Worried about speech development

I'm not sure if Lily is just a late talker or what but i'm starting to get worried again. She will be 2 in December. She doesn't say many words at all, mainly just whinging or babble. Her most common words are: mummy, dada, bubba, hello, hey, ni-ni(for goodnight), bye, no, puppy, bowl. Other words i've heard her say are: teddy, ball, tiger(once), bath, peas(for please), ta. She has only said those words maybe 3 times each. The rest is just babble. She has never strung 2 words together either. This is the cause for half her tantrums because we never know what she wants because she won't say. Should I be worried at all? It's getting really frustrating.

Hey Tegan,

My 2.5 yr old only just started talking in sentences recently. He sounded very similar to Lily actually. Then all of a sudden - bang, you can't stop him, lol.

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Age of Child Typical Language Development

18 Months

Has vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words
Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns
Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over)
Much jargon with emotional content
Is able to follow simple commands

24 Months

Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings
Is able to use at least two prepositions, usually chosen from the following: in, on, under
Combines words into a short sentence-largely noun-verb combinations (mean) length of sentences is given as 1.2 words
Approximately 2/3 of what child says should be intelligible
Vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words
Rhythm and fluency often poor
Volume and pitch of voice not yet well-controlled
Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, you, although me and I are often confused
My and mine are beginning to emerge
Responds to such commands as "show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)"

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Liliy sounds pretty much on track Tegan :) She may actually be a bit ahead of her age.

Tegan, I'm probably not the best person to answer as all of my babies have been quiet early to talk and have a huge vocabulary by the time they are 2.

Do you go to a MCHN centre ?? Perhaps you can ask them what they think. But I would be guessing that they would suggest leaving Lily for another 12 months or so and having her assessed then????

Remember that every baby delelops differently and at their own rates. Lily could be too busy learning other skills to worry about learnign new words. One day she could wake up and talk your ears off :)

Sorry Nat was typing as you posted. I will say though, that at nearly 20 months Tehya is pretty much inline with the 24 months list. But with so many people talking around here it's no wonder why.

Hi Tegan,
Lily actually sounds like she's a bit ahead of what Aidyn was at that age.
Delayed speech has been a big cause of worry for me too, however just these past few weeks Aidyn has begun picking up so much more - its quite amazing really, and I believe he is well on his way to catching up to the others his age (he is now 2.5).
I understand what its like to worry though, but please dont... not yet, as it just causes undue stress.... I would say to wait until she is at least 2.5 or 3, and then look into it further if you think there is still a problem.
The only things I can suggest is talking to her heaps, and telling her what things are, and reading lots too... but you're probably already doing that stuff anyway!
She sounds very normal to me though :)

Hello, my DD has a mild speech delay and I can honestly say looking back it is probably the main reason we had such terrible terrible tantrums from 18 months - 3.5 years. Her comprehension was way ahead of her speech and it was most frustrating for her. If you have any doubts, please have her assessed ASAP as work now can prevent problems later. Also very important to get her hearing properly assessed by a pediatric audiologist.

Most states have public speechies but the waiting list can be quite long depending on where you are. We ended up seeing a private pediatric speechie who was just fantastic, because her delay was not considered severe enough to be considered for public treatment. We had qualms about the cost but it really didn't take a lot of sessions (maybe 7 or 8 each year over 2 years) plus lots of work at home to get it sorted out.

This type of language/auditory delay is hereditary so if you or DH have other family members who have had problems with speech or language then it makes it more likely. With our next child we will be doing the baby signing thing from an early age as I hope to get past any issues by providing another form of communication.

Please don't stress or worry about it ((hugs)), it's better to have her assessed and then you'll know if she needs a bit of extra help or whether her speech patterns fall into the range that is considered developmentally 'on time' for her age.
:-)

I've been thinking the same for Blake as we couldn't shut Viv up at the age he is now. Sure he's a coule of months behind all of yours - up to 12 month even. But all he says is Mumma, Dadda, Boo, Baa - as is sheep. He's really good at making animal noises and meiows like our cat, can do a sort of oink, sort of moo and he pants like a dog. Other than that he's 'speechless'.

Fortunately I know he can understand me - so I know it's not his hearing, and he is well and truly able to follow commands "if you go and get your shoes from your room we can put them on and go outside to play" or "you'll have to lie still for your nappy so we can finish and go and see Daddy who's just arrived home"(Blake will have heard his motorbike)

Tegan, I'm sure Lily's words will come, just like Blake's will.

