Why Wont My Toddler Talk?

Sounds like you got a lot of great responses.
I just wanted to you know that my daughter didn't say one word until after her second birthday. Within a couple of months after that she was speaking in complete sentences.

At age 11, she is a straight A student!

Hang in there!

Hi V.,
My daughter is 18 months old. I would recommend just pointing out everyday objects and telling him what they are, constantly. He will start to learn what things are called and then maybe he'll have something to say! :-) This has worked well for us, and my daughter is so proud everytime she learns a new word. Good luck!

My son was born right on time and is 16 months old, he still only says mama and baba. He babbles on and on, but nothing more than that. He only started walking a couple of days ago, he supposedly is behind in that, oh well. Just give it time, doctor's don't know everything. K. A.

Don't stress, it is common, especially with preemies. Just keep talking to him in your normal voice, talk to him constantly.

My daughter was like that for awhile...she would just babble incoherently and only say a couple words that you could actually understand. I try to read to her every night, I talk to her while we are driving in the car about things we can see out the windows, or anywhere we go I talk to her back and forth like we are having an actual conversation. You would not believe all the wierd looks I get in the grocery store when I'm talking to her! I even sing to her sometimes while we are stuck in traffic, even if it is just a song off the radio (again, more wierd looks.) Another thing someone recomended to me is to always use the same word for something when you are talking about it. For example don't say puppy one day, doggie the next, and dog the day after-I guess it confuses them. I am a very firm believer in not baby talking-I do slip occasionally, but mostly try to talk to her in a normal voice. Good luck!

My son was almost 21 months old before he really began to talk. He got excited about Christmas and would run to the door anytime the doorbell rang and yell "Merry Christmas Tree". Today at age 12 he is highly intelligent and still the strong silent type. If I had compared him to my firstborn I would have been alarmed since she talked very early and non-stop. Johnny did go through a very talkative period too and I remember days asking him to be quiet for just a little quiet time. Now I wish I didn't. It is just his personality as might be the case with your son. Best of everything to you.

Well the first thing is look into family history some children just won't talk early and if it runs in the family that could be just it. Next do you talk to him or at him. If you talk to him you will be more reponse. Don't just talk to him about things you believe he's interested in talk about everything. While your changing his diaper talk about what your doing, while cooking talk about what your cooking and how your cooking it. Sing to music. I used to always turn on music in my living room at that age (FOR HIM) and dance and sing it. She would start singing it too. I talked about where we were going when we were in the car, what we would do when we go there. I talked UP a STORM.
But REALLY I wouldn't be concerned until soon after the 2nd birthday. My daughter did alot of what your son is doing but i swear the day after she turned 2 she just woke up talking.

My daughter did not start talking until she was almost 2. I was very worried that she may not learn to speak at all. However, one day after she turned 2 she started talking and never stop since then. That was 7 years ago. She's now 9 years old and she loves reading. She has been a gold reader in her school and she's also very articulate in her writing. I have notice that sometimes when she gets very excited she talks fast and could hardly put words together and starts to mumble. I think some children gets overwhelm processing too much information that they have a hard time with the delivering part. Always talk to your child even if they're not paying attention. I hold my daughter's face to where I can make eye contact with her while I talk and it helps when I talk slow so she can process information one word at a time.

Hi V.,

I can only say that my son really started talking after his 2nd b-day. He was signing prior to that (we taught him signing strictly for communication before he was verbal, there was no hearing issue). Jack just didn't really talk much until then, but boy, now he talks A LOT!!!

Are you sure he's only saying 15 words? Write down what he can say--whether or not anyone but you understands the meaning. If he makes the same sound for the same object or person every time, count it as a word. I was very surprised at how many words Jack actually had when I first counted--I thought it was incredibly low but turned out he said a lot more than really registered with me.

Is his verbal skill the only thing that concerns the doc?

D.

