At what point would you be concerned..

Let me preface this by saying DD is my first child and I tend to be slightly anxious, so I'm not sure if this is my anxiety or if I'm not addressing an issue. DD is just shy of 16 months and has about 3 words, Mama, Dada, and more. She occasionally says dog as well, but rarely in context. All that said, she understands exactly what I am saying, for example if I ask her to get her shoes, she can get them and sit down and try to put them on or throw something out, she can pick up the item and bring it to the trash. She points a ton and babbles which gets her point across. I can't say that I've seen her peers use a ton more language, but when I ask other moms they list at least 10-15 words that their little one uses regularly.

I'm not sure at which point I should call EI to get her evaluated or if I'm just being way to anxious? Any suggestions? Would you be concerned?

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

I don't think you have any need for concern yet.
When my DD was just shy of 18 months I asked the ped about her language since she was only saying about 2-3 things. The ped was fine with it, but sent me to a speech therapist for an evaluation. I wasn't even going to go, but decided to just to see what they would say.
The speech therapist told me the number of words isn't as important as their comprehension and other ways of communicating. My DD scored average on verbal communication and above average on non verbal and comprehension. She said people put too much weight on number of words when that really isn't what counts.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

If she understands what you want her to do or get, I wouldn't be worried yet. My kids had a bunch of words at that age, but weren't speaking full sentences. I even have a video of DS that he speaks in baby talk at a year and a half-only some words are clear.. Now at almost 4 I can't get him to be quiet because he talks too much and with words I can't figure out how he learned.

Some kids are on the quiet side. Our ped always asked if the kids understood what we were saying, if they did, they weren't concerned.

Message edited 8/14/2012 10:24:12 AM.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

I wouldn't worry yet -- it's so hard to not compare, but all children develop and communicate at their own rates but most will "catch up " to each other before pre-school.
Last summer, my middle DC was 20mos old and wasn't saying nearly as many words as my older son had been saying at 15-16mos old. DH and I were very worried and started to pay more attention to how we spoke around him, and we tried to be very encouraging with his pronunciation but it didn't seem to do anything. He was great at making sounds (he'd see an animal and instead of saying the word 'cow', he'd make a moo sound), but he wouldn't say the words that labeled things. For wind, he'd say "Whhheeesh", for bird he would tweet, etc. Made me very nervous but then around 2yo he really started speaking very well and he is a better communicator than his 4yo brother -- very clear and calm when he speaks.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

I wouldn't be too concerned. My DS is 17 months, and says maybe 4 words. The important thing is if they are understanding what you say. My DS understands most simple directions. Receptive language is key at this age.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

I was concerned about my son early on. He didn't even say mama until 12mo. He understood EVERYTHING though. he started talking a bit more around 18mo.....but even then, only a few words.

At 2yo check up, ped said I could have him evaluated. I did, and he didn't qualify because he understands what everything means. He is now talking much more at 26mo, even though he still ins't linking words yet and butchers a lot of words.

Personally, I'd wait until the 2yo check up.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

At my DD's 15 month visit they didn't even ask about words.
They said- does she babble in her own languague? That was it.
Then at 18 months they asked- does she say 5-10 words?
That was it.

I wouldn't be concerned just yet.
They tend to have a word explosion around this age and it happens almost over night.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

Dont worry at this point at all. My DD barely said anything at 18 mths. Ped then was suggesting getting her evaluated. Her speech picked up from that point. Too early to worry.

At what point would you be concerned..

I wouldn't be worried at this point. Wait until she is a bit older, maybe 2. You will be astounded at how quickly they develop language. My DD blossomed at around 2!

At what point would you be concerned..

Definitely would not be worried at all yet. Neither of my kids spoke at that age and by two were right on track. At 3.5 and 26 months people are always commenting how well spoken they are. It'll come! And if not, consider an eval at 2ish.

At what point would you be concerned..

I wouldn't worry right now either. DS is 22 months and has just now started to have an explosion of "words" I was told that things like animal sounds as well as other toneations count of they are consistent. And as long as the receptive language is there too, then things are fine. DS's ped said 20 words by 2 years old is a general base to go by.

At what point would you be concerned..

Absolutely nothing to worry about.

At 2 and 2.5, even if you have her evaluated by EI, comprehension is weighed much heavier than expressive. DS had literally 4-5 words at 2 and didn't qualify, not by a long shot.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

DS is also 16 months and only says a few words but he understands every single thing we say and he points at things he wants and gets our attention in his own language. He does repeat short words if we tell him to, like ball, play, car and he just started kind of singing along like if he wants us to sing old mcdonald he will say eee ahhh and we know he wants the ee-ii-ee-ii--oooo song.

The ped asked us at 14 months how he was doing with words and he said it was fine if he wasnt saying a ton yet as long as he understands us.

Sometimes we even have to speak in Italian so he doesn't realize that we are talking about him because he gets annoyed if I tell Daddy that he was being mischievous....that's how much he pays attention and understands.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry, as long as your little one understands you, she's probably absorbing every word and will start chatting soon.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

Id wait for the 2yr visit. If you can. I couldn't! I had her evaluated around 18m or so. Then again when she was 26m. I swear over night she just started talking. It was freaky.

I look back now at her videos and can HEAR her talking more. Not real words but sounds. Like saying 'oun' for sound but unclearly.

She didn't qualify for services the two times she was tested.

She did however have bad hearing due to ear infections and I let her have the paci a lot longer than I should have. Both of those contributed to her not speaking as much.

Re: At what point would you be concerned..

I wouldn't be worried. Her receptive language skills are age appropriate. The expressive skills will follow.

At what point would you be concerned..

Thank you all so much! I can't tell you how reassured I feel after reading your responses. I'm going to follow everyone's advice and wait a bit more to see how she progresses (unless something drastic changes). Thanks again for reassuring me.