When did your child start to talk?

[hudsonam]

My son is 17 months and says a small handful of words, and says them very rarely. I know better than to worry about his development, but I'm curious when others' children started talking more regularly. He likes to babble and make sounds, but he rarely uses words. He does know momma, daddy, ball, no (says this real well. LOL!), our dog's name, kitty, he tries to say thank you (probably says this more than anything) and supposedly he said Hi at daycare. But he almost never actually says any of these. I think he just doesn't feel the need. ;-)

[ribbit1019]

Well it depends on what you call talking. DD has been talking (rather emphatically at times) in "Squirmish" for over a year and used signing since about a year. Over the last seven months the words have progressed into English. She is now putting together sentences and said to me the other day "Can I have Chicken Nugget Meal please?" I about peed my pants with laughter.

Way OT but Chicken Nuggets are the only thing she will eat these days. Of course they are Tyson and not "Mc"Nuggets, but she doesn't know the difference. ;) And I said I would NEVER be one of those parents that fed their kid the same thing everyday. Never say never....

Christy
My Waterbabies
Maddy 6/9/04
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040609/3/4/0/-5/.png
& Jarred 3/8/06, 14 lb 24 1/2" @ 10 wks, a happily breastfed babe.
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[m448]

20 months and at 30 months now is talking nonstop in complex sentences. He babbled and signed until he was 20 months then one day said a clear word, added another and within weeks would do what hubby called the "morning download". He'd wake up between both of us and begin to jabber away in words he MUST have picked up overnight because I hadn't heard him utter them before.

Marielle


Ian - born 10/03
&
Ryan - born 01/06

[kellyotn]

My daughter was talking quite a bit by 13-14 months. So, when my son wasn't saying much at 18 months (same as yours, a few clear words, lots of gibberish, etc.) I was starting to wonder.... Fast forward to 19 months and he started spouting tons of small phrases and mini-sentences nearly overnight. Its like he was waiting until he would be "good at it" before he unleashed his vocabulary. Now nearing 22 months, he pretty much surprises us daily with a new word, concept or phrase.

We did signs with both, but DS did end up learning way more signs as DD started talking so soon after really getting the signing thing figured out.

I wasn't TOO worried b/c it was clear he was understanding us, could get his point across with signs or mumbling, etc. But its just funny looking back that I was worried at all. ;)

HTH

[elliput]

My DD is just a month younger than your DS, and she has a handful of words which she will say on occasion- no/nope, baby, duck, doggie, kitty(first word), and Mia(daycare friend). There have been a few other isolated words like mommy and daddy (sigh). DD does have a few babble words which I am certain mean *something*, but I am too ignorant to understand. ;-)

[Aunt to sweet baby boy]

Avi is a great speaker now at 19 months. He has been speaking for a few months. He had a few words from like 14-16 months and it seemed in the month from 16-17 he really exploded vocabulary wise. He now has about a 50 word vocabulary and says 2-3 word sentances. Avi is an only child (for now at least) and is with adults alot so i think that contributed to his large vocabulary.

HTH

Ilana, aka Nana to my sweet nephew Avi

http://lilypie.com/pic/060403/hfNw.jpg[/img]http://b2.lilypie.com/h2bbm7/.png[/img][/url]

[hobokenmom]

Well, I have three kids and my first did not say much until about 27 months, when one day he woke up and said, "Mommy, I want to wear the Santa Claus pajamas today." My second didn't start talking until 2, and my third is no different. He's 22 months, and has a handful of words, but I'm not really concerned. He interacts and has receptive language, and I know it'll come.

Frankly, I'm always shocked and amazed when I see babies younger than 2 speaking in sentences. Not my kids.

FWIW, my older two children's teachers are always shocked when I tell them that they were late talkers, as they are very good readers and have excellent vocabularies.

Oh yeah, just wanted to add that my 22 month old says thank you all the time. It comes out as Da dum, but it sounds like thank you. Very funny.

[proggoddess]

DD was saying 2-word mini-sentences around that time. She was also signing maybe a dozen common words. It didn't really pick up speed until her second birthday when there were a lot of people in the house. (Pa and Uncle were in town and stayed with us.) Then after that weekend, she had 5-word sentences and picked up two to three new words a day. Her first 5-word sentence was "Cookie Monster eat cookies up. Yah!" (Everything always ended with Yah!)