I am a Speech Language Pathologist and hopefully can offer a bit of helpful advice. Is your son pointing to what he wants or using other gestures to get his message across? Does he make good eye contact and interact with you in playtime? The suggestion from another mom about writing down every "word" he uses consistently whether it sounds like the real word for that object or not is a good one. My son is 2 1/2 and from early on, he had a great vocabulary but he has speech issues so no one but me could understand what his "words" were.
To help stimulate vocabulary, I agree that you should read simple books to him and have him point to certain items and then ask him to say it after you. Try reading the same two or three books every day for a week so that he is consistently presented with the same new words. Find his favorite toys and activities (stacking blocks and tearing them down, bouncing or rolling a ball, etc.) and use the same words to describe the objects and his actions over and over and then remove that object and make him request more of that activity by using the object name or action word. For instance, he could say "block" or "more blocks" to play with blocks or he could say "ball" or "roll" or "bounce" to continue that activity. The idea is not just to teach new vocabulary but also to instill the concept that we use words to communicate what we want and when we use words, we usually get it!
If your son is not responsive to any of these activities or is not pointing/gesturing or communicating his needs and wants to you effectively by any means, then I strongly recommend you take him back to his doctor and have him evaluated further. Being a late talker is not a big deal at this age but being virtually non-communicative is.
Good luck and God bless!
- J. :-)

Hi V.!

I read to my son A LOT! Every night we spend at least an hour just looking at pictures in his books, etc. I try to ask him what animal he sees, what colors, etc. He doesn't necessarily know all of the words, but when I ask him to point to something he knows what I am talking about. Tons of praise are really working for him, especially a big hug, and telling him how smart he is. Sometimes kids just need a little confidence boost to get out of their shells! He was really quiet and not saying much until we started reading so much, and just asking him what things were and explaining everything we were doing, like getting dressed, putting on shoes, that kind of thing. He may know the words and just not know how to say them.

Hope this helps!

I wouldn't worry too much right now. That is all my son would say until he turned two. He is 25 months old now and he won't stop talking. He started saying more than just momma and dada when he was 23 months. I know some children that did not start talking until they were 30 months.
Try to not worry too much.

My daughter had the same problem she is now 18months, I even went as far to have the Child developemnt resourses comeout and evaulate her, they said she was a little behind but not to worry, because when they are trying to learn something phyically like walkinh, then the physically thing takes prioirty and the language goes on the back burner.
Once my daughter started walking, she started talking.
First things we learned were Belly button, then ears, eyes, nose and mouth. She has lots of fun with this one, She like to show all the family members and friends when they hold her, where their ears and eyes are- but she sticks her finger in your ear and it hurts, but it worked.
Then went on the ABC and 123, and ect.
Then I started with coloring, she calls it color-color, but thats how we are learning our colors, by letting her color with the red crayon, blue, orange, ect.
One other idea= picture books, or you can make you own picture book, of things like body parts-ears, or like fruits- apple, nana, ect- then when you are out in the grocery store you can let them learn fruits, ect.
Hope that things work out, Your son will just fine.
angie

my little one has been slow to talk as well....he is talking more and more now, but still babbles a lot....my only suggestion is to keep talking to him, read to him etc. Every time you do something with your son, tell him what you are doing; for example.....Mommy is putting your sock on your foot...
Good Luck

I wouldn't worry to much because some children learn slower than others. Look at Albert Einstein, he didn't talk until he was 5 or 6 and it turned out he was a brilliant man. My son barely spoke before he was 2 and now he is almost 3 and sometimes we can't get him to stop. If he is on par with his other milestones then please don't get to worried, just give him a little more time. Best of luck to you and your precious son.

My daughter didn't start talking until she was almost 4, now she wont stop talking. She was very small when she was born. If you are really worried there are a lot of Childrens Speech Therapist in the area, but alot of kids just dont want to talk. They will talk when they are ready. If your doctor is worried about it he should of given you a referal.

Have you had his ears checked? There is a possibility he may have a problem with his ears. A friend of mine had twins & they didn't talk very much @ the age of 2 and it ended up they had to get there tonsils out! The change was almost immediate. It was b/c they couldn't hear what everyone was saying to them. It was like being underwater!

V.,

Hi, I'm the mother of two. Both premies (one born VERY early and one 6 weeks early). It seems to me that they can't focus on everything at once. Think about everything that they have to learn every day. Both of my girls have had infants and toddlers involved with them to give them a little boost to catch up with the other kids. When they work so hard to catch up with motor skills, they might fall a little behind with verbal skills. To be honest, though, I don't just see it with premies like my girls. The kids that are talking early, are still crawling longer. The ones that are walking and climbing first, might take a little longer to talk in sentances, etc. They all catch up.

