15 Months and Not Speaking

My son didn't say Mama or Dada until 18 months and didn't start saying any other words until 20 months. He is now 25 months and says over 100 words and is starting to put words together. I think it depends on the doctor you have. We saw a male doctor who is very laid back and said that most boys don't start talking until 15 months. The next time we saw a different doctor and he was trying to refer us to speech therapy too. I know my son does not need it. He is extemely smart and the talking will come all on its own.

Hope this helps.

I have a 27 month old daughter who has been diagnosed with cognitive and expressive speech delay. She is starting speech therapy next week. My pediatrician was very patient and helpful. At 18 months he explained that our daughter should have at least six words- six not fifteen. He also explained the reasons for concerns with speech delay. Autism is the number one reason for worry- my doctor felt our dughter was very social and interactive so thought we should just give her more time. At her 2 year old check up when she still only had a couple words and fragments our doctor referred us to the Westside Regional Center, there she was seen by a therapist as well as a Psycologist to determine what was holding her back. She was cleared of any psycological issues and was diagnosed with delay. My daughter clearly wants to express herself and we are excited to be starting therapy. But in the end when she is 30- will it matter. Sometimes development becomes compettative, and your doctor is not helping. Has your Peditrician explained why there are concerns at 15 months? does your child have there other signs of problems or delays? is there any suggestions as to where to take your baby, or any further evaluations? I think you should ask your doctor for more information, always ask why. My Aunt once told me don't be afraid to ask question- she rushed her 18 year old son to the doctor once for fear he was having trouble hearing because of a large bump in his ear canal. Turned out to be a pimple. Her doctor said, don't worry about it he is your first 18 year old, you will always have questions. Good luck and don't worry!

Oh L....Drs. almost always overreact. You know your baby, what do you "hear"? My 20 month old says maybe 10 words, but thats not how we communicate. There are so many ways to reach someone, speaking is overrated. Soon he'll be talking non stop, don't worry. Give him the time and love he needs to be little. Your son is a unique individual, and he will grow and develop perfectly. Trust him.Good Luck Momma

Hi L.

I have a daughter is delayed speech. I also have a 15 year old son. If I remember correctly at 15 months 10 to 15 words seem alot, however there is nothing wrong with having your son evaluated. No harm done if he is fine. If not, then you have caught something at an early stage. Better for him. If you live in Ventura county call the Child Development center and Tri Counties Regional Center. (if you son needs speech the state funds it, so no out of pocket expenses for you)Both these agencies can be googled. Early Intervention is very important..so I learned with my daughter. Me personally I think you have a great pediatritan, better to have one that is concerned that not. If you need more info on the above agencies let me know...I still have the # for Tri Counties.

D.

Hi L., My middle son (who is now 11 years old and scores 100% on over half of his star testing subjects, i.e reading comprehension, math etc. is in 5th grade and on the Honor Roll in advanced classes) He did not start speaking until he was close to 2 years old. He did his own thing - when he was finally ready to speak he said a full sentence "What's that?" and while we knew he understood us we could hardly make out anything he said. Even after he was 3 people would ask me "What did he say?" When he was ready for school 5 years old we took him to the school districts speech therapists. They told us not to worry - that he would "grow out of it" and he did. He is productive, happy and talks up a storm. So, don't be too alarmed. Just keep an eye on him and encourage words with him.

My second son was not speaking when he turned 2 (my pediatrician was not worried, by the way) but I was getting a little nervous. Then, we started in a morning pre-school program and within a few weeks he was talking! I told his teacher when he started that he was not talking yet, and she said she'd keep an eye on it. I think she really focused on showing him how important communication is in the classroom setting, and it motivated him to begin communicating with his peers. In addition, my sister-in-law is going through the same thing with her 4th child right now. He's a late talker, and just starting to 'use his words'. He's a little over 2. Good luck and don't worry! - N.

My son is also 15 months old. The only words he says is Mama and Dada and dog(which sounds just like dada). He just had his well check and his pediatrician was not concerned at all.All babies develop at their own pace.

