Normal Speech for 18 Month Old

Amy is a happy & healthy 18 month old but she only says the first syllable or first part of some words. She also tries to copy our words. MIL made a comment on the weekend that she needs to see a professional and DH has also had doubts. I phoned two speech pathologists and they said not to worry and she is doing quite well and they usually see toddlers from 2 years old. I am not sure what is normal for this age and I am not sure if she should see anyone? Here are some of the words she is saying and she can understand and point out all the things associated with the words.

Perfectly pronounced Words

Mum, Dad, Goat, Car, Bike, cat, tree, duck,, book, cup, cake, ta, ear, Nan, Pa, foot, chair, fish, ball, two, kids, boat, cheese, shoes, park, ball, goose, nose,

Parts of words

Dr - drink, El – elephant, Tr – truck, Tr – train, Ba – banana, Ay – Amy, Teyi – Terri (dog), Cothes – clothes, Ba – baby, Toiet – toilet, Cip – clip, Showarr – shower, Bat – bath, Pane – plane, Rab – rabbit, Sn – snake, Cra – crayon, Flouwar – flower, ea - ear

That sounds really great to me. I was concerned about Maggie, she was saying less than that at her 18 month checkup but her non verbal communication was great. In the last 2 weeks though her vocab has suddenly jumped.

I have checked my Blue book and the 18 month check up lists "uses 5-10 words", so Amy is definitely exceeding that milestone. Don't worry, you doing a great job.

Sounds like she is doing really well to me too! At nearly 20 months K doesn't even have that many perfectly pronounced words. Actually, apart from mama and daddy, I'm not sure if he pronounces any word properly LOL. 'Bapple' (apple) is probably the closest he gets. With most words he leaves out a lot of the consonants.

OMG the amount of words she can say looks fantastic!! I would not worry. Gemma says part words to and shes 16 and a bit months and really doesn't say a lot of words in general.

Hey Gemma

I'm a paediatric Speech Pathologist...but I work with school age kids (a little older than Amy).

From what I can see (you've done a great job listing all her speech!!!), Amy's doing well...she's got a good developing vocabulary. Leaving the last sounds off words is a pretty normal "process" for little kids...it's called "final consonant deletion".

As you can see from her good words, she's able to add some final consonants on (e.g. m-u-M; b-i-Ke; d-u-CK...so that's a really good sign that she is learning the need to add the "tails" to words!!! Fantastic!

When you look at the words, she's struggling with, most of them have "clusters" (when you put 2 consonants together...sn; cr; fl, etc. These are actually really hard sounds to say...and what you can often find is that kids are trying so hard to get their tongues around the clusters, that they forget about finishing off the rest of the words...

Most of the other words Amy is struggling with are multi-syllabic...and they're hard words too!

So overall...I think she is doing great!

I'm sure you will find her speech continues to clear up over time (it's normal for toddlers to have some speech that is unclear, anyway!)

Just keep a watch on her...check that her ears are okay...no recurrent ear infections, etc.

Wishing you all the best!!!

Wow... I wouldnt worry at all... Aidyn could only say a very small fraction of those words at 18 months! It sounds like she is actually ahead in her speech if anything which is great!... maybe you need to set MIL and DH straight and tell them there's really no need to worry at all! :)

Indah says so many words,but wont walk.. she can & has on a number of occasions but when you try to encourage her she sits on her butt & refuses to budge!

She says: Maddison, Mama, Dad, Oma, Opa, Aydan, Cheyne, Dorge (George), Poppy, Dog, cat, car, Truck, Bike, Bird, Bart, Mina, Kisses, Please, Thank-you, I Love You (but it is I looooo Chew), Bye Bye, Peek a Boo, Twinkle Twinkle, Cow, Horse, Pretty, OOOOh Thats' nice (they always go together?), Susu which is milk in Indonesian & she has used for breast or now her cup of Milk, car, up, down, Inside, Outside, What's that, come here, Barney, Dancing.... There are probably more..

Maddy was talking sentences at the same age & so to me it is reassuring to see that Indah is fine... Maddy reads books to her constantly & we sing lot's of nursery whymes & do actions & stuff & constalt my nices & nephew are talking to her as are we so she's probably wanting to just tell us all to shut up!!!

Gemma, Amy's doing brilliantly. Girls are usually more advance than boys in the speech department which is good to know for me cause Blake can only say:
Mum, Dad, Baa, Boo, Cat, Quack, Moo, oof (Woof), Oink, Neigh, Meiow - actually him mimics our cat more than saying the word!.

He can however sign a similar number of words, Drink, Food, Hot, Steam, Rain, Yummy, Cat, Finished, Gone, Thank you...

He's nowhere near Amy's level so I wouldn't be too worried. And by what Monnie said, it's fairly normal.

Sounds really good to me too! I wouldnt be worried at all.

OOOh forgot to add Indah also says Bum & OH *****!? (care of my Mother!)
She also does eyes, nose, mouth, hair, head & ears!!!

Gemma, sounds like Amy's doing fione for an 18month old!! MY 22 month old csounds like he's at the same stage!! I wouldnt be worrying. I was really worried about Declan at the same age, as he wasnt really saying anything, but within a month he was putting words together (like "get out" and "No mum, dont want" LOL)

Gemma i wouldn't worry about it i think she is doing great. Alex doesn't even say many words for his age in fact he doesn't say much at all. But I'm not worried as Kimberley was the same and now she never shuts up ;)

Gosh she is doing great !!!. Kaitlyn is 17months and is not even close to that amount ..she has about 10 words and then a few she gets but does not say ..mostly 's' words and 'm' words .

I would not worry at all!

Thanks so much girls, you have put our minds at rest. Since posting, I have picked up about another 20 words that Amy says (some perfect, some part) so I am not concerned at all.

Monnie, thanks very much for your professional advice. It makes a lot more sense now.