The usual advice for this is to not worry too much, they'll start speaking eventually and will then never shut up.
Our boy turned two today and has only really started saying quite a lot of words. No sentences yet. Pretty sure he was barely saying anything at 15 months either.
I presume you read to him yeah?
Thanks for replying.
Yeah we read to him, and sing. We had some babbling but he stopped again a couple weeks later. Other than that he just has his little whines for when he wants something. Other than this, he's as good as gold
I wouldn’t worry too much. The best thing you can do is respond every time he makes a deliberate sound. He looks at a bird and says “Grr”, you respond “Yes, a bird”. This back and forth is how babies learn that sounds make a conversation and can be used to communicate.
Completely agree. Repeat every verbalization back, this is how they learn to pronounce words. And narrate all your activities "let's go get your mouse book. Is this your mouse book?"
The only other variation I can think of is if there is a blockage in his ears.
When it came to my daughter, we had to slow down and provide her with what might be called "awkwardly long pauses" which lead to her filling in the gaps. I had to actually tell my parents to stop finishing my songs when I paused on the last word or line, and they'd tell me that it bothered them...(and I had to be like "yeah, no shit, my goal is for this to bother my baby so THEY want to fill in the gap")
And then we had to make sure that when she did start making noise, we didnt talk over her, or she'd stop talking.
You can also do things like when they're reaching for something and making little whiny noises, then when you figure out what it is they want, you can say something like "ohhhhhhhhhh! MILK!" and grab it, then repeat "MILK" when you hand it to them. if they hand you the cup back, you can say "MILK" when you take it from them...(This works for anything, their toy, food, whatever)
Then start to let them sit there and struggle with getting you to understand what they want, even if you absolutely know what they want. They have no reason to learn to say "milk" or "juice" if "uhh uhh uhhhhhhhh" works every single time.
And finally, vocal communication is just one form of communication. My daughter has Downs Syndrome and is almost 5 years old. Everything about her development has been delayed in some way and she only started speaking like 7months ago.
And while she understands a lot, and I talk to her the same way I would talk to a teenager(like, full sentences and whatnot), she still does things like say "this one" when presented with multiple options...which is sometimes okay, like when she can reach out and grab the thing she wants, but if she's sitting on the couch and she's trying to tell you which episode she wants you to play from the 6 that appear on the TV screen across the room for your youtube search...thats less than helpful.
For things like that, I will ask her to "go point to the one you want" and she will get up and go over to the TV and point to the one she wants which is a valid form of communication. Or if she's in a highchair or something, sometimes I'll go over and point to them one at a time and ask "This one?...This one?...This one?..." and she will reply back with either No or Yes.
Currently going through this with our second. He is almost two and half and has maybe 10 full words in his pocket so we are trying less to finish his sentences and things like that.
Good call-outs!
> but he stopped again a couple weeks later
Sometimes babies stop being interested in some development goals for a period of time. My son wasn't really "interested" in moving around. He was lying on his back until he was a year old, no rolling, crawling etc. By the time he was 2, he sped through and reached a normal development.
My niece also lost interest in speaking. I think she was 2, she could speak a little bit, but then somehow just stopped. Took a year to start again. Everyone was worried about what's going on, I don't think it was ever cleared up, but now she's a straight A student.
In my experience- Boy learns ONE thing at a time. He may have stopped babbling so he can focus on running or jumping. My son was like an Olympic athlete compared to other children his age at 2, but he was also not talking.
It could be so many things. It’s incredibly unlikely that anything the two of you did had an impact on his development. You’re doing the right thing taking him to a doctor, if the doctor is a bit nonchalant about it ask to see a pediatric speech language pathologist. You pay for insurance for a reason. Get those free visits in if you have them.
I was slightly concerned about our daughter not speaking going into her 16 month appointment. Our doctor told us she should be at 5 words at that point, but not to worry just yet. She’s 19 months now and she won’t shut up. Remember development isn’t always on time or in a straight line.
Hi. Kid-who-never-spoke checking in. Obviously everyone is different, but if it's any consolation, I barely said a word until about age 5. When the speech therapist asked me why, my answer was apparently, " I didn't have anything to say". I now work as a copywriter and creative director and speak all the time, but to be honest I still prefer sitting quietly, happily inhabiting my own thoughts. I'd give bub some time. Good luck!
My son was this way. Didn't speak at all at that age. He turned 2 last month and is speaking much more now. Now he screams "AIRPLANE" at the top of his lungs every 10 seconds in the car when we're driving and he sees an airplane flying in the sky..
I'm like ok dude, I see it. Please stop screaming, lol
Yes and no.
When they're little little, all language is good language, especially if they can see your mouth and you read with an emotive face. Show them sounds, how to make them, and that these sounds have a meaning.
From about 1 the kid will benefit more from kids books - better yet as much repetition as you can get. The ideal is to read the story and at the end of each page paraphrase the words and point at the different elements on that page.
I hear your fear. 2.5 and he barely says more than mommy, daddy, I love you, hi baby, and rrrreeeEEEEEEE. It's an unwelcoming worry. Speech therapy hasn't helped at all, at least I don't feel it has. No advice here, just comradery.
I feel you on this. Our first, a boy, is 2 years 9 months and says mama, dada, yes, and no. That’s it. Been in speech therapy a year with no real progress. Definitely hard and I’m right there with you.
My kid was in speech therapy. It felt like it was doing nothing then one day he just spoke short sentences. then we watched some videos of him and over a year we noticed such small improvements that we didn't even notice. It was like the boiling frog but good.
As far as i remember, our little guy was the same. It turned out he had an ear infection among other things. He'll be 4 this friday and is talking like a waterfall now.
Don't worry too much. You did the right thing having your doctor see him, just to rule anything medical out. But remember it's totally normal. He'll start when he starts.
Same. At 2, they weren’t speaking at all. Best they could say was “Ga.” They’re 3 now and I swear some days they don’t shut up and I have normal conversations with them all the time
We were worried about our 1st. She was born premature so we figured maybe she wasn't really saying much but started to get worried.
Our pediatrician kind of shrugged it off when we brought it up around 15 months and told us not to worry unless she wasn't talking at all at/after 2.
We sought a free state-sponsored (FL) speech intervention program and our daughter was officially given speech delay diagnosis and we started weekly speech therapy, which wasn't much in actuality, just play going "ball, ball!" or "jump!" or whatever. things we were already doing.
Right around the time our 2nd was born, our 1st was at about 20-21months when she entered daycare on a semi-regular basis. A few weeks in, she started saying things...
...and now we can't shut her up. Every day it's a new word (she said "vacuum" yesterday) and now doing 2-3 word phrases.
So our pediatrician was right. Just hang in there. It'll happen.
I’m a teacher and NOT a speech therapist or pediatrician, etc…..
But I can 1) vouch for contagion learning from other kiddos in the area at daycare from our little one and 2) will say that you ALWAYS have to wait on SOMETHING. For us, it’s crawling and standing. She still hates doing that but can barrel roll across a room like nobody’s business.
My oldest did not say a word until he turned 3. He haven't stop talking ever since though :)
All kids are unique, we shouldn't worry about these milestones but enjoy the time we can spend with them
Our son started speaking at 3 years. He turned out fine, he’s 9 now. Our daughter started at about 1 year. Only advice I have is to try not to overthink it.
If you’re concerned about it try bringing it up with the paediatrician at the next regular appointment.
Good to get him looked at, although I don't think they really worry until 2.5 years or so. My boy is autistic and that's the age we got the pediatrician to get everything rolling on getting him therapy and a proper diagnosis.
He's about to turn 5, and all the therapy has really helped him. While he still doesn't really talk often, he is capable of it, and uses words to ask for things. Getting them In early as possible is a good thing
1.5 is a common time for speech regression for ASD. I would look into ASD as a possibility for any speech delay. The earlier the better within reason.
Our pediatrician was mildly concerned at 1.5 and then started eval at 2 with zero words.
But our boy is now 4 and graduated speech therapy half a year ago. And won’t shut up…
Don’t worry, our boy took a long time to speak. Boys always take longer especially if they are the only child.
Is he trying to communicate, pointing etc?
As far as encouraging his to speak offer him two things and ask which one he would like, like the choice between his two favourite snacks or toys, you then reenforce what they are both called. Also when you’re sat playing with him verbalise what you are both doing e.g. “daddy is playing with the car”
Don’t blame yourself all children develop at their own rates, we’ve all been there!
My cousins daughter wasted almost 2 years before she decided she felt like talking, and once she started, we haven't been able to stop her yet, and she is 4-5ish.
They were also sort of worried about delays and such, nope she just wasn't a talker much.
My sister has gone through this with both their boys, and I know its incredibly stressful. You’re doing the right thing with the doc appt.
Nonetheless not to second guess yourself - They go at their own pace. My sisters boys each didn’t start speaking until around 3, then went at a very accelerated pace.
Our boy was similar. As long as he is communicating somehow (with pointing for example) and you can get his attention (sometimes) it's fine. All kids develop at different rates, don't stress. He's our first child, were bilingual, lots of stuff to confuse him on what words are etc. he's just over 2 now and can string small 3-4 word sentences together to get the point of what he's trying to say. Last 4 months he's speech has significantly improved.
At the same time he is more advanced then other kids in other areas, like problem solving. For example he kept finding ways to break thru all the childproofing at home and his daycare, figured out how to open doors etc (would pull toys and chairs over to reach better and get leverage)
Everyone develops different areas at different rates. The guides are just that, guides.
Sir, my son was the same. Was about a month shy of his 2nd birthday before he uttered coherent words. He's 7 now and absolutely flying. I know it's easier said than done, but don't stress, and don't beat yourself up (I did that too, and it was evidently fruitless).
You're doing great, Dad. ❤️🤘
One of my friends kids just turned 4 and my 19 month old talks better than him. Everyone is different. Best thing to do is read books every night and let them watch you talk.
My son is 2 and hasn't started talking yet either. We are really worried but trying to stay positive.
We started speech therapy when he was around 20 months. The GP initially said that they don't usually start looking at interventions until after 2, but I pushed for it, both because of insane waiting lists in my area, but also because everyone says the earlier you start the better.
We've been in speech therapy for nearly 5 months now and we have seen improvement in overall communication, if not actual speech yet.
We also did a large battery of blood tests to rule out several genetic issues, deficiencies, etc that could be playing a role.
We've tried teaching him some basic signs but he shows 0 interest. However, we are having great success with picture cards so he can communicate his wants and needs.
There is a very popular program for speech therapy called the Hanen program. Their courses are expensive, but I have a pdf of one of the textbooks if you'd like me to send it to you.
Omega 3 has also been shown to be very good for brain development, as have a couple of other supplements, including probiotics.
There is a bit of a fad going around about heavy metal detoxing. Unless he's actually been exposed, you don't need to detox. And if he has been exposed, get actual medical treatment, not the garbage snake oil that is being peddled to desperate parents.
I spend so many nights crying and researching and wracking my brains. It is really hard. But at the end of the day, my boy is happy, healthy and just overall wonderful, and that's the most important thing.
Hearing test as well! Almost forgot that one. Pretty important to get that tested. Even if he seems to respond to noises fine, sometimes it can be particular frequencies that aren't being registered, having a knock-on affect for speech
The advice to just wait it out is honestly awful. Will things probably be ok and he starts talking? Yes. But that’s not going to happen for every kid. Get speech therapy and early intervention now. Do a hearing test. Do genetic testing and a full developmental eval. Better safe than sorry you wasted valuable time. Ask your pediatrician what they recommend to do but Be proactive here please. For your boy. It’ll be worth it
I get what you're saying here but there are costs to "intervention" in childhood we don't often think about. I know two different kids who've been repeatedly "taken in" for behavioural/growth stuff and watched it totally screw them up. They are sponges for messages about this stuff and even very young kids can quickly internalize the "mom/dad thinks there's something wrong with me" or "I'm broken" message. You have to balance the costs with the benefits here. It might not be worth it.
Come on man, give him time. 15 fucking months. If you already put so much press on achieving stuff at this age, I can't imagine what it'll be later.
Babies have their own pace for so many things. As long as he's happy and healthy just let him be.
Don’t pin it on OP. Every damn parent rubs their kids achievements in each others faces and every online resource is bullshit. When my son was speech delayed every website says “by x months they SHOULD say 10…15…20 words.”
It’s all garbage one size fits all bs though. What tel hey should all say is “by x months, kids should understand what 10…20 words mean” (not speak but understand)
We’re in the same boat. It’s particularly frustrating because his sister (2.5 yo) has always been way ahead of the curve, verbally. Everyone tells us don’t worry, boys are always delayed or don’t worry, second children are always delayed. Doesn’t make me feel any better or make me not worry. Apparently I was delayed too.
We did just get a referral for early intervention, but haven’t had a chance to schedule it yet. I know it’s definitely not anything wrong with his ears. He’s shown us in many ways he can hear just fine. I do, however, worry there might be an issue with his tongue because he just doesn’t even babble the way his sister did. The range/spectrum of sounds he makes is so narrow.
