20 months and too busy too talk

burd

My 20 month old boy is very lively and active, always busy, quite unwilling to sit and be quiet and is full of chat - but nothing that makes sense.
No real words to speak of, other than dada baba, and a few animal sounds.Said Hi and one or two others for a while, but has dropped those. Is this 'normal'???
Getting a bit concerned as there is never any improvement.
And he can hear me no problem, so I know it's not that.

IsThatSo?

I have the exact same situation with my 19 month old, and like you, I know he can hear me as he does respond. He is only saying "Mama" and nothing else. I think he said "up" last night. He does babble sometimes, but not all that often and is happy in himself and very active.

All I can say is that they will talk when they need to, when they are not able to make themselves understood in their "old way".

BUT if you are concerned talk to your GP or PHN and they will get you on a waiting list for speech therapy. AFAIK the list is on the big side so the lack of speech could have sorted itself out by then, but if not then you have somewhere to go

I was a bit concerned myself, but have decided not to get overly worried. As it now, I can understand his needs so well that I am probably contributing to the delay. Each child is different and will do what they have to do when they need to do it

V1llianous

IsThatSo? wrote: »

I have the exact same situation with my 19 month old, and like you, I know he can hear me as he does respond. He is only saying "Mama" and nothing else. I think he said "up" last night. He does babble sometimes, but not all that often and is happy in himself and very active.

All I can say is that they will talk when they need to, when they are not able to make themselves understood in their "old way".

BUT if you are concerned talk to your GP or PHN and they will get you on a waiting list for speech therapy. AFAIK the list is on the big side so the lack of speech could have sorted itself out by then, but if not then you have somewhere to go

I was a bit concerned myself, but have decided not to get overly worried. As it now, I can understand his needs so well that I am probably contributing to the delay. Each child is different and will do what they have to do when they need to do it

+1

I have a 3 year old whose speech and behaviour is like that described by OP. We have had a diagnosis for it and currently have treatment plans being worked out.

I'm not going to name the condition as I don't want to worry the OP as there are several things that can cause it.

I would second the above poster and suggest a visit to the GP and get them to refer to a Paediatric Consultant, hearing test, speech therapy etc. These things take a while to come up so I think it is useful to be on the waiting list for them if it doesn't correct itself. HTH

Ted_striker

I can relate to your problem but hopefully i can put you mind at rest ,My 23 month old boy has just made amazing progress in the last week or so after very little speech up until then .I mentioned it to my GP a couple of months ago and she said no need to worry until he's a least 2.I know it's a cliche but all kids are different my son is the youngest of 4 and the others spoke around age1. I guess just keep up the chat with him in the mean time and I bet he'll amaze you.

lalalulu

Ted_striker wrote: »

I can relate to your problem but hopefully i can put you mind at rest ,My 23 month old boy has just made amazing progress in the last week or so after very little speech up until then .I mentioned it to my GP a couple of months ago and she said no need to worry until he's a least 2.I know it's a cliche but all kids are different my son is the youngest of 4 and the others spoke around age1. I guess just keep up the chat with him in the mean time and I bet he'll amaze you.

I really don't think it's a cliche saying that all kid's are different they really are. When my mother started her family 40 years ago if a child didn't sit up at 6 months crawl at 9 months and walk at a year they were considered behind but that has all changed now. We know now every child develop's at their own pace within reason. There's a thing called global delay in which a child will consistently miss the milestones eg won't babble as a baby, sit's unaided very late and walks late also. You probably wouldn't be referred to a speech therapist until your little one was two as most doctor's wouldn't worry until then. It's so hard not to worry. My little one is 6 months old and i've been worrying myself sick because she doesn't laugh out loud yet Nothing prepare's you when you become a mammy! Best of luck with your babs...

Gonzales

burd wrote: »

My 20 month old boy is very lively and active, always busy, quite unwilling to sit and be quiet and is full of chat - but nothing that makes sense.
No real words to speak of, other than dada baba, and a few animal sounds.Said Hi and one or two others for a while, but has dropped those. Is this 'normal'???
Getting a bit concerned as there is never any improvement.
And he can hear me no problem, so I know it's not that.

Burd,
we are in the EXACT same position as you, except we're not worried. Relax for now you're little guy is getting around to it!! My advise is relax for now & take a second look in 2 months if it does'nt change. Enjoy that lovely babbling for now - it'll soon be gone forever!

IsThatSo?

Since OP posted I took steps regarding my sons speech as he has just started to get a little frustrated.

I rang my PHN and have an appointment at the clinic to have his ears checked at the end of June. He is/was prone to ear infections (teething) and I suspect he may have fluid on one of his ears. Gromites would resolve this.

