What do you think?

[JordieC]

Wow I haven't been here on ages but I require the advice and wise words of Belly Belly users! Been busy raising 2 littlies - fun fun fun and hard work too!

My 19 month old son is so precious - I really love having a little boy! He is very able when walking, running and climbing, listening to instructions, laughing, smiling, reading etc. He doesn't however, have many words. In fact I could say he says about 5-6 words/phrases that we know what he's saying but really not much else. He is having his hearing tested in May and then we will look at seeing a speech therapist later on if he doesn't improve but just wondering if your child (son in particular) was like this then took off all of a sudden?

Another thing - his tantrums and emotions are quite extreme at the moment. he swings from happy to sad very quickly - if you give in to him he smiles straight away but of course we don't want to do that all the time. Is this normal too?

Any advice would be great thanks!

PS I am not at all concerned about autism simply because he seems to be generally well, makes eye contacts, laughs and interacts with us, his sister and friends and family all the time.

[Olive]

my DD2 was the same! even now at 26 months, has limited but ever expanding vocab, when she hit two she started talking much more!!
we had her hearing tested due to ongoing ear infections and her's was fine, im going to have her assessed agin in a few months by MCHN to see if we need to look at speech help, but im confident that shes ok, her comprehension is awesome!

[Baby14]

My DS is about 6 weeks younger than yours & sounds almost identical temperament wise, he's always been a very easy going baby, great sleeper etc but lately his emotions are really extreme. We've been putting it down to frustration at his lack of ability to communicate with us. He is a very clever little boy (ummmmm....biased much? Lol). He understands most of what we say to him & can point to body parts etc & knows what's coming next when we are singing songs & joins in with the actions but he says virtually nothing.

He babbles a lot but very few words. He'll say brum when I ask him if he wants to go in the car, choo choo occasionally if we are reading the train book etc but he doesn't even call me mum, he knows how to say it but just doesn't ITMS? If he wants something he points at it & makes an 'uh uh' sound & i didn't realise til the other day when my mum said that I get everything he wants very quickly & maybe that's why he doesn't talk much. I don't know if that could be why or if he's just not ready yet?

Not sure if any of that has helped you at all though! I'd love to hear what others have to say as I'm not sure if there's something I could be doing o help DS along.

I hope someone has some good advice for you. I know I try not to compare my DS to others but it can be hard sometimes when other littlies his age are talking a fair bit.

[MummyNaomi]

Jordie - my DS (just turned 2 a few days ago) recently had a speech explosion - it seemed like it happened overnight, prior to that he always seemed a little bit slower with his speech development than others. Pretty much at 23 months we reached the turning point, now he never shuts up, its awesome!!! He always had a really good understanding of what we were saying and said a few keys words, now he copies everything we say and will attempt even harder words with lots of syllables. Don't be to worried, but if you are, get him checked out to ease your mind

My general observation re mothers groups and friends babies is that little boys tend to talk a little later than girls, but then my DS developed in other ways much quicker, (eg climbing etc)

[Kazzo]

DD1 at 18months only said a handful of words. by 22months she had a whole range of words. Now, at 23months she does not stop talking. It was like a switch went off and she actually forms sentences. DD1 was talking to DH on skype the other day and he was so surprised how much she talked and he has only been away 2 weeks.

Now if only I can find that switch and see if it has a volume control on it

[Jellyfish]

I must have a little tomboy then haha. My 25 month old only has a handful of words but is definitely a climber, was pushing things together to climb into her high chair before she could even walk. She can understand simple instructions (could you being mummy a towel please, could you put on your shoes please, one more mouthful then we can head for a bath etc) so I'm not too worried yet. It is hard watching others of similar age speaking sentences but really, like homer says 'sooner they talk, sooner they talk back'... I figure she will get there in her own time and I'll enjoy the silence a little longer although, she knows how to communicate what she wants without words and is pretty "bossy" already!

[~Kim~]

My little guy was very similar. Hardly any words at that age - maybe 5? Ripper tantrum thrower - but he had a fantastic teacher too lol (no not me his sister :P).
Like all the PPs have said, word explosion happened....I never knew he could talk so much as when DD went back to preschool just before he turned two....he gives her motor mouth a run for it's money these days
He was much more physical than DD was and could co-ordinate much more at an earlier age whereas she talked first and developed physical skills later.

