When should I worry about my 16 month old not talking?

Question

My son is 16 months old and only says Mama and Dada...when he wants to. He has absolutely no signs of autism. He makes wonderful and completely normal eye contact and gestures like a pro. He has no problem getting his point across without words; for example, today, I gave him a Gerber fruit strip and 5 minutes later, he had dug the wrapper out of the trash can and brought it to me and then gestured at the pantry for another one. Like I said, he gets his point across, but I am starting to worry a little. He brings me books and listens to the stories and I go over words with him all the time everyday. Is there anything else I could be doing? I would appreciate any advice. Thanks so much!

Answer 1

I have a daughter who did not show signs as well she is now going on 7 and still has trouble talking.Doctors told me if a child wants something make them at least try to say the word then correct the word for them and give them what they wanted afterwards.Yes can be hard to do but I wish I would have kept up with doing that myself.I feel so bad for my girl.She gets made fun of because of her speech delay.Maybe you might consider a program in your area that comes into your home once a week and works with your child just to be on the safe side.Good luck and I wish you the best!

Answer 2

My youngest son was this way.  He didn't say a whole lot of words.  He could say mommy and daddy.  Most other words were gibberish.

I knew he was smart by the way he interacted with others and by the way he new what he wanted.  He is just about to turn 3 in Sept and is just now really starting to talk.  Just in the last week or so he has been using sentences.  

My advice would be just to keep reading books to him and if you know any older children let him interact with them.  Mine loves to mimic his 5 year old brother.  He will eventually start using his words and sentences.  I wouldn't worry as long as he is showing signs of understanding and knowing what he wants.

Hope this helps!  

Answer 3

Here is what I did as a preschool teacher.. when we had kids that did not talk we talked to them as if they did.. ie..  would you help me in the kitchen ( play) ? DO you know how to make choclate chip cookies?  

Try not to worry, but,  you are a mommy you will do that anyway, my friend has a child that is almost 32 months and you can only understand 1 out of every 9 words he says. I'd mention something when you go in for the 2 yr old physical if he is not talking . My other friends boy did not talk until he was 18 months but he spoke in sentances,,,not one or two words.

Answer 4

He sounds very intelligent so that should ease your mind.  However, if you have any agencies nearby that do testing you may want to have it checked out.  They may just tell you he's fine or they may have some professional suggestions of ways to help him catch his speech up with everything that's going on in his mind.    

Even before my kids could really talk I would prompt them with what they would say if they could, like, "Say Please,' or "Say, I would like to have a drink of milk please," stuff like that.  It sounded silly as I did it but sure enough, they started saying that same stuff.  

Answer 5

You might playing animal sounds with him so that he will practice making sounds -- get some little toy animals or a book about animals and ask "What does a cow say?"  "Moooo"  "What does a sheep say?"  "Baaaaa"  If he will play the game with you, it might reassure you that he's capable of making sounds.

Some children start talking later because of the way their brain is structured -- the more potential ability they have for math, the later they talk!

Answer 6

What you can do is sing songs, encourage him to identify objects, body parts, follow directions.  He should have 3 bodyparts by now it is a 14 month skill.  Encourage making sounds, babbling.  Is he pointing?  Don't worry if he isn't, my 3rd son began pointing at 18 months.  Once they are pointing words start really coming.

My 'typical' son who is 21 months does get speech for receptive language delay and feeding therapy and I know for a fact that specialists only expect 6-8 word approximations at 18 months.  A word approximation, you may not be giving him credit for, but the speech language pathologists do.  For example, my son has a word approximation for monkey.  It sounds like this Mah-eee.  Words like this count, he only needs 6-8 by 18 months.

Also as a parent who has gone through early intervention which is free and you do not need a referral could evaluate him, but I can tell you for certain he will not qualify as a speech delay at this time.  It is next to impossible to qualify before 24 months, but you could always have him assessed to see where he is, and then reassess again in 6 months.  At 24 months they want to see 50 words/approximations, and beginning to put 2 words together.  My 21 month old has words like mama, dada, baba, ma-ee (monkey), go, more, up, Sh-A (Shane-his brother), Joe (his brother Joel), nite-nite, jus (juice), hi, bye, no, yeah,kak-kak (quack quack), moo, sue (shoe), etc

Answer 7

I would say the age of about 3 because 2 year olds don`t even say anthing but yes no and mom and dad so it all depends on the child so ya if your really concered talk to your doctor and they can refer you to a specalist

SOME THINGS YOU CAN DO!

read his favorite book to him then see if her will read it to himself and you and if he dosen`t know the words tell him to sond them out that always help

get alphabet cerial and spell things out for him get him to sound things out before he can eat them also get him to make words and say them

(you may think thease only hep with reading but if he uses them for reading then he can encorperate them into his everyday vocabulary)

hope i helped and good luck  

Answer 8

he should be saying a few more words by now. About 24 words is what they like to see at 18 months. If I were you ,I would be proactive and have him evaluated by early intervention/ birth to 3 in your area. They offer  free developmental screens up to age 3. If your son needs speech therapy they will help you get it for free or low cost.

I think that in this particular case a lack of speech is not an indicator of how smart the child is. My son only said 10 words at 18-24 months old, but he started to create his own sign language. he has totally blossomed in speech therapy, and in 6 months has made tremendous progress. he now talks alot, but is still hard to understand. he uses what is called "total communication"--a combination of spoken word and ASL. Sometimes he signs at the same time that he speaks. He will be 3 in november and most people don't have a clue that he is delayed at all. The cool thing about EI is that he actually has a "budget" for therapy tools. he got $200 in sign language DVDs, and we are ordering him another $450 worth of  oral-motor tools this month. His issue is similar to that of an adult who has had a stroke and can no longer speak...the words are in there, but he cannot plan the movements required to actually verbalize them. he cannot make movements with his tongue that we take for granted (like l*****g his top lip).

feel free to e-mail me for further info. I have a few tricks in my arsenal, but I need a little more info to help you