Nat, thank's for that info - it's reassured me. :)

ETA after reading Marydean's post... We sign with Blake and have done since he was before 6mths old. It's been a slow process of getting a response from Blake but he's now starting to sign things. I told him it was raining on Thursday afternoon, and he did the sign for 'rain'. I was so proud of him. It's definitely worth attempting

Just wanted to add that I have done the Hanen program to help my autistic daughter learn to talk. A couple of strategies that can get little ones talikng are;

Talk Talk Talk. If you are making a sandwich, say "Oh look, Mummies getting the bread. Would you like a vegemite (hold up the jar) or a peanut butter (hold up the jar)? Sandwich. Give her a chance to answer. If she communicates her choice by pointing say "Oh you want a vegemite sandwich." We do a running commentary on everything, lol.

Verbally label everything, but either emphasise the key words or only use key words eg "Shoes on" instead of "Ok, how about we put your shoes on."

These are just some things we learnt when Layla was competely non-verbal and a lot older than Lily.

Honestly, hun - if you are worried, get it checked out, but she sounds perfect to me. Try not to stress - you've had a lot going on recently. Email me if you need anymore info on the strategies.

You're welcome, Rachel :)

We had similar issues with Mason. He used to throw massive tantrums because I had no idea what he wanted.
At two he had a few select words that were clear like Dad and Sam (I wasn't mum till he was 3 lol) and drink.

The rest was his own lingo. Listen hard to what Lily is saying as I found that once I worked out what he was saying it was amazing how much I was missing. He would walk around saying something that sounded like cigar and one day the penny dropped that he was saying "circle".

We had a huge issue one day when he was saying " Sam, ya ya" over and over. I got some new signs for my toilet, bathroom and laundry that were heart shaped a few days earlier. He was saying "love heart" as that was what I called them.
He would count along with me but the words he would say sounded nothing like the numbers.

Get a picture book that has real pictures of all sorts of things. I'd spend ages going through and telling him what things were called.
Once he decided to talk it was amazing how much he was saying. It was almost as if he was memorising it all and waiting until he decided it was time to talk to us!

Hey Tegan

I'm a Speech Pathologist but I work with older kids than Lily.

Lily's speech might be worthwhile getting checked out...especially if she is tantruming alot. Also...like has already been mentioned...wait lists for publics clinics can be long (in WA they can be 6-12 months) so it might be worthwhile getting a referral and at least having her name down...if the appointment comes up and her speech has progressed, there's no problems taking her name off the list...

Has she had her ears/hearing checked? Might be worthwhile getting them looked at...just in case she has hearing problems/ear infections that are getting in the road...

There's some good books out there too...to help develop speech and language...you should be able to access them from your local library...

Wishing you all the best!

Hi Tegan,

I didn't readall the replies, but I used to work with a Paediatric Speech Path and I would get Lily checked... As monnie said wait lists can be really long ours was in excess of 12 months. Maybe put her on the waiting list now, and if you can afford to get her tested by a private one in the mean time, if when her name comes up for an appointment you can always say no if your no longer worried about it.

Just a hint too. it has improved my friends little boys speech 10 fold, when she brings you something, say a rubber ducky, say 'duck' to her if she replies with babble, say yes it's a duck etc, she may be trying to get things out but can't (which would cause tantrums)... if she points at something try to say what it is, the more she hears the words the more likely she is to learn them

Hope this helps... justa suggestion.. oh and books, read lots of books and point the pictures out while saying what they are!

Maddy was talking really early full sentences at her first birthday & had begun walking at 10mths...
I was a bit concerned Indah was delayed (as I was comparing her to Maddy), but Indah now says a lage amount of words & some Indonesian words, she also does the eyes, nose, mouth & last night she kept playing with my eyebrows so this morning she stasrted saying eyebrows too! She is a major parrot, she still isnt walking & not in the slightest bit interested, especially as she can be cartried everywhere at the moment by the in laws...
Maddy reads her readers to Indah most nights after school & we are major chatterboxes..

Good Luxck Tegan, I think she sounds fine... I just know for me I worry as Indah is delayed compared to Maddy, but Maddy was a bit of an exception.... maybe Indah is what they call normal??? hee hee