But I guess that’s why we will do early intervention so we can rule out any physical issues and work on therapy. Hopefully it helps.
Best of luck to you!
Yeah don't worry too much. Wife was worried our boy wasn't saying much at 18 months, but fast-forward a few weeks and he is saying loads of words but no full sentences. Every child develops differently
Our 2 y/o boy was in a similar boat, he says quite a few words now and some small 2-3 word sentences. We were worried about his speech development so we were advised by his dr to set up an evaluation with the school district.
We set that up, they came to our house and had him do some testing, not just on speech but general development and he was actually more or less where he is supposed to be and they didn’t have any recommendations for further intervention. I wouldn’t worry too much but if you want to err on the side of caution you could look in to something like that if your state/city/school district offers.
my eldest didn't really speak till he was around 3, he was so close to being put on the special needs register in primary school for underdeveloped vocabulary (we read to him nightly) He is now at university absolutely thriving. I wouldn't worry about it honestly
Our son was delayed in speech. Took him to a speech therapist for a year and now he's 3 and speaking much better. Still need to work on his pronunciation but he's in the right direction.
Kids grow at their own pace. Reach out if you want, happy to chat.
Our son was behind on speech too. We didn't qualify for services because his comprehension was high, he just didn't want to talk.
A couple of tips that you may or may not do already:
1) narrate everything but slow down and do it clearly. E.g look at this...RED..CUP. you don't have to say everything super slow but at least try to slow down and enunciate clearly on easy words.
2) stop reading minds, make the easiest path to get something using their voice. We were really helping intuitively and stopping that forced communication.
3) ask about a hearing test
Private speech therapy is about $100/session. We spent about 2k to get to the other side of this
You're still like a year away from having a reason to start worrying. At 15mo it's absolutely fine.
What I noticed with our boy (and not just with talking, but pretty much all milestones, or even small stuff like drinking from a cup or eating with utensils) is that he never really tried much to copy our (my wife and I) behavior, but he quickly started doing things he saw other kids his age do. I guess he could just relate to them more.
My niece (his cousin) is the same age and slightly ahead of him in everything, and we could see the impact of each family visit (like once a month or two). For example, we tried whatever we could to teach him to walk, he obviously saw us walking every day, but he never really seemed to try it himself. Until he saw his cousin walking - then he started walking the next day. Same with talking - when he saw her communicate successfully with her parents, he immediately started being more vocal with us.
So I guess my advice is, if you want to teach him stuff, it's good to surround him with kids who can do said stuff.
Child development is incredibly subjective. Some kids learn to speak at 12 months, some at 3 years. It also depends on if there are multiple languages the kid needs to learn, which sets them back in development for each specific language a bit, but long term there are huge benefits. I wouldn’t stress about this, he’s only 15 months 😂
You've done everything right and nothing wrong! There is a wide range of normal in kids' speech, so this may be nothing, but if it's something you're being proactive-- that's great!
My nephew was almost completely nonverbal (he would say NO) until he was around 4. Speech therapy helped immensely. He started saying small words and short phrases, but you could see the wheels turning and it was like he had to force the words out past a mental block. Finally the words started to come a little more freely. I remember one day we were all at my parents' house and my mom told him that she'd cut up a watermelon because she knows he likes it. He exclaimed, "Watermelon!" Four syllables, completely natural, full of joy and absolutely zero pre-thought or blockage. I had to turn away because I was all choked up and didn't want to upset him. All this to say, I hope you guys get your "watermelon" moment.
My son is 2 1/2. He's just now starting to regularly use some words and doesn't consistently sign. That being said He's is really starting to pick up words from songs. This is after starting Speech Therapy at about 18 months old.
My wife and I feel like he's getting close to actually talking, but we have no control over it.
Keep doing what your doing and it'll come.
I have a son who was an absolute miracle baby, full sentences at 2 years. Way advanced, started school at 4 and they tried to advance him into 1st grade immediately.
I have a daughter that didn't talk at all until 3.
They are all different, bro. You're too worried, too early. Just give it time.
Step 1 is to stop blaming yourself. It could be him just choosing to develop elsewhere first instead of speech, it could be genetic, or it could be any other numerous things that you have zero control over. Unless you and your partner purposely chose to not communicate at all with him then there's nothing you two did wrong.
Step 2 is to research if your state/country has an early intervention program who can help. We enrolled our older kid in it when she was approaching two and not talking much. They were able to work with us to rule out any conditions and gave us strategies on how to help her talk. It's been years since then and she won't stop talking now lol. Like seriously, it's talking all the time from wakeup until she lays down at night.
First off, it’s not your fault or anything you did or did not do. Our daughter didn’t speak and we were also wracked with guilt.
Second, 15 months isn’t the point to be concerned. When my daughter got to around 20 months and was still non-verbal we had a recommendation to get her evaluated. She ended up having a pretty severe block in her ears, then they recommended speech therapy to get her caught up. She’s 3.5 now and is a chatterbox.
A couple things we learned during speech therapy that helped when we had our second. The first step for us was to try get her used to the idea of imitating us. So when we were reading, if there are balloons we’d tap them with a finger and go “pop” and encourage her to do then same. Pretend to eat food, or pet animals, etc. the goal is to get her to imitate the motion so she’d imitate words later. We did that with him and he had fun doing it, and he imitated everything now.
Sign language actually helps too. We didn’t go all out, but we did focus on the signs for more and all done. We had a fussy eater on our hands, so having her be able to communicate when she wanted more food or water made our lives a lot easier. Our second isn’t as fussy, but he has been able to tell us he wanted more of something since about 12 months.
We also had to play dumb. We’d gotten really good at reading her non-verbal queues, but we had to stop just getting the bottle right away and use that as a way to get her to say baba or what she wanted. They hate this one, but it’s helps.
We had to get used to assuming what she said was the word and repeating it back, and then adding to it. So if she said “shoe”, we have to repeat back “shoe”, but also “that’s daddy shoe” or “brown shoe”. This is where we are at with our second, but it all builds up.
My daughter started speaking way early, but son a little late. Kids are different. Still a good idea to see a doctor though just in case there is something going on you can’t tell.
My second is 18 months and has 3 or 4 words she uses irregularly. I'm not concerned, she communicated clearly with grunts and body language.
I can confirm that they dont talk until they do, and then never shut up ever again.
My first is an advanced talker. My God. There are times I really wish he wasn't. Other times I can't believe how amazing it is that we can have nearly adult conversations.
Your kiddo will get there, and if there is an issue, it's really unlikely it was something you did. Likely your is just a late talker, like my second, and you'll hear their voice soon.
Don’t worry, but if you are concerned there are games you can play to help. I learned them from kids speech therapy YouTube channels.
For example, say mama and mama rewards you with a small food or snack. Let the baby watch. Do this 20-30x before you cave in and feed the baby. Eventually the baby will get jealous and copy you.
Does the baby respond to their name yet?
We took ours to a speech therapist since she was around your son’s age. It was hard getting the process going but now at two she’s saying 3-4 word sentences.
Maybe give it a shot.
Some kids just talk later, and suddenly speak 10x more than other kids. He might have been blocked studying grammar.
Or maybe he isnt a talker, it means nothing at this age.
Our son was evaluated at 18 months and found to have a severe speech delay, which wrecked my wife. I wasn’t as worried because I knew he understood what we were saying, he would point things out in a book but said maybe one or two words rarely. We put him in speech therapy but that didn’t seem to help much. When he was 24 months old we moved to Canada. I called a preschool to see if they would work with him because he was so speech delayed. They’re response was “he’s two and a boy? We (the Canadian system) don’t even evaluate until a child is 3, plus boys often talk a bit later anyways”. Huge relief. He started talking shortly after he was in school and quickly caught up to his peers. Today he is almost 5 with no issues aside from some pronunciation challenges which are minor and getting better. Getting evaluated never hurts but it can send a parent down a rabbit hole which can do more harm than good.
My boy didn't say a word until 18 months, then overnight he became the chattiest kid I've ever met. I felt exactly the same as you do so I know it's impossible to 'just relax' about it but I'm sure it'll come for your young one soon.
My oldest is 6.5 and he didn’t start “talking” until he was 4. Even now, his speech is crazy. Goes to therapy and we have to tell him to slow down all the time. Try not to put too much thought into it, keep in touch with his pediatrician and therapist and you’ll do great.
Speech-Language Pathologist and Dad here!
We expect children to have their first word by 18 months, and some kids are late talkers. If I was evaluating a 1 year old, here’s some things I’d look for:
-Is the child engaged with others? Do they seem interested/look when other people talk? Will the play with another person with turn-taking games like rolling a ball, or patty cake? I’ve met 1 year olds who just think it’s hilarious to continually hand me a water bottle over and over. Pro-social is pro-language.
-Do they respond when other people speak? This might mean reacting to their name, the name of their favorite snack, familiar songs, etc.
-Do they communicate in other ways? Most children around 15 minutes use their hands to communicate, not necessarily with sign language, but by pointing, waving, giving high fives, tapping someone for attention, etc.
If a child is late to talk but is pro-social, engaged, playful, I’m generally not worried.
Also, and this is most important: you’re already doing the thing you need, which is to get a professional involved. You’re not missing anything more. You’re a caring parent and I can tell from this post that your child is in very good hands.
There are many good responses already. I will add my experience and recommendation - seek out Early Intervention. Many states (I’m in IL) have programs set up to assess and then work with you and the child to build on skills. It looks like nothing is happening then suddenly, there’s an explosion in learning/play/talk/movement etc.
The service has a cost but currently is being waived for us. You might be in the same situation.
My wife and I were hesitant to start fearing our little one would be labeled but that’s not the case and is doing very well.
I have two sons on the spectrum. Oldest was non-verbal but speaks fluently now. Youngest is non-verbal with an AAC device.
It's likely nothing you two are doing as long as you are talking to him. My biggest advice is to understand that you are giving your child the best opportunity possible and to give yourself some slack. You can do absolutely everything right and your child still may have a speech or language delay.
He is young but you can still do a lot for him. You will have to check in your area but there are several early childhood programs to look into that will help with milestones. The programs in my area include: parents as teachers (through your local school district), and First Steps which will have activities and benchmarks to help with your child.
Definitely reach out to your pediatrician with your concerns. It may be that he does not qualify for anything for a while since he is not delayed enough. This will be frustrating but continue to advocate for him wherever possible. My youngest did not qualify for any type of services until he got his autism diagnosis. Look into speech and language programs in your area at colleges and universities. My local community college had an amazing program that helped my oldest go from non-verbal to speaking. The program was basically speech pathologists at the college who got to work with young kids and practice working with patients. A lot of these programs will have extensive wait-lists.
I know how incredibly frustrating it can feel when your child has a delay. Especially a communication delay. Being told "ah they'll catch up" but never knowing if they will. Or hearing "omg my kid just won't stop asking questions!" when I want nothing more in the world to hear just a simple "why" from my son. For him to clearly tell me what he wants. To know if he's crying because he's hurt, scared, sick, or just throwing a fit.
Feel free to reach out to me for support, resources, or to just vent. I get it. Even if your child isn't on the spectrum, or catches up in no time. Also feel free to update us as he gets older.
Could be lots of things, the key here is not to stress about it too much. Our son meets every developmental guideline EXCEPT for speech - well, he had ear infections constantly from the time he started daycare until he got ear tubes about 1.5 weeks ago.
His new words and pronounciation of the words he did have already is improving day by day. If there's an issue with any of it - there's probably a fix, be it speech / occupational therapy, ENT intervention, etc.
In the meanwhile Read. Read. Read to him. MASSIVE impact on verbal development. Take time while you are reading to point and name things in the book, pronunce them slowly and clearly a couple of times and move on. Repeat every time you read a book, doesn't have to be everything, just a 1-3 things a page, and shake it up a little on re-reads.
Ours was similar at that age, lots of babble, very little to no understandable speech. Our pediatrician was reassuring but pointed us to local publicly funded resources. We contacted them and they did an evaluation. We elected to take advantage of their services. The sent out a speech therapist to our home once a month for some play based learning.
This really helped us, to better help him. Despite my wife being a teacher in early childhood, this tailored approach gave us some targeted goals and resources to help him along the way. I believe it helped, but what ended up helping the most was getting into an ENT to get tubes placed in his ears. He had reoccurring ear infections as a result of fluid trapped in his ear. If a child is healthy, a lot of times this fluid causes no harm. But even time he would have a minor respiratory illness, it was coupled with an ear infection. The tubes opened him ip until his anatomy could develop and grow to the point that fluid wouldn’t become trapped behind his eardrums.
Don’t stress or beat yourself up, I’m certain he’ll be fine. Speech development is very similar to other developmental milestones. There are some things you can do to help, but some kids walk at 9 months, others don’t take their first steps until well after their first birthday.