C.

Well it definitely does not hurt to see a speech therapist. I wonder what my pediatrician will tell me on Monday. We go for my baby's 15 month well check then and she's not saying but ball,uh oh, mama, a ball, atata (baby einstein) and tata (blanket).

If anything else you'll have peace of mind either way.

Good luck.
D.

I think the doctor is confusing "should be able to" with MIGHT be able to. If you do a search for "infant speech development milestones" you will see lots of websites that say so. One of them for instance says:
"At 15 months, the infant continues to string vowel and consonant sounds together (gibberish) but may imbed real words within the gibberish. The infant may be able to say as many as ten different words."
Notice that it says MAY be able to...
Sending you to an SLP is over-reacting, IMO. If you would like to know how to encourage his language development - definitely teach him some signs. Signing with babies has been proven to enhance their ability to communicate and motivate them to speak. If your son can point and wave already, those are signs too! Reading and talking with your baby are more ways to encourage language development.

My son is almost 15 mos and we sign with him. He has lots of signs - at last count at least 40 and he can say a few words that we understand what he means: mama, dada, cookie! moo-moo (cow), keeee (kitty), baa (sheep), etc.

Good luck and just enjoy your baby!

He may or may not talk in his own time but take him to a professional to let her see if there are any concerns. If he starts talking on his own then great. But, if he needs help, then you've already got the ball rolling and are jumping on it early which will help him immensely. A Speech/Language Pathologist will be able to point you in the right direction or to relieve your worries. It's not painful for the child and it's one more professional opinion about your child's welfare. Your son should be able to say more than 2 words at his age so why not have him checked out and then you'll have a better idea if he's just taking his time to learn to talk or if he needs some help. This is less concerning if he is learning more than 1 language, which you didn't say. In that case then a delay in talking is more appropriate at his age. Good luck!

I agree with you. Your son will talk when he is ready. Just keep doing your best and have him say as many things as he can as often as you can. Play games and have him repeat you. When he lets you know he wants something tell him the word a few times. He will get it. Ask him to repeat it too. Is "Mama" and Papa" the ONLY words he says? Or does he talk just not understandable? Either way he will get it when he is ready. Now if he is 3 and isnt saying anymore then 2 words I believe it would be cause for concern.

Nope - I don't think that is right! I am not a doctor but I think your Pediatrician is "jumping the gun." My oldest son (he is 7 now and never stops talking) didn't start talking til he was 3! All he did was grunt and point until then. I think he will be fine and I wouldn't worry about it - I think you are right by thinking that he will do it in his own time! Enjoy your 15 month old and don't let the doctors freak you out - you have a gift from God and he will be fine!

You need to get a new pediatrician, not speech therapist. You will not know if you have any true problems until he turns 24 months or even older. As long as he's making and responding to sounds I'm sure he'll develop speech in his own sweet time.

I would most definitely follow the doctors advice and have him see a speech therapist. I can't see it hurting, even if it ends up that he doesn't need it because he his speech just takes off, at least you won't have to worry about the coulda, shoulda. I would also see if you can get his hearing checked, I know as a child I development audio perception problems because I was over 45% deaf due to chronic ear infections and my parents and doctors didn't realize this until it was almost time for kindergarten. Yes he probably should be saying far more words and it is possible that he is, just maybe you can't understand his speech, which is where the hearing problem would come in. If he can't hear the words properly, he can't say them properly, which in turns means you can't recognize that he is actually speaking. Good luck. :)

My daughter is 17 months and doesn't have 10-15 words in her vocabulary either. She has alot to say and it is mostly jibberish. I am not worried at all. I have a 3 year old who was saying three word sentences by the 18 months. I am not even comparing the two of them. All kids are different.

L.,

I would consider that as a suggestion and not something you must do.

