I Wanted to Know What Your Children Know/knew at 20 Months!

First off ALL children are going to be at different learning levels because of their environment. As to your question should you be sitting and teaching I would say yes especially if you want him to excel. It wouldn't hurt. Read to him every day before you put him down for a nap or bedtime this will help his speech for the simple fact that he is hearing words and it will help him gain a love for reading.
Good Luck
A.
www.romance2nite.com

Kids will develop at different ages...accept your son for who he isand what he CAN do...my now 5yr old did not say ANYTHING until she was 2...at 3or4 she started using complete sentences and so many people try pushing her. She is bi lingual and she will speak 3 languages(sign,english and spanish by the time she gets out of kindergarden...my point is he will get there..let him be him and he will flourish...there will be plenty of time for him to learn those things and he is not behind..plus they grow up way fast!!!

Hi J.!

Your son sounds just like mine did! My son was so advanced in his gross motor skills, that I think he didn't have 'time' or take the time to learn all of those things. He had a small vocabulary at that age, where my daughter was speaking in full five words sentences at that age. My children are 19 months apart and they are now learning shapes, colors, numbers at the same time. My son is almost four. He just never seems interested. I do try and he hears all of these things on a daily basis,as I have an in-home daycare where we have daily activites involving letters, numbers, etc. I just think it depends on the child. It is hard not to compare children, especially family members and friends, but please know that children all learn at their own pace. I have a 22 month old in my care that came to me with about 10 words in his vocablulary, most of those pertaining to names of different sports. He now says so many words and learns about five or six new words everyday while in my care.

I don't think that you have to sit down and do flashcards with your son, but implement some daily activities involving learning. Count peas on his plate, talk about what color they are, cut out different shapes and colors out of paper and let him glue them onto paper. He will get it eventually. Children have the rest of their lives to learn and yes, it is important in their early years, but I don't feel that we as parents should stress about what they know or don't know. Make learning fun and the rest will follow. He is probably more advanced in other areas than your friends child anyway. I have a friend whose son can not take direction of any sort, but can talk up a storm. My son, on the other hand, could crawl to his room, get his diaper out of the cupboard and bring it to me at ten months old. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I am more than happy to help:)

-Janelle

I would highly recommend getting a few "teach your baby" type books for ideas. Glenn Doman has some good ones, they give exact instruction on how to teach your baby all kinds of things. I have How to teach your baby math and How to teach your baby to read. I like the idea behind it and I think you can use the same system to teach your little one lots of different things. I also have a book called Baby Minds that I'd recommend, it just gives you more ideas on how to stimulate your baby's mind. Just look on Amazon and check the reviews, that's what I did.

I wouldn't worry, you're probably doing just fine, but this is the prime time for learning. A child's mind can learn so much easier at a very young age. Often times people underestimate the brain power and genius of small children, but it's hard to comprehend how complex the learning of language, numbers and everything actually is. And you never know, your son may know a lot more than he's letting on. Sometimes they need time to absorb it all before being able to regurgitate it so you can recognize it.

Good luck!

Hello J.,
My son is almost three now but I went to his baby book to see what he did at 20 months. All I have written down is that he called orange juice "dabba doo" and cute was "cooot". I can pretty much tell from my notes that the things he did at that age is the same things your son does. I know for a fact he did not know his colors. Like everyone has told you, you can't compare your son to others because if you do it now, you will probably do it your whole life and drive yourself crazy.
Good luck with everything and definitely enjoy your little one, they grow fast!
I am a 41 year old mother of one son who is almost three. I work fulltime but luckily for our family, my husband works night and so he can stay home with our son all day.
S.

Oh. please dont be so hard on yourself. Every kids will learn at there own pace and every kid will be pretty much at the same level soon or later. My oldest daughter, I swear come out talking :0) my son is almost 20 months a barely says a word and I dont think I did anything different with them. He has great motor skill and is a crack up though, where my daughter was so painfully shy forever but if she was in a comfortable place the girl would talk a mile a minute, and at 9 years old she still does. He will talk when he is ready.
And Congrats on the very soon wedding!

HI J. - Your son should be starting to put 2 words together around age 2. His vocabulary should be close to 50 words. Call Early Intervention to have him evaluated. DON"T worry about shapes and colors and academic stuff at this age. Do a lot of floor play with animals and pretend food and stuff like that. That is how kids learn language. Talk to him about everything you are doing.

K., Speech-Language Pathologist

Don't worry! My six year old started talking before she hit the age of one...she knew colors and shapes early, too. But she didn't take her first step until she was 18 months! My little one has been much slower when it comes to colors, shapes and vocabulary (she wasn't very far along at all at 20 months), but she was climbing up the couch by the time she was one year old. I suspect the exposure at daycare might make a difference for now, but your son will catch up once he hits pre-school.

HI J., I have a 2yr (Aug 23 B-day) little girl. She knows her shapes; heart, circle, triangle, octogon, rectangle, crescent etc.. she knows her primary colors, she can count to 20 and has almost mastered the ABC song. She speaks pretty clearly at least enough that strangers can understand her, and she speaks sentences; where did daddy go? Please help me; I want some more please, BUT....... I also have a 2yr grandson (Sept 15 B-day) that I have been taking care of 6 days a week for about a year now and he doesn't know 1/4 of the stuff I mentioned above. I spend alot of time with the both of them and spend one-on-one quality time when the other is napping. All I can say is keep teaching while your talking to him. When your planning the wedding teach him things like this flower is pink, this paper is yellow. Like you mentioned all kids learn at differnt rates and maybe your toddler and my grandson are just soaking it all in and one day just surprise us with all the stored data we have been inputting. So dont feel alone, I know exactly what your going through!!! Take care and if anyone gives you any great advice, please forward to me so that i may try it on my grandson!!!
A.