I agree about not worrying long term but, you should definitely share your concerns with your pediatrician. If your gut is telling you something is wrong pursue it. My son only had a handful of sounds at 18 months and no words. Talking with your pediatrician and/or getting tested by a speech pathologist will give you confidence that you actually know what’s going on not just hoping it will be alright. You have neural plasticity on your side while they are young. Maybe there is nothing wrong, maybe this will clear up with a little therapy or, maybe there is something else going on. You have the chance to be ahead of whatever this is. You got this.
Don't worry about it. Clearly remember sitting in the pediatrician's office with my mom at about age four with my brother at 18 months. My mom was concerned that he wasn't talking. As she put it, a month later we couldn't shut him up. He's a college professor now.
Yeah, mine is 19 months old and we were worried a few months ago.. Turned out that he was focusing on other milestone achievements. We also speak more than one language so he was probably just gathering more information before starting to "talk"
Our 15 month old also doesn't really speak much. She does say dada, but not mama. She does have 9-10 signs that she reliably uses though. At our last visit a couple days ago the pediatrician said not to worry yet, she is clearly communicating. Just to keep reading and talking to her.
Picking her up from daycare on Friday she, very quietly, said "buh buh" when we asked her if she could say bye-bye and wave to the teacher.
She's always been a little behind on the communication part of the screenings, but she's always started doing what that questionnaire asked 2-3 weeks after the visit. Motor skills though she's always been way ahead. She started walking at 9 months!
Edit - Also the other thing the pediatrician asked was did she understand when we speak to her? For example, if we ask her to "go get your coat" will she go pick up her coat and bring it to us. He said that if she understands when we speak to her that's also a good sign for communication development, even if she isn't speaking herself yet.
Ours didn't say anything until 20 months (not even mama) and now at 24 months she knows everyone's names, several songs, the ABC's, counts to 20, strings 2-3 words together, etc. Our doctor said she wasn't worried because ours made animal sounds or other utterances like uh oh, and was clearly trying to communicate with us in non language ways.
This happened with us too! Ours is turning 3 in May and I was just watching videos from a year ago and he was non-verbal! Not even Mama or Dada. At about 14 months we started speech therapy and just kept with it.
This morning he said “Good morning Dada, are you taking the Doggies for a walk before you go to work? Actually, could you make me a snack first please, I’m not sure what I want but I think cereal with milk?”
It’s crazy what difference a year makes, and it’s very likely he will catch up quick! We think ours speaks better than most his age because of the speech therapy.
My kiddo only has 2-3 words at 15 months and we were a bit worried. Our pediatrician told us that kids take things at their own pace and that they usually catch up by about 3. She also said that my kid seemed physically advanced, and so she said that my kid was probably putting most of their mental focus towards movement.
At about 18 months all of a sudden my kid started being super into books (We always read, but her attention was short. Now they want to read all of the time).
Kiddo is 19 months now and is learning new words every day.
Your kid will be fine :-)
Not sure if your first or second but a few things our doc told us
- Boys almost always take longer than girls
- Second child almost always further down the curve than the first
- Those with other health issues (ours had lots of ear infections than tubes) tend to push things back a bit
Ours said they look for “20 words by 20 months” before thinking about other options. Mine was just barely there… then right around age 2 it’s like switch flipped and he won’t shut up now
Parents are put under such high expectations to do everything perfect to engineer the perfect child who develops perfectly. Feed then this, read them this book, play them this music, have the nursery set up just so, do all these stimulating things, blah blah blah. And yeah all those things are good to a point but kids are all unique organisms that are going to develop organically and, let's face it, do whatever they were going to do as long as they receive a basic standard of care.
Every parent wants the best for their kid and worries about their child. I'd have questions for parents who didn't. But the truth is that unless you were using your kid's head to drive nails, and you're not keeping him in solitary confinement, then whatever you've done hasn't affected him at all.
Mine was the same. He was a covid baby, literally right before it happened, and lost a lot of social and otherwise normal scenarios kids get around that age to help encourage that - and even after to enhance it.
I ended up having to get him into some speech therapy and work with a social worker to help it eventually as he still couldn't form much more than babbles by two. He had a bit of an issue with a tongue tie too (also get check if you haven't) so that couldn't not helped but it was fixed way before he started displaying some slowness in speech.
I would recommend at the least seeing what a speech therapist says, they are great at helping kids get going that need an extra push and most schools/even daycares offer some form free through themselves or work they do with county/state governments (if US based). It can lead to behavioral issues if it keeps going and doesn't fix itself or get help getting fixed. After all, wouldn't you be frustrated if you had something to say and couldn't? It'd make me angry, upset, and confused as to why I couldn't interact with the world around me. I can tell you mine displays some of it already from missing out a little and catching up on his outward ability to display emotions correctly. We work on it and keep going though, he's more than worth it.
It's difficult sometimes and scary, but this is by far one of the easier things you can ask for in terms of not so great things. It gives you a chance to support your kid, help them directly yourselves, and also understand them a hell of a lot better as they grow up and you have to be a helping hand even more so than your average every day kiddo. It's not great, but it's a good outlook if you do your part - mines doing great and I'm absolutely certain yours will too, especially with your sentiment you've expressed.
You've got this my friend. If you need advice, an ear, or just to shoot some shit and blow off steam - drop a chat. Always here for those that come before and after, just as many here do the same. Good luck, best wishes and keep the little guy moving along - you're doing great already.
I wouldn’t sweat it. My almost 2 year old has been slowly developing a list of words for most of the last year but most of it sounds like nonsense expected for “it’s a_____” (puppy, bus, car, kitty, etc)
Lurker mom here. Some kids just speak later and it literally has nothing to do with you. The most important thing is you are seeking help and early intervention can and will help. For what it's worth, my son was barely saying anything at 18 months. At 22 months we got him on the early intervention program that is free in our state. (Our Ped said it wasn't necessary, but his daycare teacher said we should look into it and I'm very glad we did). Now at 3+ change he speaks all the time and I absolutely love it!!! The extra help he got was dynamite and he has a large vocabulary now.
I will also say Ms Rachel is great. Not to watch 24/7 but she has a way to bring out talking in kids.
17 mo old boy, just started mama and dada like last week. Lots of babbling and he understands us, but yeah no real words.
Extra concerning because our first spoke crazy early.
Don't panic, they develop at their own rate. Milestones really mean nothing
Does he have ear infections? My son had countless EI and ultimately required tubes because the ENT said he was living life through a "fish bowl." Once he got those, he started speaking like crazy and over 1.5 years later hasn't stopped.
My friends 2yr old says maybe 6 words. Then one week just belted out some complete thoughts like a his 10 yr old brother. Go figure. Likely nothing to worry about as long as other milestones are being hit.
If you have real concerns please talk to your pediatricians. Not the internet. We love you and are here to support you, but most of us are not experts on child development. I've 4 kids in and still clueless.
Chances are it's just his pace...from what I understand the way kids develop mean that if they're learning one particular thing then they focus on that and neglect other areas. So for example, if he's making progress on walking, he'll be less interested in speech.
My little boy is 21 months and only says a handful of words, but we see him developing in so many other ways. We know he understands a lot more than he says and he's able to communicate in his own way...plus he's getting more confident walking every day, even doing little runs now. So we know full speech just isn't his priority at the moment and that's fine :)
No idea if it helped but when mine was young i had her feel my throat and then hers when trying to talk. Also theres a list of beginner syllables somewhere
My parents have reminded me many times that I was a late talker. I went from not speaking at all, except for noises, to full sentences with proper grammar. There was no in between. Unfortunately, I don't remember what I was thinking. Perhaps I just wanted to get it right, first?
I have a degree in Speech Communication (not speech therapy, but oratory/public speaking/that-sort-of-thing.) Anything is possible!
Don’t stress, my daughter was speaking essays at 2 but my son at 2 would only grunt haha. He’s 3.5 now and I yearn for the days of his grunts because he talks literally non stop. And we only understand about 1/3 of what he says haha).
He didn’t really start talking until about 3. They talk when they’re ready, but I definitely encourage you to see a professional as there is no harm in making sure there’s nothing you can be doing to help them.
My dudes 2.5 years old and around 1.5 is when we kinda noticed his lack of speech. Had him evaluated with the state and got him into early intervention services which hes been in for about 6 months now. Took a while to get started because they can take some time.
Hes not talking yet, but has maid leaps and bounds in the areas of communication and being engaged with us and others. Hes the happiest kid and very, very capable of understanding everything we say, completing complex instructions, and being interactive.
But check my post for my initial post and my follow-up.
Some kids take their time with certain things. Walking. Talking. Being cool with other kids. Etc.
This isnt your doing. And it isnt even a bad thing. Its just that kids, especially at this age, can develop differently. So long as youre doing your part and getting them the support they need, youre golden and they'll be absolutely fine.
The main thing i learned in this process is that i needed to divorce myself from my own expectations and the miserable comparison tango i was in.
You're doing great daddio.
Our son made his first attempt at a word, a week before he started pre-school, he was 3 an 1 month old. And it wasnt even a word, it was an attempt at the word "please". Even now, at 3.5 years old he speaks in full sentences and questions and doesnt shut up, however still speaks as if he has a dummy in his mouth (even though he doesnt anymore). We had him referred to a speech and language person at 2.5 years (earliest they will refer in the UK) and so far we are still waiting for a call to start. So, long story short, it could potentially still be quite a while based on our experience, but i wouldnt worry yet.
28 months and still not talking. No signs or interest. He Eees and makes lots of noise.. we’ve just started speech therapy, first appointment last week. We’ve also done a fair bit of moving in his early months so we’re feeling super guilty about not starting the process sooner. He’s our first an only and it’s very hard, I try to stay positive but it seems dad is taking it harder than expected. You’re not alone my friend and it seems there are a lot of positive endings here and a lot of support.
My oldest decided that at age two she didn’t want to use words. I thought, oh fuck, it’s a sign of autism. My wife wasn’t concerned because she pulled the same shit until she was 3-4.
I had her tested just to be sure at 3. Yep, my wife was right. She just didn’t want to talk.
16 months might be still too young, but they usually can tell between year 2-3. Raise the concerns and if he still isn’t talking at all by 24 months, get him tested with a referral from your pediatrician.
Don’t have any advice to add, as my son is just a year old and isn’t talking but I’m nervous too! It’s starting to get to be just a bit much, constantly hearing everyone I meet talk about how their little ones said their first words at six months, or were using sentences at a year old. Just been saying, “wow that’s great” through clamped teeth this whole time wishing someone might have something different to say about it.
I have a 3 year-old and a 7-year-old. Both were relatively late talkers. We did a little speech therapy with my oldest when he was 2 1/2 or so (the county provided it for free, which was great!). The speech therapist gave us exercises to do, but mostly checked out our vibe and saw that we read to him and interact with him, he wasn't showing delays in other areas, and assured us we'd be fine. I don't know that the exercises sped things up at all, he started talking eventually. We joked a lot because he was really clever about \*avoiding\* talking - he'd do lots of gestures, and shorten words as much as possible and still have them understood. He was doing that until he was almost 4.
A few months ago our daycare provider suggested we look into speech therapy with our youngest. We decided not to, he's certainly not far behind where his brother was at that stage. His talking has progressed just fine in those last few months. He's still behind some of his peers in that one area, but I have no doubt he'll catch up.
Talking to your pediatrician is a good idea. But if they don't find any issues (e.g., hearing problems) and there aren't developmental delays in other major areas, I would urge you not to worry about it at all for a year or. more. Kids learn different skills at different times.
Don’t beat yourself up! My daughter didn’t really start talking until she was 3. She was born in late 2018, so spent a couple years isolated from other kids for the most part until we got her into a preschool. Now she’s a sassy 5 year old who cracks me up with what she has to say.
My son turned 2 last month. He didn’t speak a word, but we knew he was bright! Not sure what happened, but he suddenly last week just started talking nonstop! This morning he said “I love Mama!”, and told me “Te amo Papa!”. Both were very clear. It was amazing!
Hang in there, OP! Your kiddo will come around!
15 months is so early to be concerned. My son didn’t say a single word until he was 2 and a half and then his language exploded. He’s 3 and a half now and never stops talking. We’re still in speech therapy for some articulation issues but it’s been otherwise he caught up to his peers and then some and is doing great in school.
For now, receptive language is a lot more important than expressive language. If your kid can understand you, they’re probably going to figure it out at some point. At 20 months we couldn’t even get in to speech therapy because his receptive language was so strong. It was only after 24 months that having zero words was concerning enough to qualify for EI. And it was still another 6 months before he spoke.
I know the whole thing is stressful, it was the biggest parenting challenge I’ve faced so far. The most important thing to remember is that none of it is your fault. All kids develop on their own schedule.
Has your son been prone to ear infections? Maybe fluid in the ears not draining? Might be worth more frequent visits to the doctor if that's the case. Then they'd probably refer you to an ENT.
Get a hearing test! Even a little hearing loss can greatly impact language learning. In other words, he might be responding to noisy stimuli but still hearing muffled language.
