Late talker here...

[FreeSpirit07]

My daughter just turned 18 months. She barely talks - only says mama, papa and kaka (means she wants to the bathroom). She says meow and woof and moo for the respective animals, but that's it. She has been saying these words since she was 8 months old. She made quite a significant progress in other areas - gross motor skills- she's been walking since 10 months, running at 12, started jumping now. She also knows her letters and numbers (1-10). We put together the map of usa - she knows all the states; continents, planets, countries of south america, she shows about 30 US presidents on her placemat ( all done through pointing when asked). She puts together 8-piece puzzles working on 12-pieces at the moment. We started LR about a month ago and she's been showing lots of progress there - she sight-reads some words and started pointing to the words correctly in70% of cases when we do the "games" part. We also do LMusician and she loves it, claps hands, shows a couple of notes on the piano. She will point to the correct composer when i put on classical music familiar to her.So I have been very pleased with her progress aside from lack of talking. Her pediatrician is not concerned, she shows great understanding of her surroundings and when she is asked to do things. She stays home with my mom, who was a kindergarten teacher, so she constantly talks to her, pointing to the objects. We are primarily speaking Russian at home, but we teach her in both English and Russian. I also read to her in English every night. She can pronounce a lot of sounds - when she points to the letters - ie F, H, R, V, B, L, T that she doesn use in her speech, she primarily says "pa", "ma", "ka" for objects starting with respective letters, my husband/my mom/ myself can figure out what she wants. She also loves "Baby signing time" and has been watching it for the past 4 months and know probably over 100 signs- she rarely uses them though as she can get her point across through her syllables/ pointing etc. At times I just feel like she doesn't want to try as she can get her point across, but we started being more firm - when she points to something we'd say - what is it? what do you want? She loves to draw and spends some time every day drawing with crayons/ doodler/ watering in the mellisa @doug book. I have been trying to introduce more activities to her for her fingers - playdough, lacing etc. I honestly am not sure what else I can do. My mom has  been saying that she doesn't talk because we show her "Baby signing time" and the letters on the computer. I and my husband disagree with her. I definitely plan to continue doing these activities with her, but I can't wait when she  starts talking! I would appreciate any suggestions on how to get her talking! TIA

[Korrale4kq]

It doesn't sound like she has a speech delay.

All those animal sounds contribute to her vocabulary list. And if she is saying ma consistently for milk or Ka consistently for cookie or even da for diaper or ba for bath you can count those as words also. Just because they are no full words doesn't mean tha they aren't words. It is the fact tha she uses the same syllabls for the same thing everytime. Many kids won't use ending sounds not, much older.

If you are in any doubt I would consult with someone from an early intervention program. I don't know what country you are in so I am unable to assist you any further but a quick Internet search should help.

[MamaOfWill]

Hello FeeSpirit07,

Sounds like your little one is doing fantastic!   When it comes to her talking and reluctance to sign, she sounds just like my little boy at that age, and my mom also blamed my early learning.  We are also raising him bilingual, everyday talking primarily in Afrikaans and teaching primarily in English.  I read and talked to him a ton from long before he was born.  I would acknowledge every attempt he made to communicate, asked questions and waited long for any response, putting his communication into full sentence responses.  I talked to him as if he had full understanding (like he is an adult) most of the time, but often talked in parent ease and also used a bit of playful baby language.  I sang to him and said all the rhymes I knew, while having fun with him.  I tried my best to teach him sign language of which I probably used about 200.  I felt like I knew what I was doing (because I did the research) but he just didn't talk or sign! 

I started to feel like there's something wrong!  Maybe my mom was right, all this extra languages and other early learning activities are interfering with his natural development.  Then like magic, somewhere between 18 and 20 months he did start to talk.  You could literal hear the difference daily!  By his second birthday, he was talking full sentences, and probably over 2000 words, and now one year later (he's 2.5 years old) he's talking beautifully in both languages, well above what is average for his age.

I wouldn't push her to talk through holding back an item that you know she wants or anything like that.  You might get her to talk a few months earlier, but it just adds unwanted stress.  If you are in a hurry to find something around the house, your husband asks you what you are looking for and the name of the thing just slipped your mind, wouldn't you be utterly annoyed if he insists you tell him what it is before allowing you to continue your search?  Remember to respect your little one (and I'm sure you do, I'm just focusing your attention on it in this regard), she's just doing things her way and she's doing brilliantly by the sounds of it.

[FreeSpirit07]

THanks a lot for your input, guys - means a lot. Your personal experiences are very encouraging. I will continue with our activities. Any suggestions as to how I can encourage my daughter to finish the words (she does use the same syllables for the words). Thanks again!

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