18 Month Old Language Worries
So Baby Boy is 18 months old in 2 weeks. I’ve been worried about his language skills for a while, but have been trying to tell myself not to be paranoid. The rest of his development is perfectly on target and he communicates very well, but he has almost no words. He says “mom” – usually in an angry screech because I’m not doing what he wants, lol, but he does say it. He says something like “dada” but rarely and I’m not sure if he means his dad or something else, probably dad though. And lately he started saying “uh-oh”. That’s about it.
So yesterday I finally let myself look up normal language for an 18 month old. I found a few different numbers, but most suggested the average child of this age would have around a dozen (or more) words by this age. Damn. I know that he’s probably going to be fine and I just need to really work with him on his verbal skills. I probably should also take that pacifier out of his mouth more often. My older boys were quicker with their speech and didn’t have paci’s. Yet another guilty mama moment. Don’t worry – not for long. I think I’ll take it away after our vacation this month.
If anyone out there has a suggestion or two for helping improve his vocabulary I’d sure appreciate it! For now my plan is to simply be more clear and at his level when speaking to him. For example, when he runs to the pantry and bangs on the door so I will get him a snack, I’m taking a couple of minutes to say “snack” or “hungry” and then I get him a snack and say “cracker”, “cheese” etc. I also have to talk his older brothers into not speaking for him so much, cause that is a common problem I see mentioned with slower younger children! It’s so easy to let big brothers do all the work!
Tags: 18 month old, development, guilt, language, skills, verbal, words
As a mom of a almost 2 year old who doesn’t talk much, I’ve been there. As long as he had 10 words my pediatrician wasn’t worried. Also, did you son walk early? That is a predictor of talking late (according to my pediatrician). What we figured out is that when he is good and ready, he learns a new word.
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Thanks Lisa! Hmmm, well a few months until 2, but nowhere near 10 words and nope he didn’t walk early (started around 1 yr). I’ll keep an eye on him and talk to ped!
Hey, my son was extremely active – crawled at 6 months but didn’t walk until 14 months but was always on the go. He didn’t have a large vocab at 18 months and the Dr. said that if they are more active than their social skills a little more delayed and vice versa. The one thing that I found interesting at his 18 mos check up was the dr. did say as long as they can get their point across at this age the vocab isn’t as important and as long as they can understand you when you are speaking to them. My son is now 2 and just over night he started speaking in complete sentences as if the light bulb went off. At his 2 year appt, the dr. said he was at a 3 yr level in vocab and I really didn’t think he was speaking as well as he should, but apparently the teacher in me was a little paranoid. But I would still do what you are doing and also discuss with Dr.!! Doesn’t hurt to question it? What ’s the worse that can happen? The dr thinks your another paranoid mom – Join the group – LOL! Hope that helps!
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Thank you Cortney!! That is very reassuring as he is indeed a VERY active boy and he is perfectly capable of communicating – just not with words!! Thanks so much for stopping by!
At 18 months my daughter wasn’t saying many words either. Our ped said her brain was concentrating more on her motor skills and didn’t want us to worry. We went through the full hearing test, just to make sure it wasn’t a hearing problem. Sure enough, she’ll be four in a week and her vocabulary and comprehension are probably better than average and her manual dexterity is excellent for her age also. I think we were unfairly comparing her to her older brother who was speaking in sentences well before 18 months. It just goes to show that every child develops differently.
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Thanks for the comment Fran! Yes, definitely each child is different and I know his hearing and comprehension are good! Take care!