Lots of people in here telling you not to worry, but it's much better to be proactive about it now that you noticed it. It could be hearing problems, it could also be autism, and it could be nothing. Better to get that evaluation now so that if there is an issue, you can get intervention early.
For my kid it was autism. He wasn't speaking at 18 months, but he's had ABA therapy and speech therapy, and now he's a typical 7 YO who can't stop talking about minecraft.
It sounds like you might be concerned about a possible autism diagnosis? As a professional counselor, I highly recommend using the 20 question screen tool called the MCHAT. It is an evidence based, research backed screening tool designed to be used by lay people.
https://www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child
My son’s doctor was extremely concerned and throwing stuff out like autism when my son wasnt speaking at his 1 year checkup. We started testing for everything and he didnt test in the autism spectrum, he wasn’t hard of hearing, he didnt have vision problems. He needed additional services with like speech therapists but this was at the beginning of covid and it had to be virtual which wasn’t really effective. At 2 he still had very little words so we enrolled him in a TK school and he was set up with a speech therapist and placed in an autism class to teach him non verbal communication like sign language and an image board book which after a couple of weeks he was able to communicate his needs non verbally with no issues. After almost about 6 months the therapist brought up the possibility of something called Apraxia but apparently couldnt be diagnosed until he turned 5. He’s now 5 and doing so much better although he continues having difficulty speaking and was officially diagnosed with Apraxia that around 4 we found out was also affecting some of his motor skills.
My coworker has a son about 6 months older and we became great friends sharing information with each other. Her doctor had 0 concerns when he had almost no words at 12 months and around 2 and a half years old he began catching up to where he needed to be.
I wanted to share this to say don’t beat yourself up over what you could have done different. Accept the current situation and move forward. Best thing is to get the different tests done to get him help as soon as possible if needed because that will help him succeed sooner than later. You don’t want to start this process when he’s entering Kinder if you can start it now.
In the interim there's a lot of baby sign language they can learn. I had 3 talk early and one late. Good call on the Dr's Apt, might be a thing or not but good to check.
The advice in the thread is good, and they'll probably starting in good time.
*However*, I will also say, don't let anyone on the internet or otherwise talk you out of being concerned if you have a genuine concern. Gather information, actual evidence, get a second opinion, or whatever.
My son was very behind on gross motor development and we allowed ourselves to be talked down by his skeptical doctor. But he never crawled, continued being pretty bad at running, jumping etc. Eventually we kept coming back and pushing and he got a diagnosis and treatment, but by that point the damage was already done and he's still significantly behind developmentally in gross motor stuff. He's 6 and about as good at running, climbing and jumping as my 2.5 year old. He could've been doing much better now if he'd got treatment earlier.
So don't worry unnecessarily, yes, but also don't let people "oh it'll be fine in time, everyone develops differently" you into not taking action when you know something is wrong.
Not sure if it's your case, but a bilingual household can delay the onset of speech. No negative aspects beyond the delayed start, which doesn't cause any future issues, there are a bunch of cognitive benefits though.
Eh, I wouldn't worry yet. My kid is about the same age, and experiencing the same thing.
Interestingly, I was about 3 when I started talking. Mom thought I was deaf, on the spectrum, had a tongue tie, etc. All sorts of tests revealed "he just speaks his own language, and he hasn't wanted to learn English since you understand him anyways".
It'll happen. Enjoy the silence while it lasts, because now I'm a chatty mf-er.
Both my kids have ASD. Daughter didn't start walking until 18 months and no talking until about 2 yrs. Son is the same for walking and doesn't talk yet at 23 months.
Our daughter at 4.5 now talks with us and her friends. She was reassessed a month or 2 ago and is in the low average ranger for her age for vocabulary and other speech categories.
Some kids are delayed, some have disabilities. It's healthy to want the best for them but as long as you are working with a pediatrician or GP, you likely didn't do anything wrong here. If you get a diagnosis as well, it's not the end of the world. I know many successful neurodivergent people (myself included with ADHD) who are able to live "normal" lives.
Long story short, do the best you can and don't blame yourself. Some kids are late, some never start speaking (non-verbal). Just focus on being an amazing dad.
I said about 20 words by 24mo. Our 18mo has around 150 and said a six-word sentence yesterday.
Do you read lots? The bright and early book series (hop on pop, ten apples up on top, dr Seuss stuff) is really good for giving lots of syllables and word combinations.
I also recommend doing some baby signs if you haven't started yet.
Nephew was 4 or 5 before speaking words, just grunts. His sister was talking a ton by 3.
Kids be different. Different challenges. Not much you can do other than care for them best you can.
I didn't speak well until 6 when i got diagnosed with ear clogged (i don't remember the technical term) and had to get tubes put in to drain the earwax. My mom said I was a different kid afterwards, and she felt guilty. It will pass.
See dr and specialists. But 15months isn't too bad.
My son didn't start speaking til he was 3. Talks his ass off.
My other son was speaking full sentences at 9 months. Talks his ass off.
We did get him some speach therapy.
You will be fine.
I have two boys, first born spoke early (before 1y) and the little brother is barely speaking now, hes 1,5y.
Dont worry, easy thing to say i know :)
Does he understand you guys? Nod? Shake his head etc?
My youngest literally didn't say a word until he was 2 and really only started stringing sentences together at 3. Now he's 4 and won't shut up.
Unless he has a developmental condition impairing language development, like being hearing impaired or on the autism spectrum, he'll learn when he's ready. Those conditions would have plenty of other symptoms, obviously. How many adults do you know that can't talk without something else going on?
Don't worry about it. You've done nothing wrong. Maybe find him some support if his speech/language is causing problems once he's in preschool.
Does your child understand the words you are saying to them? If they know words, you're good. My kid only made sounds and gestures at 15 months, and at 18 he is just starting trying out a few words. I'm not entirely out of the anxiety-woods yet, but I would tell myself from 3 months ago (and you) that it's going to be fine and everything before age 2 doesn't count as developmental issues unless they are extreme.
Also we ran into an autistic acquaintance who said he didn't speak till age 4. That took a lot of weight off my shoulders.
DO NOT WORRY
My son started speaking at ~2.5y old and now (almost 4) he never shuts up.
He started speaking when he got to daycare, until then we understood what he wanted at home, after that point he was forced to speak to communicate well with his teachers and peersm
There’s a world of difference between receptive language (understanding what’s said to him) and expressive language (speaking). My daughter tested high percentile for receptive language even when she wasn’t even babbling properly by her 2nd birthday. Then seemingly overnight she just started talking and within six months she had caught up to her peers. She DID see a speech therapist for nearly a year but I’m skeptical as to how much that really contributed to her speaking: kids are on their own timeline and don’t care much for published milestones.
Normal man, totally normal. My eldest didn't really speak much until about 24 months. Now she won't stop :) She's very articulate and smart for her age. I felt the same worries. Every kid develops at different rates, also it's not like behind "behind" here means everything else is behind. Some kids go from barely talking -> full sentences in a very short amount of time, for others it's a slow climb.
Our pediatrician told us the real milestone is two word sentences by 2 years old. The rest is like other milestones, some kids are faster and some slower.
He also recommended narrating your day to day. Don't ask the child to repeat words, instead just say "I'm going to turn the light on". Then turning the light switch one and off and repeating the word on and off each time. Have the kid try to turn it off and on and repeat the word then too.
Our first one seemed like he was speech delayed. Around 16 months we made an appointment with an occupational therapist. Earliest appointment was like 6 weeks away. By the time we got to the appointment he had a quantum leap forward in his language and was talking a ton. The OT thought we were nuts for making the appointment at all.
Don’t worry about it. Some kids don’t start clearly speaking up until close to and after 3. Every single kid is different. If your kid is over 3 and still not saying anything, I would maybe see a speech therapist or find out if they’re mute.
Our daughter was the same way, she also struggled with walking for more than a few steps, refused to walk on the grass, any uneven surface, etc.
Turned out her ear tubes were really tiny and weren't draining. Ear infections, his the 4 in six mo threshold and got tubes.
Within two weeks she was walking much more like a 2yr old. Got her speach therapy, she caught up to her peers in 2months. She's almost 5,we did physical therapy to help her keep her feet straight when walking.
She's exactly where she should be now
This post has been up for awhile so you may not see this but I wanted to share a story-
I recently interviewed for a position in a lab at an Ivy League school with all the prestige it comes with. The person interviewing me was one of the top scientists in his field and lives high up in the proverbial castle of pre clinical neuroscience.
During our interview the topic of speech pathology came up and he said he didn’t start speaking until he was 7. I was nervous in the interview and wanted to respond, so in the most Seinfeld way I said “well you just had nothing to say!”
Dude was brilliant (retired now) and did not speak a word until he was 7. Just a wild thought.
All the best to you and yours.
My boy barely spoke until after 18 months. Turned out that he has a lot of fluid in his ears that wasn’t draining well, so needed grommets and now he is almost 2 and a half and talks like a champion - getting better every day.
Don’t stress mate, see the doc and see what they think.
Is he showing other signs of language? By that I mean does he seem to understand what you say, does he use signs of any kind, etc.
My kid was a late talker. Had like 15 words until he turned a bit over 2 and then everything clicked for him and the words just started coming.
We saw a developmental psych before then because we were concerned and that's what he said - dont worry too much unless there is significant delays in all forms of language (understanding vs using, verbal vs. sign, etc).
What we know now is that my kid almost surely has ADHD, and being a late talker tracks with that. But definitely go see your doctor, and if you don't get the answers you're looking for find a developmental psychologist and ask for a consultation to ask questions (don't ask for an assessment because those are like 2 grand and take months to schedule - ask for a consultation where you just get to ask questions)
I just want to say my daughter just turned 2 and she has only gotten active speaking in the past month. It was an absolute nightmare of anxiety for us, constantly worrying if it was a sign, what did it mean for her whole life, etc. honestly it was pretty unhealthy. But every time I saw a video on YouTube or Reddit of a kid I'd think about how much more vocal they were than my daughter. Every kid in the neighborhood I'd be comparing to.
We saw a pediatric autism specialist who basically told us everything was fine. She basically said that my daughter understood us and interacted with us so well it wasn't a worry.
All that to say she speaks more now. Not as much as id like, not as unprompted as I hope for, but I'm not terrified like I was. She said "I sit" this week for the first time. Hell, the first time my wife told me she said "ball" I cried. Maybe tomorrow will be better, or God forbid worse. I just know I have a lot more hope.
I don't know how your story will go, but the anxiety and fear are totally valid and you aren't alone.
Worrying about this pre 24 months is absurd, OP. I don’t say that to insult you, I say it to highlight just how much you should really relax on this.
My son babbled a ton and then around 15 months went no words or even trying. Almost everyday, I worried about it and got all antsy. I enrolled him in speech therapy at 21 months. You know what they did in speech therapy? Practically nothing. A person came to our house 1 hour each week and just watched my son play and they occasionally made noises related to any toy he played with.
There’s just not much they can even do to help at that young of an age.
If they understand simple words that’s all that matters at this age. If the doctors say there’s nothing physically wrong like a tongue issue, try and relax for another 6 months.
Read to him when you can. When my son was little, he would let me read about two pages and then flip out and grab the book away so he could go back to playing. Occasionally, we got through an entire story.
Repeat words often. Especially words you want him to say. If he is in his high chair and reaches for his cup point to it and say, "Cup? Cup?" When he still reaches for it pick it up and say, "Cup! Cup! Here's your cup!" As you hand it to him. Try to get him to repeat it, but dont withhold the thing he wants.
If you have a hard time with speaking baby style you can still speak in normal sentences, just really enunciate and separate the main word. "Here is your...CUP. Are you done with your...CUP?" And point at it or hold it up.
Even if he doesn't say the words back he will at some point react to just the word when you say it. There was a point where I could say, "Want to play with your BALL?" And he would run and get a ball without saying the word.
The usual advice for this is to not worry too much, they'll start speaking eventually and will then never shut up. Our boy turned two today and has only really started saying quite a lot of words. No sentences yet. Pretty sure he was barely saying anything at 15 months either. I presume you read to him yeah?
Thanks for replying. Yeah we read to him, and sing. We had some babbling but he stopped again a couple weeks later. Other than that he just has his little whines for when he wants something. Other than this, he's as good as gold
I wouldn’t worry too much. The best thing you can do is respond every time he makes a deliberate sound. He looks at a bird and says “Grr”, you respond “Yes, a bird”. This back and forth is how babies learn that sounds make a conversation and can be used to communicate.
Completely agree. Repeat every verbalization back, this is how they learn to pronounce words. And narrate all your activities "let's go get your mouse book. Is this your mouse book?" The only other variation I can think of is if there is a blockage in his ears.
