Hey everyone,

Hi everyone,
just thought I would let you know what the 'norms' for language development are.

*Babies generally should start to babble around 8 months of age
*first words start to come around 1 year of age
*by 2 children should have around 50 words and are starting to combine words
In saying this, there is a large range of what is normal
Public waiting lists can be extremely long (eg 18-24 months in some places) so I would take the 'better to be safe than sorry' approach as others have said you can always cancel the appt and waiting lists usually get longer the older the child is.

I think books are better than flash cards as communication is a two way street and flash cards don't really give children the opportunity to start communication.

Baby signs or makaton can sometimes be useful for children whose language is delayed. Research has shown that using signs can actually help to develop language just make sure that you ALWAYS say the word with the sign.

Good luck