1yo speech - whats normal and not?

[Freya]

Soooooo Im a teeny bit concerned about my 1yo and his speech. Never had any issues with my eldest as he had an extensive vocab and speech from a very early age. This no-words world is new to me.

He makes grunting sounds and likes to screech so I know it isnt hearing related but he just doesnt say anything other than mum, dad or 'du' (duck). Its getting a bit tiring playing Guess what I want while I grunt, and I try and teach him words on a daily basis but he just flatly refuses to involve himself and usually just screeches at me til I give up

What can I do to help him learn words? Should I be concerned or should I just let it go? When do you get concerned about delayed speech development?

[Macca79]

At one year of age he is still very much a baby. Most developmental specialists would not even look at him until he is around 4 as until then you can't really say its a developmental issue or not. I say just let him go and keep talking to him. Chances are he understands a fair bit of what your saying but just doesn't feel the need to respond using full words yet.

[Lolli]

Hi Anna,

My ds is exactly the same. He says mama, dada, nana, and tries for hello and dodie but that's it

I don't think you need to be concernced. My mchn said that between 12-18 months they may learn and use only 3 or 4 words, but between 18 months- 2 years that jumps to between 50 and 200 So msybe he is just on the edge of a big verbal spout

[ShootingStar]

Anna i really wouldnt be concerned. Jesse never even said mum until he was 16 months old and until then all he said was dad or hello. It wasnt until he actually turned 2 that hes actually really increased his vocab. Its like one day he went to bed and woke up and could talk.

[Lolli]

Kellxx you just reminded me- a friend was saying today that her sister didn't talk she was three- but her first words were "That was funny Daddy, do it again!" So maybe he is just saving up for when he has something really important to say

[krisp]

My DD is almost 14 months old and doesn't say even Mumm or Dadda - I'm not worried though, It'll come.

[Freya]

Kellxx you just reminded me- a friend was saying today that her sister didn't talk she was three- but her first words were "That was funny Daddy, do it again!" So maybe he is just saving up for when he has something really important to say

Yeah, it'll be "I wish I was an only child!"

[LimeSlice]

Try not stress I would say.
It was my understanding that cognitive and physical development is such an individual thing at this age, that one may not develop as quick as the other, but that is ok. By the time he is 18 months he may have been listening to you for so long that he just all of a sudden starts speaking like a 3 year old, iykwim?
Charlotte says some words, but still most of her commnication is (albeit very clear) signs and noises. Drinking sounds and movements, pointing etc.
Perhaps others will know better, but I wouldnt be concerned he is still so little!

[lestyrox]

Hi AnnaT, I wouldn't stress about it..my DS is nearly 2 1/2 and he only started speaking at 2 before that he only said mumma, daddy and up. I was stressed as well because all the other bubs his age at playgroup were chattering away (i know i shouldn't compare but at the time i was pretty worried) we even made an appointment with a speech pathologist (which we're still waiting on ) but now ds is putting two words together and learning new words all the time. He's still not overly clear but at least he's trying. Ds has also always been really good with the physical stuff.. rolling, crawling, standing, walking etc and did those fairly early so i guess he mastered the physical stuff first and now he's concentrating on talking.
The screeching and whinging is horrible though isn't it? It used to drive me nuts and i too had to do the whole 'guess what he wants before he screams' thing

Don't stress i'm sure your ds will talk soon enough, just keep reading him books and encouraging him.

HTH

[mrsmac]

I wouldn't stress, its hard when your subsequent children are not as advanced though isn't it? I worry about DS because he is nowhere near as well spoken as his sisters but I have had to realise that all kids are different.

[suse]

I wouldn't worry about it (although it's easier said than done, right!). My DS is the same, he grunts alot, and babbles nonsense, and says mum and dad (occasionally in context but more often not in context). He doesn't point to things to show recognition or use any recognisable signs (or perhaps he does and I'm just rubbish at reading them LOL), although he often grabs my nipples and tweaks them when he wants a feed.

But even though he isn't using any specific communication himself, I know that he understands certain requests, including 'please', 'putting away' (yes, I'm impressed with that one too) and 'arms up'. Whether or not he chooses to respond to the requests depends on how he feels on the day LOL, but I know that he understands them.

I'm sure that he'll start using words when he's good and ready to.

[BhoysGirl]

I'm not going to add anything original, just going to say 'me too". At 16 months my DS really didn't have any words, even his 'Mum" was a bit of a stretch, but something clicked at about 17 months & the words started to come out, and at nearly 18 months there are new ones almost everyday.
The MCHN book says that for the 18 month check they're looking for 5-10 words, which by the time you've covered things like mum, dad, bye, hi, and maybe duck, you're there.
And just think, while he can't actually talk, it also means he can't argue back, so you always get the last word

[rustygirl]

He's only 1, still a little baby. He will talk when he's ready. My niece is 2.5yrs old and didn't start talking (stringing words together) until she was 2. Me on the other hand as a baby starting talking at 11mths. Every child is different. Instead of fighting the fact that he isn't talking try and accept it and it will probably start getting allot easier for you to understand him.