If you are concerned, for any reason, you can call infants and toddlers and request an evaluation. You don't need anyone to refer you. Until your child is 3, they will assess for any concern. If he is 20% behind they will provide you with a speech therapist. Just a note, I would be hard pressed to recite to you my daughters vocabulary at any given time. Your son may be saying more words than you remember while sitting at the doctors office.

Best wishes.
S.

Try putting everything you want your baby to say in song form and make it fun for both of you. Be repetitious and consistent and very soon he'll be singing with you and without you while learning the things you're trying to teach him.

I don't know if you are still checking for responses, but I wanted to respond. If your son is still not speaking, I would recommend that you take him to a speech therapist. All 4 of my children were preemies. The earliest was 9 weeks. He was not saying 10 words by his 2nd birthday & when he was evaluated they found that he had hypotonia (muscle weakness) which affected his mouth & tongue, back & hands. No amount of reading to him & pointing out objects & naming them would have solved that problem. Since your son was so early, there is a possibility that there is an actual physical reason that he is not speaking. As soon as my son started speech therapy exercises, we noticed a difference. It is important to get started as early as possible. In Chesapeake, the Infant Early Intervention program will send a therapist out to your house or to your baby-sitters for an hour of therapy a week. After your son turns 3, therapy is offered through the school system & it ended up being 30 minutes each week at the school & there were 3 other little boys in the session--just not as effective. I hope everything turns out well for you!

My son was the same way and he was full term. His Doctor recommended him to a speech pathologist to make sure that wasn't anything wrong with his speech. My son passed all the test with flying colors. Sometimes kids develop a little slower than others(especially boys) my son is 32months and just beginning to say alot of words. I suggest you continue to be attentive and and speak to him normally and he will talk when you least expect it. My son is really into a cartoon show on PBS called Super Why and its really good with letters and helping toddlers recognize words. My son loves it and since he's been watching it his speech has increased and he's learned his alphabets. Also allow him to interact with other toddlers because they pick up fast from one another. My niece was born really early and she's 21months now and she is potty trained and she speaks way more advance than my 32month son..So just allow him a little more time..I hope for the Best

Our daughter isn't talking either. We did a PIE evaluation and discovered that she has trouble organizing her sensory input because she notices and responds to everything. I would highly recommend an evaluation with physical and occupational therapists to determine if there are exercises appropriate for your child. We have an OT working with our daughter on focusing her attention, working her diaphram and mouth muscles to begin the language process, and sensory input activities. It has been tremendously helpful.

Hello V.,

My name is H. and I'm a new single mom of a 14 month old, who also works f/t myself so I can some what understand what your going through, I'm not an expert but if you already tried reading more, flash cards/ talking to your child about any and every thing, try the “Your baby can read package”. I did all of the above for about a year or so, than I read about "your baby can read" program on American Baby magazine and it’s working, she has about 12/13 word vocab, and she understands everything that I ask her to do. My daughter loves to read more than playing with her toys; so the reading part comes easier for me to do with her b/c she will literally cry if I say no to her request (she brings a book to me, if I put it down, she will bring another if I don't read either one of her selections, or a book is to short for her she will have a temper tantrum) having said all that, I wish you and your baby the best of luck. Don’t worry to much, you’re a great mom and you’re doing a great job.

I have to agree with the other three ladies. The best things you can do for him are teaching him signs, tell him everything you are doing as you do it. Ask him questions and give him an answer, and read, read, read.

The more exposure he gets to language and vocabulary, the more he will be able to learn. Also, repetition is the key for small children. The more something is repeated, the faster a child will learn.

You don't have to go out and buy a whole lot of books or tapes on signing. There are internet resources that are free, books on baby signs for under $20, and some school systems or libraries give free or low cost classes on sign language.

Also, when you say a word and it sounds like he's trying to say it, say the word you think he said back to him. That will let him know you're trying to understand him and give him a good model of pronunciation.

As a final step, you can have him evaluated for free through the local public schools. Contact the special education department and ask about an early intervention evaluation. That way, if they think there is an issue, he can get therapy services for free.

Hope this helps.

A.