The PHN told me to sing lots of nursery rhymes to him in the meantime and to talk to him at his own level, as in get down to his height. A lot of words get lost to them when you are talking at adult height.

I did also speak to a speech therapist, out of interest rather than worry, and she said she would send me out some info but have not received it yet. Its been a week now so she probably forgot, which is fair enough, they are busy, I understand that.

I am still not worrying about his speech, but I suppose I wanted to get moving on it rather than letting it go................if he ends up not talking by two then his frustration levels would be greater and if I can prevent this then it would make life easier for all of us.

I feel better myself being proactive rather than reactive and if he does end up have bigger problems than we think at least things are underway

livvy

I had the same thing with my toddler. Late last year when she was around 20 months her speech was very limited and the public health nurse said she would refer her for speech therapy if not improved by Feb. I went to Easons a bought "The Usborne First Picture Word Book" by Jo Litchfield & Caroline Young. I had loads of other types of books but nothing that had everyday words in it like tomato, pasta etc. Every night we did our words. After a few weeks her vocab. had improved significantly. Good luck.

Deliverance

burd wrote: »

My 20 month old boy is very lively and active, always busy, quite unwilling to sit and be quiet and is full of chat - but nothing that makes sense.
No real words to speak of, other than dada baba, and a few animal sounds.Said Hi and one or two others for a while, but has dropped those. Is this 'normal'???
Getting a bit concerned as there is never any improvement.
And he can hear me no problem, so I know it's not that.

To be honest Burd, I think you have nothing to worry about. Children learn speech patterns before they learn actual words. They are little learning machines...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRRkJ95RxIo

They might just choose to learn speech patterns and expressions before words, which when you think about it... quite a clever thing.

LittleRose

I am worried about the very same thing. My little boy is a month off his 2nd birthday and has very few words. About five in all - amazingly, thank you (dak oo) was his first and most abiding bit of speech. He babbles away non-stop to himself all day. He is constantly on the "phone", laughing and joking and giving out. But all in his own language. I know he understands a lot of things, like bottle, dinner etc. but if I tell him we're going for a walk, get your shoes, he just stands there smiling. He seems to respond more to what he sees eg. he will run for his life when he sees his pyjamas coming out, even though I might have told him five times before that that it's pyjama time, with no reaction.

Added to that, he doesn't respond to commands. I'm blue in the face pointing out eyes, ears, nose, mouth etc. but he's never responded. So I'm worried about his comprehension and whether there's something more sinister to worry about.

His hearing#s been checked and that is fine. We are waiting on a referral for an assessment but in the meantime, am really worried.

BUT it was a bit of a relief to see there are quite a few others worrying about the same thing. Maybe it's just like all of you said and it's just one of those things, they all develop at their own pace.

Anyway, fingers crossed that all our little angels will be ok

nesf

Our guy was all babbling until one day he just turned around and started using multiple proper words. I couldn't give you the date, and even if I could I'd probably be wrong (from my understanding of the linguistics of it, parents often miss the earliest words from their child because they can be quite hard to make out unless you're a linguist and know what to look for).

*Page*

i didnt speak untill i was 3 years old... my parents had every test done on me....


one day i walked into the kitchen and asked my mum for a biscuit. she nearly shat herself.....


kids start at different paces

Richie_Gorey

burd wrote: »

My 20 month old boy is very lively and active, always busy, quite unwilling to sit and be quiet and is full of chat - but nothing that makes sense.
No real words to speak of, other than dada baba, and a few animal sounds.Said Hi and one or two others for a while, but has dropped those. Is this 'normal'???
Getting a bit concerned as there is never any improvement.
And he can hear me no problem, so I know it's not that.

20 months is still very young. Definately no need to worry about it just yet anyway. My cousin didn't start to put even 2 words together until he was 3. And a year later he seems quite advanced for his age.

IsThatSo?

LittleRose wrote: »

if I tell him we're going for a walk, get your shoes, he just stands there smiling. He seems to respond more to what he sees eg. he will run for his life when he sees his pyjamas coming out, even though I might have told him five times before that that it's pyjama time, with no reaction.

Added to that, he doesn't respond to commands. I'm blue in the face pointing out eyes, ears, nose, mouth etc. but he's never responded. So I'm worried about his comprehension and whether there's something more sinister to worry about.

This is exactly like my little fella. If he wants to go out and play I tell him I will get his shoes and walk away to get them and he goes mad, but as soon as he sees the shoes he sits down and sticks his feet up at me and smiles!!