Hi J.,
I'm a SAHM too and my son doesn't go to daycare. Kids are more advance at daycares because not only the teacher helps them, they influence each other as well. My son is a slow starter like yours. I have flash cards, and I've been working with him more each day, and he's two/going on three and just now I'm seeing him advance in development. We also have computer games for him, and when had them when he was your son's age. They're great, and my son can actually manipulate the mouse and click on the right icons for his games. I'm so amazed. :-) Just keep working with him. If you can afford a daycare once, or twice a week, that will help. But if not, just keep working with him and he will soon surprise you. Mine is. :-) Best wishes.

Hi J.! Don't be so hard on yourself! All children learn at their own pace. I have three kids ages 7, 4, and 2 and they all did things at different ages and stages, when they were ready. Don't put so much pressure on yourself or him. If you are able to be home with him, just start talking to him about whatever it is that you happen to be doing at that moment. He will take every bit of it in and when he's ready, he may surprise you and start talking in full sentences overnight! But PLEASE don't stress yourself out over it!! Good luck! L.

Hi, I started drawing letters in chalk on the ground outside when my daughter was 2 years old. She know the letters of the alphabet adn the sounds by age 2 1/2. I also had her potty trained at 2 years. She is 6 now and was reading at 4.

I also have a son that is 2 years and it potty trained and has a very goo vocabulary, knows some colors and knows alot of animal sounds.

I was start maybe with flash cards and also if you want him to talk more you maybe should try pronouncing your words a bit more so he trys to say them.

Alot of parents think that school is where your child should learn those things, but I disagree. It is the parents responsablity to teach thier child. And the younger the better. Their minds learn and can grasp the most at those young ages.

I am so glad I started potty training when I did for both my kids because they understand alot more through the training including responsablity at the young age of 2. My son also picks up after himself and helps with the dishes and the laundry.

Hope this helps.

K.

Here's my take:
Scenario 1) My best friends son sounds a lot like your son. Honestly I was worried because he didn't even say Mom in May(he turned 2). But I knew he was smart and he understood things and now he is talking up a storm!!
Scenario 2) My sisters son sounds a lot like your friends son. He speaks clearly in sentences, about feelings, colors, ABC's, numbers, Mom, Dad etc.
I wouldn't worry too much right now. I'd say give it another 6 months or so and then I might talk to your ped. about it if you still think he's behind.
Hang in there! Especially with the wedding stuff!
S.
www.birkettentertainment.com

Hi J., I think it's dependant on the child personally and trying to measure one child against another is asking a lot of the children. Mine was barely speaking at that age, he knew: Mommy, Daddy, Cow, Cat and dog... he has had advanced mechanical skills though, i.e. he would take apart things like dvd players if he found the right tools for the job, unlock doors without keys and such like that. Each child is different of course mine has been learning slower than my friends children when it comes to color recognition (partial color blindness is suspected as the cullprit there) and my friends children have picked a hand to write and color with. Mine still isn't sure which one he wants to use and is 4 now. Makes learning how to write and color a real pain in the rear. Revel in what you child has learned and don't worry so much at what he hasn't learned. :) Everyone is different and has special abilities of their own that they nuture.

Hope this helps,
H. B.

My daughter is only a year so I can't really help you with what she knows at 20 months, but I do have a degree in Early Childhood Education. I agree that it is hard not to compare your son to other kids his age. I personally think that a 20 month old that really know shapes and colors is a bit advanced, but it doesn't mean your son is "behind". I don't think you need to rush out and buy flash cards and try to drill your child, unless it's something you feel very strongly about. All kids are different, and as long as you have voiced your concerns to other people with kids his age and his pediatrician and they say everything is okay, then it is. Unfortunately, the way public schools are going these days your son will be drilled way too much when he gets there. He is not even 2 years old. Your job as a mom/teacher is to expose him to lots of things. Just make sure he has books, that you read to him, that you talk to him and say things like "Look at this purple heart." Which I bet you already do. At this age children learn through play. As long as he has daily interaction with someone who is talking to him and playing with him and making sure he has the right things all around him he'll be just fine. Honestly, if by the time your son goes to PreK/K he knows how to say the alphabet, count to 10, and spell his name that is all a K teacher could ask for!

Hope this helps!

Hi J...

I have two children, a 3 year old and a 20 month old. My three yr old at 20 months new all of his colors and could tell us anything that we would ask him and we could understand what he was saying. When he turned two, I potty trained him and never had an accident after that(both pee and poo)but my little girl on the other hand has not picked up as much as my little boy did at his age. I feel that it is partly my fault because with Ethan, I did everything with him that they would do in a school. Allie on the other hand, I do not spend as much time working on colors shapes ect... like I did with Ethan. She is a smart child, and her vocab is awesome. She put complete sentences together like. "What are you doing mommy"? or "Mommy, where are we going"? Which blows my mind and my husbands also as well as anyone who is around when they hear her talk. I think that if I would sit down with her as I did my three year old she would be just as advanced as her brother( which is in a wonderful preschool two days a week) So Yes I agree that spending time everyday with your child on colors, shapes, numbers ect. will definitely make a difference. They do not have to sit still the entire time that you are teaching them, just make sure that they are looking and repeating what you are showing them. Example: If you are showing colors, make sure that he/she sees the color and repeats. With Ethan I printed out all the colors and for two weeks I would have the color(red) on the fridge, doors, in his bedroom just about anywhere that he could see the color and every time we would walk past it I would say the color and he would repeat. It was just that easy! I guess that I need to take my own advice and start with my little girl and get her caught up to where her brother was because she has it in her to respond with what we are asking. Good luck and I hope that this has helped!