Probably the millionth thread about speech on here...

[minties]

Emma has just hit 18 months old.

At this age, Thomas had no words. Thomas has been diagnosed with autism. He didn't talk till 23ish months.

Sophie had about 25 clear words by now.

Emma has words, but they aren't as clear and she's slow to add them in. She started with meow at 11 months. Finally added in llama and uh-oh at 15 months. She says those and mummy, daddy, dog, oh man, nah (which she says for yeah and nah/yes and no which can be confusing!).

The thing is, that they don't really sound like the words are meant to. Llama is more like yama, mummy is more like mama (she's definitely using it to call for me, or in joy when she sees me), daddy is dadda, dog is missing the g, oh man is more like ohhh maaa etc. She also does beep beep when she sees a vehicle but it sounds more like buh buh.

All the healthcare people surrounding Thomas have told me to be hyper vigilant in observing Emma for ASD so of course I am paranoid. She often needs prompting to use speech, but says mama, beep beep and uh-oh voluntarily very often.

She shows no other signs at all. No unusual or repetitive play, role plays and pretend plays well, was waving etc at the right age, does all the right things socially and all that stuff. I have no doubt that her understanding of language is very sharp.

Is it fairly normal to not say words right at this age? Sophie was a lot clearer. I think...and Thomas was fine also at pronouncing words when he did talk, apart from lellow for yellow and those other common ones. I can't help but worry. There are no well child checks from 15 months until 24 months.

Edit: Thomas reminded me she also says wow, and naanaa for banana.

 

[Zephram]

That all sounds completely normal to me. Both of my boys were early talkers but they both went through a phase of missing end consonants and not sounding completely clear. They are both developmentally normal. My 2.5 year old still can't say banana, he calls them baanaas.

In the absence of other symptoms I wouldn't say that you have anything at all to worry about, that's a completely normal stage for many kids.

 

[Witchrose]

My son really didn't start talking much at all until he turned two. I wasn't worried because it was clear that he understood everything, and his general behavior was quite bright and lively. He simply seemed to have no interest in talking. We just tried to gently encourage him, and then he just started to a bit.

Now he is almost three, and he speaks quite well.

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to stress too much about it. Kids really can vary so much on when/what they focus on.

 

[Eleanor ace]

When DD2 was 18 months-ish I was worried about her speech as she didn't have many words and kept dropping the words she did have. Then she got to about 2 and her speech really came on. She's 2yrs 4months and recently had a review and her speech was assessed as advanced.

 

[minties]

Thanks very much guys!

Google sure doesn't help. Depending on what country the information is based in, it seems an 18 month is either meant to have 5-10 words or 25-50 (or more) plus joining words together!

Apart from the lack of words, there were no signs of asd in Thomas until he was about 4, so I know there isn't an all-clear at this stage anyway. Sophie has been assessed and is fine, I've been assessed and show asd traits. My younger brother is on the spectrum.

Sophie had 1 word at 16 months and 8 word sentences by 22 months, so maybe Emma will be like her.

 

[LoraLoo]

Sounds totally normal. Alice never spoke until 2.5years but health visitor was not concerned as she understood what we were saying/asking if her.
Nellie says more at 16 months than she did at that age. She sounds similar to Emma in amount of words
Mum
Babby (baby)
Daddy
No
Yay
Shoosh (juice or shoes)
Peppa pig accompanied by snort!
Ba (bad)
Ta
Boop (boob)
Bi (biccie)

 

[SarahBear]

Leo had about 2 words at that age and is speaking in sentences now. What I learned from Leo is that yes, at this age it is impossible to tell who will be late but fine and who will need help. There also isn't even anything they can really do until the kid is much closer to three. If all other communication is on-track, then there's really nothing to worry about. If, however, she's not putting two words together by two and a half to three years old, or if no one can understand her around that time, she should be evaluated. At this point Emma is fine. As for ASD, you would see other signs of it. Also be wary of early ASD diagnosis. When kids are diagnosed at 2, only half qualify for ASD by the time they're 4. If she wasn't engaging with people, communicating non-verbally to get her needs bet, or understanding you, that would be where you might want to seek help sooner.

Edit: and I had Leo after Violet who was speaking in grammatically correct sentences before she was 2. He's still about 6 months behind where she was at the same age, but doing spectacular!

 

[Twag]

Elliot my eldest was talking in coherent sentences at 20 months but my daughter Izzy has only just started talking properly and starting to form sentences we were worried and thought she was behind but I think younger children just sometimes take a little longer

 

[_Meep_]

It's definitely normal. My first had lots of 'words' around this age, none of which were particularly clear - so much so that I made a thread on here asking what constituted a 'word', as I wasn't sure whether it counted if it wasn't properly pronounced! The general consensus was that if it is said regularly in the right context/with intent then it counts. 'Bim', for example, meant 'spoon'!

Proper speech came on quickly towards age 2 and at her 2 year check she was assessed as having the speech of a 3 year old. Now 3.5 she speaks like any 5 year old, so I think you're fine!

 

[CRWx]

Sounds absolutely normal

 

[jessmke]

Sounds normal to me. At 10 months old my DD was using mom, dad, dog, and cat in correct context, but that was about all she said until maybe 14 months old. Then she started expanding her vocabulary rapidly, although she didn't really pronounce much (if anything) correctly, she would say mana for banana, isha for yoga, etc. She had a large vocabulary but you really needed to know how to speak her language to know what she was saying. Then around 20 months her pronunciation greatly improved and she could say pretty much anything, like helicopter and cucumber, but she only pronounced new words correctly, she maintained poor pronunciation for words like banana and yoga for a long time. She only started pronouncing banana correctly after she turned two, and only if you prompt her to correct her initial pronunciation. She turned two in December and is now speaking in very clear 4-5 word sentences.

 

[minties]

Thanks very much, that is helpful. Emma has added in some more new words since I started this thread and seems to be doing well. Yesterday she started saying "no no no" while shaking her head and that was very cute.

 

[Bevziibubble]

That's great Emma is adding in some new words
James doesn't really say much yet.

 

[minties]

Thomas wasn't at James' age either, he never shuts up these days haha!

 

[minties]

Another wee update, more for my own records than anything. She is starting to repeat more words, say more, and is mainly moving on to two syllable words. Cuddle, flower, dirty etc. I'm not worried now. She doesn't talk as well as Sophie did, but still seems to be on track. She can say 'hi mummy' so has joined two words.