He has never once, not ever, picked up something that I asked him or run ahead of me if I said we were doing something like going out (but if he sees me pick up my handbag he will go to the front door and wait, even if I have told him several times we are going out he won't do anything till he sees the handbag or the keys).

His appointment to check up his hearing is coming up on 30th so will report back then.

I am still not overly worried though, if he has a problem he has a problem and we will deal with it, he is still the same child that we love If there is no definable problem and he just decides to wait until he is 3 to talk then fair enough, I can live with that too I am looking forward to talking with him though, rather than too him...............which is what if feels like most of the time, even though I just chatter and sing lots to him, both of which he loves.

Mr. Muddle

Hi

Many children are not talking by 20 months, but if they had some words and have now stopped using them (or lost them) you should get him checked. He might have a hearing problem even though you think he can hear he might not be able to hear the full range of sounds, it is really worth getting this checked.

He is very young and many children are not ready to talk at that age so he is probaly fine but there are long waiting lists for speech therapy ect. so it is really worth getting your PHN to put him on all waiting lists for early intervention team, hopefully he won't need it but it is no harm to be on the list.

You might like to go onto Rollercoaster.ie the special needs discussion group is very helpfull.

crocro

neither of my children spoke much until they were 3. Since then they talk from morning to night and are both doing well in school. I paid for a load of consultant tests for the first one, didn't waste my money on the second.

sachamama

my boy didn't speak until he was 4 and a half. We kept him back from school for a year to give him a better chance. we had him tested and got on the lists early enough for speech therapy. He has moved from being severe to moderate in less than a year because we had all the pieces in place.

I'd recommend to you to put your babies name down on the list now because it can take 18 months to get anywhere. And if you dont need the assessment when it comes time to take it , great. If you do , you'll be delighted you put your name down for it.

we sent our boy to CLUAS therapy too, which was brilliant for the brain/ear connection. I believe that it really helped substantially with his problem. And yes, we were worried. But it worked out fine, and your situation will work out too. Best of luck.

missmatty

My little cousin was like that, I remember being at a party when he turned two, and he wasn't talking at all. His nan called him 'all picture, no sound'

He's grand now, started talking a few months later all of a sudden.

kmick

Have a little buy 29 months and he has only really started talking in the last 3 months. They wil pick up and drop words as well so dont worry about that. For your own piece of mind see your GP though.

Blazer

My godson (nephew) is 3 (4 next month) and still not talking properly...kinda grunts...
very unhappy with this and tried to get my parents to talk to my brother and his wife about testing him about a year ago...
When they tried to talk to them about it they got very angry over this and refused to believe anything was wrong with him.
He still can't talk and about all he can say is "no" and that's about it...
I'm pissed off over it as I can't understand why they refuse to help the child..
it's not that they're bad parents but I cannot fathom this..
He's supposed to go to school in September but obviously there's no way he'll be able to now.
The worst thing is his 2 sisters could all talk by 2 and they're complete blabbermouths.
My other niece (just gone 2) could talk the leg off a donkey she's so talkative..and she picks up words as soon as she hears them.
Christ..she can even repeated "computer" after me the other day.

IsThatSo?

missmatty wrote: »

'all picture, no sound'

I love that, its perfect

To last poster, fair play to you for making the effort, its a shame they didn't listen. I hope they don't regret it later

My little fella made a complete liar of me when I was at PHN. I was there to have his little sisters 4 month developmental check but was discussing his speech with her as the appointment is coming up next week.

I told her that he didn't seem to understand me etc etc. As we were leaving and I was putting my daughter into her carseat my son leaned over her and I said to him "Are you going to give your sister a kiss?", he looked at me and I siad "kiss" and he went over and gave her a kiss. The PHN pointed this out to me!!!! Why do they make liars of us?? :pac:

I have heard before that children are either walkers or talkers. My eldest was a talker and didn't walk till 18 months, but this little fella was walking very early.

Am glad to hear of other children that talked "late" (as professionals may see it) it does prove that they are all different and will do things when they are ready

Am still getting a chuckle out of the "all picture, no sound" reference

dinky earnshaw

Hi there
I was told the public therapy would take 6 weeks for assesment and 3 months for first sessions but now 9 months after being promised places on the last two sesions where now told that it'll september a the earliest.

I was wondering if any of you have gone private and have any idea's on waiting lists and cost's etc. Also if any of you can recommend a therapist in north dublin it would be of great help.