Also, the week of her second birthday, she had taken a tumble down our front stoop and was telling all the guests "Gigi fall down stairs!"

Now at 26 months, she talks up a storm. She is always asking "Wat dis, momma?" And she is very polite. "Like ice keem, pis?" "Sank-you, momma! Welcome, momma!"

She is even telling jokes in a way. We're trying to potty train her now that I am off work. I asked her "Where do we go pee-pee?" She said "On floor." (Which at this stage, is true. *sigh*) I said "No, we pee in the potty." She insisted, "On floor!" I said "In potty!" She just gave me this impish grin and said "On umbreh-wa!" And then I knew she was just playing me for a dope. :D

[kedss]

It sounds like he's just fine. It took my DS longer to start babbling and he has a few words he uses, but he's very good at pointing and indicating what he wants with hand signals. His favorite phrase right now is 'Go away!' LOL. I do think it is a case of necessity, if he doesn't feel he needs to talk, he probably won't until he's ready.

[psophia17]

DS made a lot of noise before his 2nd birthday, most of which I could figure out because I was with him all day long and could usually figure out where he picked up a new word, and if it was really important to him he could make himself understood by the rest of the family, but it wasn't until after his 2nd b-day that he really started talking with words strangers could (usually) recognize. That said, he still says a lot of things that we just can't figure out...

[Wife_and_mommy]

DD progressed just like Nathan.

Your DS sounds perfectly normal and about where DD was so I'm glad you're not stressing.


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[mom to little e]

I know at DS's 24-month exam the doc asked if he was putting short phrases together. Well, I kind of shrugged and said yes, somewhat. He was speaking a little bit with some three-word phrases but nothing staggering.

Right after that, the flood gates broke and the child hasn't stopped talking since. He is 30 months speaking non-stop, very clear, and is extremely verbal. Sometimes too much! :)

Maryann
Mommy to Ean & Mia!

[tarahsolazy]

Mine is a late talker. He's in speech therapy now.

But, he went from less than 10 words (over 70 signs, though) at his two year checkup to probably close to a hundred words now. All of the gains have been in the last month or so. Its so fun to watch!

[TonFirst]

Adam said his first real word ("truck!") at around ten months and at nearly 18 months, his vocabulary has exploded to about 120 words (my husband and I keep a tally because we're dorks). Just this week he's started to put together 2-3 word sentences, mainly having to do with going outside. He'll come up to me, yank on my shorts, and say, "Go walk! Grace!" (Grace is his friend down the street.)

[jesseandgrace]

Both of my kids could say two to three word sentences by the time they were one, but now that they are older (5 and almost 3) everyhting has evened out with kids in their classes and everything, even my niece who didn't say a word until almost 3 is fully caught up. It was cool at the time to have my one year olds shocking people when they talked, but in the long run it all evens out and by 3 and 4 most kids sound the same, don't worry!

[Sillygirl]

Jonathan's only said "dis" and "dat" for a month now, and added "up" this week. He's almost nineteen months. He also has 10-12 signs. I was a late talker myself and most of the time I don't worry. I would like him to talk more, because I'm dying to nkow what's going on in his head. But I figure he'll start when he's good and ready.

[lizajane]

my second child doesn't feel the need to talk at all. he hollers and points and i know exactly what he wants. i am with him all day and it is very easy for me. but the hollering is annoyed, so i have started to ask him to use words. (and i repeat the word, etc etc.)

he is 16 months today. he says similar words to your DS. ball, dog, dad, mom, schuyler, ruff ruff ruff at the dog...

he signs for more.

schuyler could sign at least 10 words at this age (as i said, dylan just can't be bothered...) and maybe talked a little more than dylan.

but at around 17-18 months, schuyler suddenly started to repeat almost any word we said. he learned more than a word a day.

so just wait another month or two. you will be amazed.

[sarahsthreads]

At 15 months I stretched the truth a bit when my pediatrician asked if DD said at least three words - she knew 70 signs then, but only said "uh-oh" regularly, and "mama" and "dada" sporadically. I was worried he'd push for a speech eval because someone else I knew who went to the same practice had that experience.