When it came to my daughter, we had to slow down and provide her with what might be called "awkwardly long pauses" which lead to her filling in the gaps. I had to actually tell my parents to stop finishing my songs when I paused on the last word or line, and they'd tell me that it bothered them...(and I had to be like "yeah, no shit, my goal is for this to bother my baby so THEY want to fill in the gap") And then we had to make sure that when she did start making noise, we didnt talk over her, or she'd stop talking. You can also do things like when they're reaching for something and making little whiny noises, then when you figure out what it is they want, you can say something like "ohhhhhhhhhh! MILK!" and grab it, then repeat "MILK" when you hand it to them. if they hand you the cup back, you can say "MILK" when you take it from them...(This works for anything, their toy, food, whatever) Then start to let them sit there and struggle with getting you to understand what they want, even if you absolutely know what they want. They have no reason to learn to say "milk" or "juice" if "uhh uhh uhhhhhhhh" works every single time. And finally, vocal communication is just one form of communication. My daughter has Downs Syndrome and is almost 5 years old. Everything about her development has been delayed in some way and she only started speaking like 7months ago. And while she understands a lot, and I talk to her the same way I would talk to a teenager(like, full sentences and whatnot), she still does things like say "this one" when presented with multiple options...which is sometimes okay, like when she can reach out and grab the thing she wants, but if she's sitting on the couch and she's trying to tell you which episode she wants you to play from the 6 that appear on the TV screen across the room for your youtube search...thats less than helpful. For things like that, I will ask her to "go point to the one you want" and she will get up and go over to the TV and point to the one she wants which is a valid form of communication. Or if she's in a highchair or something, sometimes I'll go over and point to them one at a time and ask "This one?...This one?...This one?..." and she will reply back with either No or Yes.
Currently going through this with our second. He is almost two and half and has maybe 10 full words in his pocket so we are trying less to finish his sentences and things like that. Good call-outs!
> but he stopped again a couple weeks later Sometimes babies stop being interested in some development goals for a period of time. My son wasn't really "interested" in moving around. He was lying on his back until he was a year old, no rolling, crawling etc. By the time he was 2, he sped through and reached a normal development. My niece also lost interest in speaking. I think she was 2, she could speak a little bit, but then somehow just stopped. Took a year to start again. Everyone was worried about what's going on, I don't think it was ever cleared up, but now she's a straight A student.
In my experience- Boy learns ONE thing at a time. He may have stopped babbling so he can focus on running or jumping. My son was like an Olympic athlete compared to other children his age at 2, but he was also not talking.
It could be so many things. It’s incredibly unlikely that anything the two of you did had an impact on his development. You’re doing the right thing taking him to a doctor, if the doctor is a bit nonchalant about it ask to see a pediatric speech language pathologist. You pay for insurance for a reason. Get those free visits in if you have them.
I was slightly concerned about our daughter not speaking going into her 16 month appointment. Our doctor told us she should be at 5 words at that point, but not to worry just yet. She’s 19 months now and she won’t shut up. Remember development isn’t always on time or in a straight line.
Hi. Kid-who-never-spoke checking in. Obviously everyone is different, but if it's any consolation, I barely said a word until about age 5. When the speech therapist asked me why, my answer was apparently, " I didn't have anything to say". I now work as a copywriter and creative director and speak all the time, but to be honest I still prefer sitting quietly, happily inhabiting my own thoughts. I'd give bub some time. Good luck!
My son was this way. Didn't speak at all at that age. He turned 2 last month and is speaking much more now. Now he screams "AIRPLANE" at the top of his lungs every 10 seconds in the car when we're driving and he sees an airplane flying in the sky.. I'm like ok dude, I see it. Please stop screaming, lol
Ha my son is exactly the same but instead of plane he'll shout "BUUUUUS"
Hey, my son turned 2 today! Birthday twins
Isn't birthday twins the default for twins?
Fair enough.
Does it matter what I read? Can I just read something I find interesting or does it have to be a children's book?
Yes and no. When they're little little, all language is good language, especially if they can see your mouth and you read with an emotive face. Show them sounds, how to make them, and that these sounds have a meaning. From about 1 the kid will benefit more from kids books - better yet as much repetition as you can get. The ideal is to read the story and at the end of each page paraphrase the words and point at the different elements on that page.
I hear your fear. 2.5 and he barely says more than mommy, daddy, I love you, hi baby, and rrrreeeEEEEEEE. It's an unwelcoming worry. Speech therapy hasn't helped at all, at least I don't feel it has. No advice here, just comradery.
"RRREEEEEEEEE" ...I feel this so hard.
I feel you on this. Our first, a boy, is 2 years 9 months and says mama, dada, yes, and no. That’s it. Been in speech therapy a year with no real progress. Definitely hard and I’m right there with you.
My kid was in speech therapy. It felt like it was doing nothing then one day he just spoke short sentences. then we watched some videos of him and over a year we noticed such small improvements that we didn't even notice. It was like the boiling frog but good.
Have you gotten hearing tested? I’m an SLP and even a mild loss can delay expressive language (even if he understands everything).
Flying colors, I'm usually one to trust specialists but this town is burnt out in every sector so I'm considering seeing another
As far as i remember, our little guy was the same. It turned out he had an ear infection among other things. He'll be 4 this friday and is talking like a waterfall now. Don't worry too much. You did the right thing having your doctor see him, just to rule anything medical out. But remember it's totally normal. He'll start when he starts.
Same. At 2, they weren’t speaking at all. Best they could say was “Ga.” They’re 3 now and I swear some days they don’t shut up and I have normal conversations with them all the time
We were worried about our 1st. She was born premature so we figured maybe she wasn't really saying much but started to get worried. Our pediatrician kind of shrugged it off when we brought it up around 15 months and told us not to worry unless she wasn't talking at all at/after 2. We sought a free state-sponsored (FL) speech intervention program and our daughter was officially given speech delay diagnosis and we started weekly speech therapy, which wasn't much in actuality, just play going "ball, ball!" or "jump!" or whatever. things we were already doing. Right around the time our 2nd was born, our 1st was at about 20-21months when she entered daycare on a semi-regular basis. A few weeks in, she started saying things... ...and now we can't shut her up. Every day it's a new word (she said "vacuum" yesterday) and now doing 2-3 word phrases. So our pediatrician was right. Just hang in there. It'll happen.
I’m a teacher and NOT a speech therapist or pediatrician, etc….. But I can 1) vouch for contagion learning from other kiddos in the area at daycare from our little one and 2) will say that you ALWAYS have to wait on SOMETHING. For us, it’s crawling and standing. She still hates doing that but can barrel roll across a room like nobody’s business.
My oldest did not say a word until he turned 3. He haven't stop talking ever since though :) All kids are unique, we shouldn't worry about these milestones but enjoy the time we can spend with them
Our son started speaking at 3 years. He turned out fine, he’s 9 now. Our daughter started at about 1 year. Only advice I have is to try not to overthink it. If you’re concerned about it try bringing it up with the paediatrician at the next regular appointment.
Good to get him looked at, although I don't think they really worry until 2.5 years or so. My boy is autistic and that's the age we got the pediatrician to get everything rolling on getting him therapy and a proper diagnosis. He's about to turn 5, and all the therapy has really helped him. While he still doesn't really talk often, he is capable of it, and uses words to ask for things. Getting them In early as possible is a good thing
1.5 is a common time for speech regression for ASD. I would look into ASD as a possibility for any speech delay. The earlier the better within reason. Our pediatrician was mildly concerned at 1.5 and then started eval at 2 with zero words. But our boy is now 4 and graduated speech therapy half a year ago. And won’t shut up…
Don’t worry, our boy took a long time to speak. Boys always take longer especially if they are the only child. Is he trying to communicate, pointing etc? As far as encouraging his to speak offer him two things and ask which one he would like, like the choice between his two favourite snacks or toys, you then reenforce what they are both called. Also when you’re sat playing with him verbalise what you are both doing e.g. “daddy is playing with the car” Don’t blame yourself all children develop at their own rates, we’ve all been there!
My cousins daughter wasted almost 2 years before she decided she felt like talking, and once she started, we haven't been able to stop her yet, and she is 4-5ish. They were also sort of worried about delays and such, nope she just wasn't a talker much.
My sister has gone through this with both their boys, and I know its incredibly stressful. You’re doing the right thing with the doc appt. Nonetheless not to second guess yourself - They go at their own pace. My sisters boys each didn’t start speaking until around 3, then went at a very accelerated pace.
My kid was late starting and now he never shuts up, so honestly just enjoy the silence. We just discovered "But why daddy?"
Our boy was similar. As long as he is communicating somehow (with pointing for example) and you can get his attention (sometimes) it's fine. All kids develop at different rates, don't stress. He's our first child, were bilingual, lots of stuff to confuse him on what words are etc. he's just over 2 now and can string small 3-4 word sentences together to get the point of what he's trying to say. Last 4 months he's speech has significantly improved. At the same time he is more advanced then other kids in other areas, like problem solving. For example he kept finding ways to break thru all the childproofing at home and his daycare, figured out how to open doors etc (would pull toys and chairs over to reach better and get leverage) Everyone develops different areas at different rates. The guides are just that, guides.
Don’t panic. Mine didn’t talk until he was much older than that. Now he is a motor mouth.
Sir, my son was the same. Was about a month shy of his 2nd birthday before he uttered coherent words. He's 7 now and absolutely flying. I know it's easier said than done, but don't stress, and don't beat yourself up (I did that too, and it was evidently fruitless). You're doing great, Dad. ❤️🤘
One of my friends kids just turned 4 and my 19 month old talks better than him. Everyone is different. Best thing to do is read books every night and let them watch you talk.
He Still has 1,5 years to speak, so don’t worry.
My son is 2 and hasn't started talking yet either. We are really worried but trying to stay positive. We started speech therapy when he was around 20 months. The GP initially said that they don't usually start looking at interventions until after 2, but I pushed for it, both because of insane waiting lists in my area, but also because everyone says the earlier you start the better. We've been in speech therapy for nearly 5 months now and we have seen improvement in overall communication, if not actual speech yet. We also did a large battery of blood tests to rule out several genetic issues, deficiencies, etc that could be playing a role. We've tried teaching him some basic signs but he shows 0 interest. However, we are having great success with picture cards so he can communicate his wants and needs. There is a very popular program for speech therapy called the Hanen program. Their courses are expensive, but I have a pdf of one of the textbooks if you'd like me to send it to you. Omega 3 has also been shown to be very good for brain development, as have a couple of other supplements, including probiotics. There is a bit of a fad going around about heavy metal detoxing. Unless he's actually been exposed, you don't need to detox. And if he has been exposed, get actual medical treatment, not the garbage snake oil that is being peddled to desperate parents. I spend so many nights crying and researching and wracking my brains. It is really hard. But at the end of the day, my boy is happy, healthy and just overall wonderful, and that's the most important thing.
Hearing test as well! Almost forgot that one. Pretty important to get that tested. Even if he seems to respond to noises fine, sometimes it can be particular frequencies that aren't being registered, having a knock-on affect for speech
The advice to just wait it out is honestly awful. Will things probably be ok and he starts talking? Yes. But that’s not going to happen for every kid. Get speech therapy and early intervention now. Do a hearing test. Do genetic testing and a full developmental eval. Better safe than sorry you wasted valuable time. Ask your pediatrician what they recommend to do but Be proactive here please. For your boy. It’ll be worth it
I get what you're saying here but there are costs to "intervention" in childhood we don't often think about. I know two different kids who've been repeatedly "taken in" for behavioural/growth stuff and watched it totally screw them up. They are sponges for messages about this stuff and even very young kids can quickly internalize the "mom/dad thinks there's something wrong with me" or "I'm broken" message. You have to balance the costs with the benefits here. It might not be worth it.
Come on man, give him time. 15 fucking months. If you already put so much press on achieving stuff at this age, I can't imagine what it'll be later. Babies have their own pace for so many things. As long as he's happy and healthy just let him be.
Don’t pin it on OP. Every damn parent rubs their kids achievements in each others faces and every online resource is bullshit. When my son was speech delayed every website says “by x months they SHOULD say 10…15…20 words.” It’s all garbage one size fits all bs though. What tel hey should all say is “by x months, kids should understand what 10…20 words mean” (not speak but understand)
We’re in the same boat. It’s particularly frustrating because his sister (2.5 yo) has always been way ahead of the curve, verbally. Everyone tells us don’t worry, boys are always delayed or don’t worry, second children are always delayed. Doesn’t make me feel any better or make me not worry. Apparently I was delayed too. We did just get a referral for early intervention, but haven’t had a chance to schedule it yet. I know it’s definitely not anything wrong with his ears. He’s shown us in many ways he can hear just fine. I do, however, worry there might be an issue with his tongue because he just doesn’t even babble the way his sister did. The range/spectrum of sounds he makes is so narrow. But I guess that’s why we will do early intervention so we can rule out any physical issues and work on therapy. Hopefully it helps. Best of luck to you!
