia (his sister)
Abi (his sister)
nana
Ziggy (our dog)
juice
Dilly (his bits)
and a few others i cant remember at the moment, i thought there was something wrong but all i got told was each child develops at a different pace
Tia was the same could only say a few words at jordans age but now she talks loads and she is nearly 3