At her 18 month checkup I could honestly tell him that she said over 100 words and knew 120 signs. Almost all of that great leap in language happened from 17 to 18 months. Now at 19 months I've completely lost track of how many signs and words she knows, and she says 2-word sentences all the time. I call them her litanies: "mama eat, daddy eat, molly eat, mercy (our dog murphy) eat, mucka-my (her uncle michael) eat, pa eat, gramma eat..." She'll do this with just about any verb she knows. Her favorite two-word sentence is "tee side?" which means "Carrie outside?"

Of course, "no" is about the clearest, most frequently used word in her vocabulary at the moment...

All that really long-winded answer to say, I personally wouldn't worry if he has a handful of words at 17 months. You will probably find over the next few weeks that something will click in his brain and he'll be talking up a storm. One evening after dinner DH and I literally turned to each other and marveled over how much DD's language skills had improved in just the 30 minutes we were all sitting at the table!

Sarah :)

[bcky2]

my older ds didnt start talking till he was a little bit over the age of 2. he had five words at his 2 year visit. about 3 months later he had over 100. my littl boy just turned 2 and only uses about 3 words. i really hope that he starts soon, i am starting to worry with him.

[holliam]

There is such a huge range for language development! I spent one of my summers in college interviewing kids around 2 years for verbal skills (had an internship with Leslie Rescorla.. google her; she is one of the authorities on language development/delays), and I was always amazed at the wide range of skills from 18-30 months!

I honestly was expecting DD to be delayed because she heard Spanish exclusively for the first 7 months of her life and then English. My DH had to convince me that she was talking, and it wasn't until my sister independently confirmed it that I believed it.

He claims that she said "car" around 10 months, but I didn't start believing him until about 11 months when I heard a lot more words (kitty, ball, etc.). I have an email exchange between my DH and I where we were attempting to document her words right around 11 months, and it was over a dozen. I kind of lost track after that.

Now at 20 months, she learns so many words every day and has finally started to talk in front of other people besides us. She has some 2+ word phrases, and occasionally she will belt out a long one ("Night. night. Go sleep in there." is her longest so far). But, one-word phrases are still the bulk of her communications.

We started with signs around 8 months but she ended up saying the words before the signs. Around 16 months or so she became obsessed with signs and thought it was fun to do the sign and say the word. :)

ETA: Her foster mama told us at 3 months she was saying "agua". LOL! Not sure I believe that! ;)

Holli

[hudsonam]

Thanks for all the responses! It's good to hear how much this can vary from one child to another.

[JElaineB]

DS wasn't talking much at 17-18 months so I got Signing Time and we started to sign with him. He picked up signs really quickly and it also helped build his spoken vocabulary. At age 2 his pedi asked if he was putting 2 words together, and he was not. She asked if he had 50 spoken words, and he did, so she said she wasn't worried. I was though, but I held off since he seemed to be on the slow side of normal. Finally at just over 27 months he started putting 2 words together, and few months later was using 3-5 word sentences. He was speaking well by age 3 and has no speech issues now. He speaks in complex sentences and can be understood by anyone 99% of the time. They had a brief speech evaluation screeing at his daycare a few weeks ago and they said he was normal for his age. So don't worry too much, as long as he is meeting the minimum milestones he should be fine.

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[smilequeen]

DS was an early talker. He talks quite a bit for 18 months. People usually assume he is 2 or older.

At his 18 month check up they were looking for 20 words as the minimum.

[Dee150]

DS is 23 mos now. He started with some words around his first birthday, and around 15 mos. he really started with a lot of words. Everyday he'd add a few words to his vocabulary. At around 18 mos. (and he hasn't stopped), he started to point or look at something new and would either look at me or 'name' it based on words he knew- I HAVE to acknowledge or provide the right word, or else....! (It does get difficult while driving etc.) And so he says 'golf cart', 'water faucet', "munch (for mulch)" and other random things. 'Please' always comes in a standard phrase. A friend's daughter started at 8-9mos. and is going strong now at 28 mos. in lots of sentences (conversation even and is trilingual!!). Another friend's son is 26mos. and doesn't talk much- always makes himself understood though. But he's great with puzzles and eats beautifully etc. They all develop differently, and its fun to watch them interact!

[cilantromapuche]

My friend who is a speech pathologist told me that the 2 things you can't control and your DC can are talking and potty training. That has been very true in our case. DS would say a word and never say it again. At 20 months he finally kicked in and now a year later his language skills are way ahead of his age.

Christine

mama to A (7/03)and a girl (6/06)