[Rach75]

luke is just 18mths and the only words he says are mama da or dad jack hara (harry) oof (woof) you can see he is trying to say words but its just babble so I dont think I would be to concerned my CHN said he was righ ton scheduale with language etc

[Artechim]

I just came in to post the same question! My DD is 20 months and has a couple of words and a couple of animals sounds. She seems to be developing very slowly to me. Her physical developments seems fine but her speech and comprehension seems behind. We read the same books all the time, point out the same pictures and she still can't point to any by herself. She is not doing anything that DS wasn't doing at 10-11 months. By this age DS had a vocab of around 500, speaking in sentences and could recite his books from memory. DD is miles away from that.

[Kazzo]

I just came in to post the same question! My DD is 20 months and has a couple of words and a couple of animals sounds. She seems to be developing very slowly to me. Her physical developments seems fine but her speech and comprehension seems behind. We read the same books all the time, point out the same pictures and she still can't point to any by herself. She is not doing anything that DS wasn't doing at 10-11 months. By this age DS had a vocab of around 500, speaking in sentences and could recite his books from memory. DD is miles away from that.

My SIL DS & DD were just like this. Her DS now 3.5yrs, talked really early. At 18 months he new how to count to 20 in 3 languages, the ABC could say everything really clearly. Her DD now 21months is only just starting to talk. SIL was worried because of DS talking so early. But like PP say they develope at different stages and I think they can only work on one develpoment at a time sort of thing.SIL DS did not walk till 14months, DD walked at 10months, so things that DS took a long time to do, DD had them down pat early. If all that makes sense.

[Artechim]

I have heard a lot of people say they are early talkers and slower to walk or vice versa, but DS was walking at 8.5 months as well as talking early, DD wasn't walking until 13.5 months.

[trishalishous]

my nieces were the same and totally 'took off' after about 3.

[AwesomeFoursome]

My DD1 is 19 months old and she also can only say 5 or 6 words. My MCHN said it was fine. My DS had a limited amount of words he could say, I got his hearing tested cause of his limited talking - it was fine, then as soon as he turned 3 he could say anything and everything. He talks all the time now.

[Now we're 3]

Just subscribing. DS is 19 months with limited vocab but definitely understands heaps. Can see he is trying out new words now but in general its mainly babble that comes out - very animated babble but still babble. Haven't been too concerned as I can see he understands what we are saying and will do (if it suits him) what we ask. Can you put your shoes away etc. Like Happy Chick said we get a lot of uh uh uhs and pointed when he wants something which frustrates him when I don't guess right what he is pointing at first time. Have never really thought that I might be getting it for him too quickly rather than making him try to say the word!

I've still to do his 18 month check (booked in for 2 weeks time) so was planning on chatting to the nurse about language then.

[LizLemon]

At 19 months my DS was talking a bit, but nothing to write home about. His understanding of things was very advanced though and could follow everything.

By 20 months he was saying about 70 words (I did a count for his memory book).

He is now 22 months and you cannot shut him up. I'd say he learns a few words a day, and is now stringing say 5 words together in a sentence. He also watches a show and pick up words and strangely will know how to use them correctly. So to answer your question - yes, they can have massive word explosions very quickly.

Interestingly, he was the slowest in our mothers group to crawl (about 10.5 months) and to walk (about 15 months) but he is streets ahead in speech and the more cerebral stuff. I figured kids have their strengths in different areas or may be earlier at some things, but they all catch up in the end.

[Baby14]

Just an update from me, DS had his 18 month needles yesterday so our GP asked a heap of questions and she was quite concerned that he wasn't talking yet (I'm not). She told me to keep an eye on it and if he isn't talking a lot in 2 months then she wants me to get his hearing checked. I know there is nothing wrong with his hearing as he responds when we talk to him.

I did ask what I could be doing to help him along and she suggested lots of reading, singing, and using simple words when we are talking to him. I read to DS every day & DH reads to him every night before bed, we also go to story time at the library. I am definitely guilty of 'talking for him' though, like I said in my earlier post, he points & I say 'oh, you want your drink, here you go' & give it to him so we are working now on asking him what he wants, we'll see if that helps

TBH, I was surprised at how concerned she was about it, I just assumed they all talk at different times, like walking. She did mention that if they walk late, they can tend to talk late as they are concentrating on the walking and once they've mastered that the words come.