22 month old has hard time spitting out words..?

Question

My daughter is 22 months and I have found recently that she has a hard time "spitting" out the word she is trying to say. For example, she will be looking at her book and pointing to a star and say "star" she will say it a couple times and then go to say it again and get stuck saying like "nu nu nu nu nu STAR" I dont know if i should be worried or if its completely normal.. any help would be great!

Answer 1

Dear Wifey,

       Relax and take a deep breath.... As a father of an almost three year old daughter who was diagnosed by a professional advance  degreed  Speech and Learning Specialist as mentally challenged, I first relaxed only after her kindergarten teacher arranged for her to attend second grade level reading classes.

   Lesson No. 1    All kids are normal...

   Within the bounds or normality you will find early bloomers and late bloomers. You will find fast learners and those requiring a little more time to grasp information. Some will speak with the facility of Barack Obama while others might sound like Popeye for a few years.

   Just embrace what you have. if you are facing immediate behavior problems you should relay this to your pediatrician or seek assessment by a child behavior expert. Just do not be surprised to find out they pretty much come pre-loaded with confirmed opinions prior to meeting your child. Some will say 1) Autism 2) Attention Deficit 3) Cognitive impairment 4) Fetal alcohol reaction.... Again, understand these people earn big money on your parental insecurity and fear. Still relax and take comfort that as your child changes through normal developmental stages, all the above will either take personal credit for "curing"

a non-existent condition or claim that the body naturally repaired itself.

   You are obviously a caring and loving mother who closely monitors her child. Keep on keeping on. Keep your Pediatrician aware through your  regular periodic  immunization visits. Unless aware of new symptoms, regular unfavorable behavior or see your daughter's progress regressing, sit back and enjoy watching her grow. That is the pleasure of parenthood.

      I suspect you will secretly continue to obsess over this.... You will never stop worrying as a parent. You are not expected to do so... Just overcome the natural compulsion to over react and overstress yourself with useless and needless worry.

Answer 2

At 22 months, it could be normal, but the repetion of "nu nu" does seem a bit worrisome.  Definitely tell your doctor at her 2 year checkup, and if he doesn't satisfy you, get her evaluated by a speech-language professional (most states have free evaluations as an extension of the education program - ask your doctor, he should know).  Definitely keep an eye on it, but don't pressure her to speed up or "spit it out" - that could make it worse.  When she is school age, you may consider treatment if she continues.

Answer 3

I think she's normal...at that age, their little minds are working faster than their mouths, so they are thinking way ahead of what is coming out of them...her mind will catch up to her mouth!!