Read "How Children Learn" by John Holt. John Holt was a well know psychiatrist who studied children for many years. He followed the patterns of 'HOW' the learning processes work and discovered that even children who were "Slow" by some peoples terms and didn't learn to read until the age of 12 would quickly catch up to their peers once they did. We all learn on our own time schedules. Trying to put every person into the exact same learning time line doesn't go along with nature.
Before I resorted to speech therapy for such a young child I would do some investigation of my own and get a second opinion.

In my opinion, doctors are there to give us advice. It does not mean they are always 100% right. It is just their opinion.

L., I think you should follow you pediatrician's advice. I am currently going through the same situation. I always believed that boys take longer to speak than girls. However, II had a 2 year appointment with my son and mr doctor had the same concerns because he only says about 8 words. I am currently in the process of getting him speech therapy. At first I was upset, but then I realized that it is better to get him help now rather than when he begins school and ends up falling behind.

Your dr is nuts! This is way too early to worry about speech issues. My oldest son had true speech issues and did not talk until over 2. My speech pathologist and pediatritian both told me to wait until he was 2 before I did any intervention. Anything sooner is a total waste of time and money. But they both recommended baby sign language at 15 months which worked great. By the time he was 2 he could sign 100 words. My friends son did not speak at all until 2 and never went to a speech therapist. Now he is 4 and his preschool teachers say he is the most verbal student that they have ever had. Uses the most complete sentences etc.

I can't see a speech therapist for a 15 month old. I would pay attention to it and address it yourself, with a lot of speech and careful listening. Read a lot of silly baby stories (library). Next year you will be the one saying 'I can't get my baby to stop talking all the time!' Three-year-olds do a lot of talking.

If you doctor is telling you that your 15 month old needs speech therapy then I would change doctors. He is only 15 months old! How silly is that.

Oh my gosh, I'm really surprised that a doctor told you to get a speech therapist. In my opinion (I worked with children 6 wks to 5 years, and I have 2 sons, ages 2 and 4) boys are busy doing other things. My first son didn't really start talking until he was a few months shy of 2. And now he won't stop! ;o) I think he was saying around 10 words (and definitely not clearly) by 18 months but during that year he was extremely busy practicing his gross motor movements, as are most boys. I don't think it's fair that they put these general guidelines. Boys and girls are extremely different. Perhaps most girls say 10-15 words by that age but in my experiences, boys don't. What you were told is completely crazy. I would even consider getting a new doctor. Everyone knows that children progress at different rates and I can't understand why a doctor would even want to alarm you so early in your son's life. I think it's way too early for her to be making this judgment.

As a mom of all girls I think it is pretty normal for boys to take their time. My 10 yr old and 2 yr old started talking really early. My 2 year old never stops! However; my neighbor was referred to a Speech Therapist by her childs MD because he was not talking and he has done a 360. Not sure where you live but in Ventura County they offer it free AND the speech therapist comes to your home! It never hurts to get an evaluation. I know they do have to qualify and if he doesn't qualify then that should be your piece of mind.

If your child is in a home with two languages, it will take more time for him to talk, but when he finally does talk, he will be vey fluent in both languages. Also, boys take longer than girls which is normal. I don't know if this is your situation, though.

My son had the same problem that you are writting about and we are in a single language home. At 15 months of age he had two or three words which concerned his pediatrician. Then at 18 months he had a few more words. Finally at his 2 year check up, the doctor gave me the number for the county regional center for evaluation. (This is a free service.) I followed through with his advice and am glad I did. My son was tested at 25 months. He was having articulation problems (speaking) which made it hard to understand what he was saying. However, his language skills (what he understood) were that of a 36 month old. We only did therapy for 3 months, but that was enough for him to get over the hurdle. Now he is 32 months old and talks like you can't beleive. The therapist gave us crazy mouth exercises and silly word games to do at home, which apparently did the trick.

He is still in a learning stage of speech and we help correct him all the time but the pressure is off because he has so many words to communicate with. I do think he would've have learned eventually to speak, but he was getting so frustrated that he could't and we didn't want to create a bigger problem. Having the tools to help him really helped us.

Good luck to you!