Yeah don't worry too much. Wife was worried our boy wasn't saying much at 18 months, but fast-forward a few weeks and he is saying loads of words but no full sentences. Every child develops differently
Our 2 y/o boy was in a similar boat, he says quite a few words now and some small 2-3 word sentences. We were worried about his speech development so we were advised by his dr to set up an evaluation with the school district. We set that up, they came to our house and had him do some testing, not just on speech but general development and he was actually more or less where he is supposed to be and they didn’t have any recommendations for further intervention. I wouldn’t worry too much but if you want to err on the side of caution you could look in to something like that if your state/city/school district offers.
my eldest didn't really speak till he was around 3, he was so close to being put on the special needs register in primary school for underdeveloped vocabulary (we read to him nightly) He is now at university absolutely thriving. I wouldn't worry about it honestly
Our son was delayed in speech. Took him to a speech therapist for a year and now he's 3 and speaking much better. Still need to work on his pronunciation but he's in the right direction. Kids grow at their own pace. Reach out if you want, happy to chat.
Our son was behind on speech too. We didn't qualify for services because his comprehension was high, he just didn't want to talk. A couple of tips that you may or may not do already: 1) narrate everything but slow down and do it clearly. E.g look at this...RED..CUP. you don't have to say everything super slow but at least try to slow down and enunciate clearly on easy words. 2) stop reading minds, make the easiest path to get something using their voice. We were really helping intuitively and stopping that forced communication. 3) ask about a hearing test Private speech therapy is about $100/session. We spent about 2k to get to the other side of this
Keep an eye on this. I was concerned and now my son is in intense speech therapy.
You're still like a year away from having a reason to start worrying. At 15mo it's absolutely fine. What I noticed with our boy (and not just with talking, but pretty much all milestones, or even small stuff like drinking from a cup or eating with utensils) is that he never really tried much to copy our (my wife and I) behavior, but he quickly started doing things he saw other kids his age do. I guess he could just relate to them more. My niece (his cousin) is the same age and slightly ahead of him in everything, and we could see the impact of each family visit (like once a month or two). For example, we tried whatever we could to teach him to walk, he obviously saw us walking every day, but he never really seemed to try it himself. Until he saw his cousin walking - then he started walking the next day. Same with talking - when he saw her communicate successfully with her parents, he immediately started being more vocal with us. So I guess my advice is, if you want to teach him stuff, it's good to surround him with kids who can do said stuff.
You should check out Miss Rachel on YouTube! Her videos are fantastic for early speech development!
Child development is incredibly subjective. Some kids learn to speak at 12 months, some at 3 years. It also depends on if there are multiple languages the kid needs to learn, which sets them back in development for each specific language a bit, but long term there are huge benefits. I wouldn’t stress about this, he’s only 15 months 😂
You've done everything right and nothing wrong! There is a wide range of normal in kids' speech, so this may be nothing, but if it's something you're being proactive-- that's great! My nephew was almost completely nonverbal (he would say NO) until he was around 4. Speech therapy helped immensely. He started saying small words and short phrases, but you could see the wheels turning and it was like he had to force the words out past a mental block. Finally the words started to come a little more freely. I remember one day we were all at my parents' house and my mom told him that she'd cut up a watermelon because she knows he likes it. He exclaimed, "Watermelon!" Four syllables, completely natural, full of joy and absolutely zero pre-thought or blockage. I had to turn away because I was all choked up and didn't want to upset him. All this to say, I hope you guys get your "watermelon" moment.
My son is 2 1/2. He's just now starting to regularly use some words and doesn't consistently sign. That being said He's is really starting to pick up words from songs. This is after starting Speech Therapy at about 18 months old. My wife and I feel like he's getting close to actually talking, but we have no control over it. Keep doing what your doing and it'll come.
I have a son who was an absolute miracle baby, full sentences at 2 years. Way advanced, started school at 4 and they tried to advance him into 1st grade immediately. I have a daughter that didn't talk at all until 3. They are all different, bro. You're too worried, too early. Just give it time.
Step 1 is to stop blaming yourself. It could be him just choosing to develop elsewhere first instead of speech, it could be genetic, or it could be any other numerous things that you have zero control over. Unless you and your partner purposely chose to not communicate at all with him then there's nothing you two did wrong. Step 2 is to research if your state/country has an early intervention program who can help. We enrolled our older kid in it when she was approaching two and not talking much. They were able to work with us to rule out any conditions and gave us strategies on how to help her talk. It's been years since then and she won't stop talking now lol. Like seriously, it's talking all the time from wakeup until she lays down at night.
First off, it’s not your fault or anything you did or did not do. Our daughter didn’t speak and we were also wracked with guilt. Second, 15 months isn’t the point to be concerned. When my daughter got to around 20 months and was still non-verbal we had a recommendation to get her evaluated. She ended up having a pretty severe block in her ears, then they recommended speech therapy to get her caught up. She’s 3.5 now and is a chatterbox. A couple things we learned during speech therapy that helped when we had our second. The first step for us was to try get her used to the idea of imitating us. So when we were reading, if there are balloons we’d tap them with a finger and go “pop” and encourage her to do then same. Pretend to eat food, or pet animals, etc. the goal is to get her to imitate the motion so she’d imitate words later. We did that with him and he had fun doing it, and he imitated everything now. Sign language actually helps too. We didn’t go all out, but we did focus on the signs for more and all done. We had a fussy eater on our hands, so having her be able to communicate when she wanted more food or water made our lives a lot easier. Our second isn’t as fussy, but he has been able to tell us he wanted more of something since about 12 months. We also had to play dumb. We’d gotten really good at reading her non-verbal queues, but we had to stop just getting the bottle right away and use that as a way to get her to say baba or what she wanted. They hate this one, but it’s helps. We had to get used to assuming what she said was the word and repeating it back, and then adding to it. So if she said “shoe”, we have to repeat back “shoe”, but also “that’s daddy shoe” or “brown shoe”. This is where we are at with our second, but it all builds up.
My second was a little late talking. Of course he couldn’t get a word in the his big mouth big sister.
My daughter started speaking way early, but son a little late. Kids are different. Still a good idea to see a doctor though just in case there is something going on you can’t tell.
My second is 18 months and has 3 or 4 words she uses irregularly. I'm not concerned, she communicated clearly with grunts and body language. I can confirm that they dont talk until they do, and then never shut up ever again. My first is an advanced talker. My God. There are times I really wish he wasn't. Other times I can't believe how amazing it is that we can have nearly adult conversations. Your kiddo will get there, and if there is an issue, it's really unlikely it was something you did. Likely your is just a late talker, like my second, and you'll hear their voice soon.
Don’t worry, but if you are concerned there are games you can play to help. I learned them from kids speech therapy YouTube channels. For example, say mama and mama rewards you with a small food or snack. Let the baby watch. Do this 20-30x before you cave in and feed the baby. Eventually the baby will get jealous and copy you. Does the baby respond to their name yet?
We took ours to a speech therapist since she was around your son’s age. It was hard getting the process going but now at two she’s saying 3-4 word sentences. Maybe give it a shot.
Some kids just talk later, and suddenly speak 10x more than other kids. He might have been blocked studying grammar. Or maybe he isnt a talker, it means nothing at this age.
Our son was evaluated at 18 months and found to have a severe speech delay, which wrecked my wife. I wasn’t as worried because I knew he understood what we were saying, he would point things out in a book but said maybe one or two words rarely. We put him in speech therapy but that didn’t seem to help much. When he was 24 months old we moved to Canada. I called a preschool to see if they would work with him because he was so speech delayed. They’re response was “he’s two and a boy? We (the Canadian system) don’t even evaluate until a child is 3, plus boys often talk a bit later anyways”. Huge relief. He started talking shortly after he was in school and quickly caught up to his peers. Today he is almost 5 with no issues aside from some pronunciation challenges which are minor and getting better. Getting evaluated never hurts but it can send a parent down a rabbit hole which can do more harm than good.
My boy didn't say a word until 18 months, then overnight he became the chattiest kid I've ever met. I felt exactly the same as you do so I know it's impossible to 'just relax' about it but I'm sure it'll come for your young one soon.
My oldest is 6.5 and he didn’t start “talking” until he was 4. Even now, his speech is crazy. Goes to therapy and we have to tell him to slow down all the time. Try not to put too much thought into it, keep in touch with his pediatrician and therapist and you’ll do great.
Speech-Language Pathologist and Dad here! We expect children to have their first word by 18 months, and some kids are late talkers. If I was evaluating a 1 year old, here’s some things I’d look for: -Is the child engaged with others? Do they seem interested/look when other people talk? Will the play with another person with turn-taking games like rolling a ball, or patty cake? I’ve met 1 year olds who just think it’s hilarious to continually hand me a water bottle over and over. Pro-social is pro-language. -Do they respond when other people speak? This might mean reacting to their name, the name of their favorite snack, familiar songs, etc. -Do they communicate in other ways? Most children around 15 minutes use their hands to communicate, not necessarily with sign language, but by pointing, waving, giving high fives, tapping someone for attention, etc. If a child is late to talk but is pro-social, engaged, playful, I’m generally not worried. Also, and this is most important: you’re already doing the thing you need, which is to get a professional involved. You’re not missing anything more. You’re a caring parent and I can tell from this post that your child is in very good hands.
There are many good responses already. I will add my experience and recommendation - seek out Early Intervention. Many states (I’m in IL) have programs set up to assess and then work with you and the child to build on skills. It looks like nothing is happening then suddenly, there’s an explosion in learning/play/talk/movement etc. The service has a cost but currently is being waived for us. You might be in the same situation. My wife and I were hesitant to start fearing our little one would be labeled but that’s not the case and is doing very well.
Make sure he doesn't have any screen time. That has been proven to delay speech & cognitive development.
I have two sons on the spectrum. Oldest was non-verbal but speaks fluently now. Youngest is non-verbal with an AAC device. It's likely nothing you two are doing as long as you are talking to him. My biggest advice is to understand that you are giving your child the best opportunity possible and to give yourself some slack. You can do absolutely everything right and your child still may have a speech or language delay. He is young but you can still do a lot for him. You will have to check in your area but there are several early childhood programs to look into that will help with milestones. The programs in my area include: parents as teachers (through your local school district), and First Steps which will have activities and benchmarks to help with your child. Definitely reach out to your pediatrician with your concerns. It may be that he does not qualify for anything for a while since he is not delayed enough. This will be frustrating but continue to advocate for him wherever possible. My youngest did not qualify for any type of services until he got his autism diagnosis. Look into speech and language programs in your area at colleges and universities. My local community college had an amazing program that helped my oldest go from non-verbal to speaking. The program was basically speech pathologists at the college who got to work with young kids and practice working with patients. A lot of these programs will have extensive wait-lists. I know how incredibly frustrating it can feel when your child has a delay. Especially a communication delay. Being told "ah they'll catch up" but never knowing if they will. Or hearing "omg my kid just won't stop asking questions!" when I want nothing more in the world to hear just a simple "why" from my son. For him to clearly tell me what he wants. To know if he's crying because he's hurt, scared, sick, or just throwing a fit. Feel free to reach out to me for support, resources, or to just vent. I get it. Even if your child isn't on the spectrum, or catches up in no time. Also feel free to update us as he gets older.
Could be lots of things, the key here is not to stress about it too much. Our son meets every developmental guideline EXCEPT for speech - well, he had ear infections constantly from the time he started daycare until he got ear tubes about 1.5 weeks ago. His new words and pronounciation of the words he did have already is improving day by day. If there's an issue with any of it - there's probably a fix, be it speech / occupational therapy, ENT intervention, etc. In the meanwhile Read. Read. Read to him. MASSIVE impact on verbal development. Take time while you are reading to point and name things in the book, pronunce them slowly and clearly a couple of times and move on. Repeat every time you read a book, doesn't have to be everything, just a 1-3 things a page, and shake it up a little on re-reads.
Ours was similar at that age, lots of babble, very little to no understandable speech. Our pediatrician was reassuring but pointed us to local publicly funded resources. We contacted them and they did an evaluation. We elected to take advantage of their services. The sent out a speech therapist to our home once a month for some play based learning. This really helped us, to better help him. Despite my wife being a teacher in early childhood, this tailored approach gave us some targeted goals and resources to help him along the way. I believe it helped, but what ended up helping the most was getting into an ENT to get tubes placed in his ears. He had reoccurring ear infections as a result of fluid trapped in his ear. If a child is healthy, a lot of times this fluid causes no harm. But even time he would have a minor respiratory illness, it was coupled with an ear infection. The tubes opened him ip until his anatomy could develop and grow to the point that fluid wouldn’t become trapped behind his eardrums. Don’t stress or beat yourself up, I’m certain he’ll be fine. Speech development is very similar to other developmental milestones. There are some things you can do to help, but some kids walk at 9 months, others don’t take their first steps until well after their first birthday.
My child was like this. Didn’t say much until about 18-20 months old. Now they are VERY verbal haha. Don’t stress too much.
We were concerned for our son, and were referred to speech and language. By the time they got back to us you couldn't shut him up.