~me~

hey everyone,
just thought id give my two cents as i have advice from two sides of the story.
i'll start with the good one, a boy i know didnt talk til he was four, was brought to speech therapy, GPs, hearing tests, everything- he was just lazy! hes now studying a science in college!
a not so good one, a relation of mine regresssed at about one and a half, lost most of his vocab and he got a diagnosis a while ago which wasnt good but hes doing well. im not saying this to scare anyone, i just want to give a few warning signals/pointers:

• make sure your child appears to understand you; it doesnt matter if he doesnt repeat you, just see if it 'clicks' with him when you say a word
• check for regular eye contact; many mental problems lead to children avoiding eye contact
• when saying a word point to the object, then repeat the word and wait to see if he acknowledges the object or points to it
• repetition works wonders, if he starts learning songs/words off by heart day in day out, you'll know he may just find new words difficult rather than speech problems.

• check how he grips things, (delicately for small objects etc.)

all babies are different, but just regularly keep an eye on his mental development overall just in case.
do put his name on the list now if you feel he may need it as even after a diagnosis it takes a LONG time to get the help you need. prepare for the worst but hope for the best.do try not to worry as they do say that late talkers are smarter than most, they dont talk cause they're thinking!

BostonB

burd wrote: »

My 20 month old boy is very lively and active, always busy, quite unwilling to sit and be quiet and is full of chat - but nothing that makes sense.
No real words to speak of, other than dada baba, and a few animal sounds.Said Hi and one or two others for a while, but has dropped those. Is this 'normal'???
Getting a bit concerned as there is never any improvement.
And he can hear me no problem, so I know it's not that.

Sounds normal to me. I Know of 3 20mth boys and they are the exact same.

IsThatSo?

dinky earnshaw wrote: »

Hi there
I was told the public therapy would take 6 weeks for assesment and 3 months for first sessions but now 9 months after being promised places on the last two sesions where now told that it'll september a the earliest.

I was wondering if any of you have gone private and have any idea's on waiting lists and cost's etc. Also if any of you can recommend a therapist in north dublin it would be of great help.

The waiting list in my area is 14 months :eek:

Ask your PHN if they now of any speech therapists in the area, that might be your quickest route.

IsThatSo?

Brought my son to the clinic for the appointment yesterday. They were very thorough, I have to say, and agree with me that while he does hear he does not seem to be able to comprehend the words.

The Doc got down on the floor with him and was trying to get him to hand her the toy he was holding, he just pushed her hands away. The second time he pushed them he pushed them to her face.....................he wanted to play 'peep' with her, so she did :pac:

Anyway, he has been referred to Sr Lydia for hearing tests, to a paediatrician for futher assessment and also onto the 14 month waiting list for speech therapy.

Maybe he will make liars of all of us and start talking, maybe he won't Time will tell and we will do our best for him whatever happens.

~me~

IsThatSo? wrote: »

Brought my son to the clinic for the appointment yesterday. They were very thorough, I have to say, and agree with me that while he does hear he does not seem to be able to comprehend the words.

The Doc got down on the floor with him and was trying to get him to hand her the toy he was holding, he just pushed her hands away. The second time he pushed them he pushed them to her face.....................he wanted to play 'peep' with her, so she did :pac:

Anyway, he has been referred to Sr Lydia for hearing tests, to a paediatrician for futher assessment and also onto the 14 month waiting list for speech therapy.

Maybe he will make liars of all of us and start talking, maybe he won't Time will tell and we will do our best for him whatever happens.

glad to hear they're taking it seriously, the worst is when they brush you off as a worried parent and dont take the time to make sure. keep us updated. hope it all goes well!

gerrycollins

My now 3 year old was really slow to take off talking but out of the blue she started making sense just before her 2nd birthday. Now she wont shut up. However some of her words are still jumbled/baby talk so its a little hard to fully understand her but my wife and I get the jist of what she is saying but our parents and families are looking at each other in bewilderment.

Our other boy just turned 1 last month can say the usual baba nana mama etc but fully knows what the name of our cat is and calls it as such. every child is different but its good to know that people are taking these thing a little more seriously nowadays compared to only a few years ago.

HaydensMom

My little boy is 23 months and has very little speech. Luckily we were only waiting three months for a speech therapy assessment, where we were told that he has a significant "language delay". He interacts well with others and up until lately has been a really happy little soul, but he now becomes frustrated easily when I can't understand what he wants. We read books every day and I can see a great improvement in his understanding, but very little in the speech. The speech therapist put my name down for a late talkers group, one hour a week for six weeks for parents only, to give us a better idea how to facilitate his learning. He's my first child so I'll take all the help I can get! Hopefully this will speed things along. Maybe they run similar courses in other areas.

mariebeth

hi, I work in a creche and from my experiences of children at that age, they are all different. Some of them have lots of words and some don't, it's all different and I wouldn't worry too much about it until your child is a bit older, however if it will give you more peace of mind do go & ask either your GP or PHN