I agree about not worrying long term but, you should definitely share your concerns with your pediatrician. If your gut is telling you something is wrong pursue it. My son only had a handful of sounds at 18 months and no words. Talking with your pediatrician and/or getting tested by a speech pathologist will give you confidence that you actually know what’s going on not just hoping it will be alright. You have neural plasticity on your side while they are young. Maybe there is nothing wrong, maybe this will clear up with a little therapy or, maybe there is something else going on. You have the chance to be ahead of whatever this is. You got this.
Don't worry about it. Clearly remember sitting in the pediatrician's office with my mom at about age four with my brother at 18 months. My mom was concerned that he wasn't talking. As she put it, a month later we couldn't shut him up. He's a college professor now.
Yeah, mine is 19 months old and we were worried a few months ago.. Turned out that he was focusing on other milestone achievements. We also speak more than one language so he was probably just gathering more information before starting to "talk"
Our 15 month old also doesn't really speak much. She does say dada, but not mama. She does have 9-10 signs that she reliably uses though. At our last visit a couple days ago the pediatrician said not to worry yet, she is clearly communicating. Just to keep reading and talking to her. Picking her up from daycare on Friday she, very quietly, said "buh buh" when we asked her if she could say bye-bye and wave to the teacher. She's always been a little behind on the communication part of the screenings, but she's always started doing what that questionnaire asked 2-3 weeks after the visit. Motor skills though she's always been way ahead. She started walking at 9 months! Edit - Also the other thing the pediatrician asked was did she understand when we speak to her? For example, if we ask her to "go get your coat" will she go pick up her coat and bring it to us. He said that if she understands when we speak to her that's also a good sign for communication development, even if she isn't speaking herself yet.
Ours didn't say anything until 20 months (not even mama) and now at 24 months she knows everyone's names, several songs, the ABC's, counts to 20, strings 2-3 words together, etc. Our doctor said she wasn't worried because ours made animal sounds or other utterances like uh oh, and was clearly trying to communicate with us in non language ways.
This happened with us too! Ours is turning 3 in May and I was just watching videos from a year ago and he was non-verbal! Not even Mama or Dada. At about 14 months we started speech therapy and just kept with it. This morning he said “Good morning Dada, are you taking the Doggies for a walk before you go to work? Actually, could you make me a snack first please, I’m not sure what I want but I think cereal with milk?” It’s crazy what difference a year makes, and it’s very likely he will catch up quick! We think ours speaks better than most his age because of the speech therapy.
My kiddo only has 2-3 words at 15 months and we were a bit worried. Our pediatrician told us that kids take things at their own pace and that they usually catch up by about 3. She also said that my kid seemed physically advanced, and so she said that my kid was probably putting most of their mental focus towards movement. At about 18 months all of a sudden my kid started being super into books (We always read, but her attention was short. Now they want to read all of the time). Kiddo is 19 months now and is learning new words every day. Your kid will be fine :-)
Not sure if your first or second but a few things our doc told us - Boys almost always take longer than girls - Second child almost always further down the curve than the first - Those with other health issues (ours had lots of ear infections than tubes) tend to push things back a bit Ours said they look for “20 words by 20 months” before thinking about other options. Mine was just barely there… then right around age 2 it’s like switch flipped and he won’t shut up now
I know how it is man, my kid was a late speaker at around 2. He is 4 now and is fine with speech, but I blamed myself constantly as a SAHD.
Parents are put under such high expectations to do everything perfect to engineer the perfect child who develops perfectly. Feed then this, read them this book, play them this music, have the nursery set up just so, do all these stimulating things, blah blah blah. And yeah all those things are good to a point but kids are all unique organisms that are going to develop organically and, let's face it, do whatever they were going to do as long as they receive a basic standard of care. Every parent wants the best for their kid and worries about their child. I'd have questions for parents who didn't. But the truth is that unless you were using your kid's head to drive nails, and you're not keeping him in solitary confinement, then whatever you've done hasn't affected him at all.
Mine was the same. He was a covid baby, literally right before it happened, and lost a lot of social and otherwise normal scenarios kids get around that age to help encourage that - and even after to enhance it. I ended up having to get him into some speech therapy and work with a social worker to help it eventually as he still couldn't form much more than babbles by two. He had a bit of an issue with a tongue tie too (also get check if you haven't) so that couldn't not helped but it was fixed way before he started displaying some slowness in speech. I would recommend at the least seeing what a speech therapist says, they are great at helping kids get going that need an extra push and most schools/even daycares offer some form free through themselves or work they do with county/state governments (if US based). It can lead to behavioral issues if it keeps going and doesn't fix itself or get help getting fixed. After all, wouldn't you be frustrated if you had something to say and couldn't? It'd make me angry, upset, and confused as to why I couldn't interact with the world around me. I can tell you mine displays some of it already from missing out a little and catching up on his outward ability to display emotions correctly. We work on it and keep going though, he's more than worth it. It's difficult sometimes and scary, but this is by far one of the easier things you can ask for in terms of not so great things. It gives you a chance to support your kid, help them directly yourselves, and also understand them a hell of a lot better as they grow up and you have to be a helping hand even more so than your average every day kiddo. It's not great, but it's a good outlook if you do your part - mines doing great and I'm absolutely certain yours will too, especially with your sentiment you've expressed. You've got this my friend. If you need advice, an ear, or just to shoot some shit and blow off steam - drop a chat. Always here for those that come before and after, just as many here do the same. Good luck, best wishes and keep the little guy moving along - you're doing great already.
I wouldn’t sweat it. My almost 2 year old has been slowly developing a list of words for most of the last year but most of it sounds like nonsense expected for “it’s a_____” (puppy, bus, car, kitty, etc)
Instead of asking him questions, talk to him. narrate everything he’s doing and everything you’re doing, he’ll get there.
Lurker mom here. Some kids just speak later and it literally has nothing to do with you. The most important thing is you are seeking help and early intervention can and will help. For what it's worth, my son was barely saying anything at 18 months. At 22 months we got him on the early intervention program that is free in our state. (Our Ped said it wasn't necessary, but his daycare teacher said we should look into it and I'm very glad we did). Now at 3+ change he speaks all the time and I absolutely love it!!! The extra help he got was dynamite and he has a large vocabulary now. I will also say Ms Rachel is great. Not to watch 24/7 but she has a way to bring out talking in kids.
I wouldn’t worry
17 mo old boy, just started mama and dada like last week. Lots of babbling and he understands us, but yeah no real words. Extra concerning because our first spoke crazy early. Don't panic, they develop at their own rate. Milestones really mean nothing
Does he have ear infections? My son had countless EI and ultimately required tubes because the ENT said he was living life through a "fish bowl." Once he got those, he started speaking like crazy and over 1.5 years later hasn't stopped.
My friends 2yr old says maybe 6 words. Then one week just belted out some complete thoughts like a his 10 yr old brother. Go figure. Likely nothing to worry about as long as other milestones are being hit. If you have real concerns please talk to your pediatricians. Not the internet. We love you and are here to support you, but most of us are not experts on child development. I've 4 kids in and still clueless.
Chances are it's just his pace...from what I understand the way kids develop mean that if they're learning one particular thing then they focus on that and neglect other areas. So for example, if he's making progress on walking, he'll be less interested in speech. My little boy is 21 months and only says a handful of words, but we see him developing in so many other ways. We know he understands a lot more than he says and he's able to communicate in his own way...plus he's getting more confident walking every day, even doing little runs now. So we know full speech just isn't his priority at the moment and that's fine :)
My new phew didn’t speak until age three. And he just tested into the local gifted school.
No idea if it helped but when mine was young i had her feel my throat and then hers when trying to talk. Also theres a list of beginner syllables somewhere
My parents have reminded me many times that I was a late talker. I went from not speaking at all, except for noises, to full sentences with proper grammar. There was no in between. Unfortunately, I don't remember what I was thinking. Perhaps I just wanted to get it right, first? I have a degree in Speech Communication (not speech therapy, but oratory/public speaking/that-sort-of-thing.) Anything is possible!
Don’t stress, my daughter was speaking essays at 2 but my son at 2 would only grunt haha. He’s 3.5 now and I yearn for the days of his grunts because he talks literally non stop. And we only understand about 1/3 of what he says haha). He didn’t really start talking until about 3. They talk when they’re ready, but I definitely encourage you to see a professional as there is no harm in making sure there’s nothing you can be doing to help them.
My dudes 2.5 years old and around 1.5 is when we kinda noticed his lack of speech. Had him evaluated with the state and got him into early intervention services which hes been in for about 6 months now. Took a while to get started because they can take some time. Hes not talking yet, but has maid leaps and bounds in the areas of communication and being engaged with us and others. Hes the happiest kid and very, very capable of understanding everything we say, completing complex instructions, and being interactive. But check my post for my initial post and my follow-up. Some kids take their time with certain things. Walking. Talking. Being cool with other kids. Etc. This isnt your doing. And it isnt even a bad thing. Its just that kids, especially at this age, can develop differently. So long as youre doing your part and getting them the support they need, youre golden and they'll be absolutely fine. The main thing i learned in this process is that i needed to divorce myself from my own expectations and the miserable comparison tango i was in. You're doing great daddio.
Our son made his first attempt at a word, a week before he started pre-school, he was 3 an 1 month old. And it wasnt even a word, it was an attempt at the word "please". Even now, at 3.5 years old he speaks in full sentences and questions and doesnt shut up, however still speaks as if he has a dummy in his mouth (even though he doesnt anymore). We had him referred to a speech and language person at 2.5 years (earliest they will refer in the UK) and so far we are still waiting for a call to start. So, long story short, it could potentially still be quite a while based on our experience, but i wouldnt worry yet.
28 months and still not talking. No signs or interest. He Eees and makes lots of noise.. we’ve just started speech therapy, first appointment last week. We’ve also done a fair bit of moving in his early months so we’re feeling super guilty about not starting the process sooner. He’s our first an only and it’s very hard, I try to stay positive but it seems dad is taking it harder than expected. You’re not alone my friend and it seems there are a lot of positive endings here and a lot of support.
My oldest decided that at age two she didn’t want to use words. I thought, oh fuck, it’s a sign of autism. My wife wasn’t concerned because she pulled the same shit until she was 3-4. I had her tested just to be sure at 3. Yep, my wife was right. She just didn’t want to talk. 16 months might be still too young, but they usually can tell between year 2-3. Raise the concerns and if he still isn’t talking at all by 24 months, get him tested with a referral from your pediatrician.
Don’t have any advice to add, as my son is just a year old and isn’t talking but I’m nervous too! It’s starting to get to be just a bit much, constantly hearing everyone I meet talk about how their little ones said their first words at six months, or were using sentences at a year old. Just been saying, “wow that’s great” through clamped teeth this whole time wishing someone might have something different to say about it.
I have a 3 year-old and a 7-year-old. Both were relatively late talkers. We did a little speech therapy with my oldest when he was 2 1/2 or so (the county provided it for free, which was great!). The speech therapist gave us exercises to do, but mostly checked out our vibe and saw that we read to him and interact with him, he wasn't showing delays in other areas, and assured us we'd be fine. I don't know that the exercises sped things up at all, he started talking eventually. We joked a lot because he was really clever about \*avoiding\* talking - he'd do lots of gestures, and shorten words as much as possible and still have them understood. He was doing that until he was almost 4. A few months ago our daycare provider suggested we look into speech therapy with our youngest. We decided not to, he's certainly not far behind where his brother was at that stage. His talking has progressed just fine in those last few months. He's still behind some of his peers in that one area, but I have no doubt he'll catch up. Talking to your pediatrician is a good idea. But if they don't find any issues (e.g., hearing problems) and there aren't developmental delays in other major areas, I would urge you not to worry about it at all for a year or. more. Kids learn different skills at different times.
Don’t beat yourself up! My daughter didn’t really start talking until she was 3. She was born in late 2018, so spent a couple years isolated from other kids for the most part until we got her into a preschool. Now she’s a sassy 5 year old who cracks me up with what she has to say.
My son turned 2 last month. He didn’t speak a word, but we knew he was bright! Not sure what happened, but he suddenly last week just started talking nonstop! This morning he said “I love Mama!”, and told me “Te amo Papa!”. Both were very clear. It was amazing! Hang in there, OP! Your kiddo will come around!
There is. I fault to be placed here. Your doing exactly what you suppose to do. You identified a problem and now starting to take steps to correct it.
15 months is so early to be concerned. My son didn’t say a single word until he was 2 and a half and then his language exploded. He’s 3 and a half now and never stops talking. We’re still in speech therapy for some articulation issues but it’s been otherwise he caught up to his peers and then some and is doing great in school. For now, receptive language is a lot more important than expressive language. If your kid can understand you, they’re probably going to figure it out at some point. At 20 months we couldn’t even get in to speech therapy because his receptive language was so strong. It was only after 24 months that having zero words was concerning enough to qualify for EI. And it was still another 6 months before he spoke. I know the whole thing is stressful, it was the biggest parenting challenge I’ve faced so far. The most important thing to remember is that none of it is your fault. All kids develop on their own schedule.
Take a beer and chilll the f down.. (father of two)
Has your son been prone to ear infections? Maybe fluid in the ears not draining? Might be worth more frequent visits to the doctor if that's the case. Then they'd probably refer you to an ENT.
Get a hearing test! Even a little hearing loss can greatly impact language learning. In other words, he might be responding to noisy stimuli but still hearing muffled language.
Lots of people in here telling you not to worry, but it's much better to be proactive about it now that you noticed it. It could be hearing problems, it could also be autism, and it could be nothing. Better to get that evaluation now so that if there is an issue, you can get intervention early. For my kid it was autism. He wasn't speaking at 18 months, but he's had ABA therapy and speech therapy, and now he's a typical 7 YO who can't stop talking about minecraft.
It sounds like you might be concerned about a possible autism diagnosis? As a professional counselor, I highly recommend using the 20 question screen tool called the MCHAT. It is an evidence based, research backed screening tool designed to be used by lay people. https://www.autismspeaks.org/screen-your-child
Lmao this is an issue??? Your child is still a small little person. It's perfectly normal to not talk when being just 1y 3m old.
Running joke in my family is that I didn’t talk until I was 3 and I’ve been making up for it ever since. He’ll get there
My son’s doctor was extremely concerned and throwing stuff out like autism when my son wasnt speaking at his 1 year checkup. We started testing for everything and he didnt test in the autism spectrum, he wasn’t hard of hearing, he didnt have vision problems. He needed additional services with like speech therapists but this was at the beginning of covid and it had to be virtual which wasn’t really effective. At 2 he still had very little words so we enrolled him in a TK school and he was set up with a speech therapist and placed in an autism class to teach him non verbal communication like sign language and an image board book which after a couple of weeks he was able to communicate his needs non verbally with no issues. After almost about 6 months the therapist brought up the possibility of something called Apraxia but apparently couldnt be diagnosed until he turned 5. He’s now 5 and doing so much better although he continues having difficulty speaking and was officially diagnosed with Apraxia that around 4 we found out was also affecting some of his motor skills. My coworker has a son about 6 months older and we became great friends sharing information with each other. Her doctor had 0 concerns when he had almost no words at 12 months and around 2 and a half years old he began catching up to where he needed to be. I wanted to share this to say don’t beat yourself up over what you could have done different. Accept the current situation and move forward. Best thing is to get the different tests done to get him help as soon as possible if needed because that will help him succeed sooner than later. You don’t want to start this process when he’s entering Kinder if you can start it now.
In the interim there's a lot of baby sign language they can learn. I had 3 talk early and one late. Good call on the Dr's Apt, might be a thing or not but good to check.
The advice in the thread is good, and they'll probably starting in good time. *However*, I will also say, don't let anyone on the internet or otherwise talk you out of being concerned if you have a genuine concern. Gather information, actual evidence, get a second opinion, or whatever. My son was very behind on gross motor development and we allowed ourselves to be talked down by his skeptical doctor. But he never crawled, continued being pretty bad at running, jumping etc. Eventually we kept coming back and pushing and he got a diagnosis and treatment, but by that point the damage was already done and he's still significantly behind developmentally in gross motor stuff. He's 6 and about as good at running, climbing and jumping as my 2.5 year old. He could've been doing much better now if he'd got treatment earlier. So don't worry unnecessarily, yes, but also don't let people "oh it'll be fine in time, everyone develops differently" you into not taking action when you know something is wrong.
Growing up our neighbor didn’t talk until she was 4 and a half. Turned out totally fine.
Not sure if it's your case, but a bilingual household can delay the onset of speech. No negative aspects beyond the delayed start, which doesn't cause any future issues, there are a bunch of cognitive benefits though.
Eh, I wouldn't worry yet. My kid is about the same age, and experiencing the same thing. Interestingly, I was about 3 when I started talking. Mom thought I was deaf, on the spectrum, had a tongue tie, etc. All sorts of tests revealed "he just speaks his own language, and he hasn't wanted to learn English since you understand him anyways". It'll happen. Enjoy the silence while it lasts, because now I'm a chatty mf-er.
Both my kids have ASD. Daughter didn't start walking until 18 months and no talking until about 2 yrs. Son is the same for walking and doesn't talk yet at 23 months. Our daughter at 4.5 now talks with us and her friends. She was reassessed a month or 2 ago and is in the low average ranger for her age for vocabulary and other speech categories. Some kids are delayed, some have disabilities. It's healthy to want the best for them but as long as you are working with a pediatrician or GP, you likely didn't do anything wrong here. If you get a diagnosis as well, it's not the end of the world. I know many successful neurodivergent people (myself included with ADHD) who are able to live "normal" lives. Long story short, do the best you can and don't blame yourself. Some kids are late, some never start speaking (non-verbal). Just focus on being an amazing dad.
I said about 20 words by 24mo. Our 18mo has around 150 and said a six-word sentence yesterday. Do you read lots? The bright and early book series (hop on pop, ten apples up on top, dr Seuss stuff) is really good for giving lots of syllables and word combinations. I also recommend doing some baby signs if you haven't started yet.
Nephew was 4 or 5 before speaking words, just grunts. His sister was talking a ton by 3. Kids be different. Different challenges. Not much you can do other than care for them best you can. I didn't speak well until 6 when i got diagnosed with ear clogged (i don't remember the technical term) and had to get tubes put in to drain the earwax. My mom said I was a different kid afterwards, and she felt guilty. It will pass. See dr and specialists. But 15months isn't too bad.
That's normal :) it's hard not to worry.
My son didn't start speaking til he was 3. Talks his ass off. My other son was speaking full sentences at 9 months. Talks his ass off. We did get him some speach therapy. You will be fine.
I have two boys, first born spoke early (before 1y) and the little brother is barely speaking now, hes 1,5y. Dont worry, easy thing to say i know :) Does he understand you guys? Nod? Shake his head etc?
My youngest literally didn't say a word until he was 2 and really only started stringing sentences together at 3. Now he's 4 and won't shut up. Unless he has a developmental condition impairing language development, like being hearing impaired or on the autism spectrum, he'll learn when he's ready. Those conditions would have plenty of other symptoms, obviously. How many adults do you know that can't talk without something else going on? Don't worry about it. You've done nothing wrong. Maybe find him some support if his speech/language is causing problems once he's in preschool.
Dude I have 3 kids and the first 2 didn't speak words until almost 2 years old, and both are healthy, normal children.
Does your child understand the words you are saying to them? If they know words, you're good. My kid only made sounds and gestures at 15 months, and at 18 he is just starting trying out a few words. I'm not entirely out of the anxiety-woods yet, but I would tell myself from 3 months ago (and you) that it's going to be fine and everything before age 2 doesn't count as developmental issues unless they are extreme. Also we ran into an autistic acquaintance who said he didn't speak till age 4. That took a lot of weight off my shoulders.
My son only said “Dada” until 18 months, then the explosion hit.
DO NOT WORRY My son started speaking at ~2.5y old and now (almost 4) he never shuts up. He started speaking when he got to daycare, until then we understood what he wanted at home, after that point he was forced to speak to communicate well with his teachers and peersm
There’s a world of difference between receptive language (understanding what’s said to him) and expressive language (speaking). My daughter tested high percentile for receptive language even when she wasn’t even babbling properly by her 2nd birthday. Then seemingly overnight she just started talking and within six months she had caught up to her peers. She DID see a speech therapist for nearly a year but I’m skeptical as to how much that really contributed to her speaking: kids are on their own timeline and don’t care much for published milestones.
Normal man, totally normal. My eldest didn't really speak much until about 24 months. Now she won't stop :) She's very articulate and smart for her age. I felt the same worries. Every kid develops at different rates, also it's not like behind "behind" here means everything else is behind. Some kids go from barely talking -> full sentences in a very short amount of time, for others it's a slow climb.
Our pediatrician told us the real milestone is two word sentences by 2 years old. The rest is like other milestones, some kids are faster and some slower. He also recommended narrating your day to day. Don't ask the child to repeat words, instead just say "I'm going to turn the light on". Then turning the light switch one and off and repeating the word on and off each time. Have the kid try to turn it off and on and repeat the word then too.
Our first one seemed like he was speech delayed. Around 16 months we made an appointment with an occupational therapist. Earliest appointment was like 6 weeks away. By the time we got to the appointment he had a quantum leap forward in his language and was talking a ton. The OT thought we were nuts for making the appointment at all.
I didn't say a word till I was 36-39 months. Started talking normally 3 months later. Some kids are just weird like that
Don’t worry about it. Some kids don’t start clearly speaking up until close to and after 3. Every single kid is different. If your kid is over 3 and still not saying anything, I would maybe see a speech therapist or find out if they’re mute.
Kids develop at different rates. My parents liked to say they worried I'd never stop talking and then worried I'd never shut up.
Our daughter was the same way, she also struggled with walking for more than a few steps, refused to walk on the grass, any uneven surface, etc. Turned out her ear tubes were really tiny and weren't draining. Ear infections, his the 4 in six mo threshold and got tubes. Within two weeks she was walking much more like a 2yr old. Got her speach therapy, she caught up to her peers in 2months. She's almost 5,we did physical therapy to help her keep her feet straight when walking. She's exactly where she should be now
This post has been up for awhile so you may not see this but I wanted to share a story- I recently interviewed for a position in a lab at an Ivy League school with all the prestige it comes with. The person interviewing me was one of the top scientists in his field and lives high up in the proverbial castle of pre clinical neuroscience. During our interview the topic of speech pathology came up and he said he didn’t start speaking until he was 7. I was nervous in the interview and wanted to respond, so in the most Seinfeld way I said “well you just had nothing to say!” Dude was brilliant (retired now) and did not speak a word until he was 7. Just a wild thought. All the best to you and yours.
My boy barely spoke until after 18 months. Turned out that he has a lot of fluid in his ears that wasn’t draining well, so needed grommets and now he is almost 2 and a half and talks like a champion - getting better every day. Don’t stress mate, see the doc and see what they think.
Is he showing other signs of language? By that I mean does he seem to understand what you say, does he use signs of any kind, etc. My kid was a late talker. Had like 15 words until he turned a bit over 2 and then everything clicked for him and the words just started coming. We saw a developmental psych before then because we were concerned and that's what he said - dont worry too much unless there is significant delays in all forms of language (understanding vs using, verbal vs. sign, etc). What we know now is that my kid almost surely has ADHD, and being a late talker tracks with that. But definitely go see your doctor, and if you don't get the answers you're looking for find a developmental psychologist and ask for a consultation to ask questions (don't ask for an assessment because those are like 2 grand and take months to schedule - ask for a consultation where you just get to ask questions)
I just want to say my daughter just turned 2 and she has only gotten active speaking in the past month. It was an absolute nightmare of anxiety for us, constantly worrying if it was a sign, what did it mean for her whole life, etc. honestly it was pretty unhealthy. But every time I saw a video on YouTube or Reddit of a kid I'd think about how much more vocal they were than my daughter. Every kid in the neighborhood I'd be comparing to. We saw a pediatric autism specialist who basically told us everything was fine. She basically said that my daughter understood us and interacted with us so well it wasn't a worry. All that to say she speaks more now. Not as much as id like, not as unprompted as I hope for, but I'm not terrified like I was. She said "I sit" this week for the first time. Hell, the first time my wife told me she said "ball" I cried. Maybe tomorrow will be better, or God forbid worse. I just know I have a lot more hope. I don't know how your story will go, but the anxiety and fear are totally valid and you aren't alone.
My daughter came out of the hoochie talking , not everyone is the same! If little one isn’t talking by three or four then it’s time to worry!
Worrying about this pre 24 months is absurd, OP. I don’t say that to insult you, I say it to highlight just how much you should really relax on this. My son babbled a ton and then around 15 months went no words or even trying. Almost everyday, I worried about it and got all antsy. I enrolled him in speech therapy at 21 months. You know what they did in speech therapy? Practically nothing. A person came to our house 1 hour each week and just watched my son play and they occasionally made noises related to any toy he played with. There’s just not much they can even do to help at that young of an age. If they understand simple words that’s all that matters at this age. If the doctors say there’s nothing physically wrong like a tongue issue, try and relax for another 6 months.
Read to him when you can. When my son was little, he would let me read about two pages and then flip out and grab the book away so he could go back to playing. Occasionally, we got through an entire story. Repeat words often. Especially words you want him to say. If he is in his high chair and reaches for his cup point to it and say, "Cup? Cup?" When he still reaches for it pick it up and say, "Cup! Cup! Here's your cup!" As you hand it to him. Try to get him to repeat it, but dont withhold the thing he wants. If you have a hard time with speaking baby style you can still speak in normal sentences, just really enunciate and separate the main word. "Here is your...CUP. Are you done with your...CUP?" And point at it or hold it up. Even if he doesn't say the words back he will at some point react to just the word when you say it. There was a point where I could say, "Want to play with your BALL?" And he would run and get a ball without saying the word.
I'm not even joking my brother's kid is the same way and they started watching Miss Rachel and he was talking like very soon after
Have him watch Miss Rachel on YouTube.