How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

We just got a new pediatrician and she asked if DS had at least 6 words. I thought that seemed like a really low number.

DS is a late talker and has about 10 words and maybe 15 pseudo words (choo choo, wheeee, mooooo, etc).

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Message edited 10/13/2010 2:45:29 PM.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

DS was speaking in 2-3 word phrases at that point but I don't think 6 is too low.

I remember at age 1 they asked if he had 2-3, so I would think they look for 6-10 by 18 months.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

I don't think your son is a late talker. At 15 months he was suppose to have five words and I was worried because he didn't have that many. Three months later he has over 50 words. You will be surprise how quickly your child will start picking up new words.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

10 or so

they looked at her for EI because she had tubes put in her ears at 17mo and wasn't improving.

She was cleared. Just late to talk. Taking the paci out helped LOL

She's now 2 and finally starting to say more words. Still she's way behind her fellow classmates who can answer questions, make requests, use 2-3word sentences. But pedi seems to be ok with it. She's also not alone. Another kid in her room is the same.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Ds1 was slow to start and then became and stayed way above average. First word at 14 months (uh-oh said as uh uh)followed by dada and mama at 16 months. By 18 monthe he used 2-4 word sentences. At 3 1/2 he sounds like a 8 year old.

Ds2 is 18 months now and has a motor delay. He says approximations and with animal sound has maybe 15-20 words. His receptive is above average but he gets speech therapy for expressive language since he was a year. He was just increased from 3x to 5x a week.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

At 18 months he *should* be babbling up a storm and have a few words (understandable to YOU) thrown in. The high end of normal has kids with more words than babble, the low end of normal has lots of babble that mimics conversational speech. It's a very broad range.

You've often expressed worries that your DS is delayed in some way, both with speech as well as motor yet what you always describe sounds very much within the range of normal. What is it that makes you think there is something wrong? IIRC your son is learning multiple languages, which would cause a slight delay in expressive language (it takes extra time to categorize all those words receptively before it can come out expressively).

That said, the parent always knows their child best, so if you truly feel there is something wrong, you should contact EI yourself. Don't wait for a pediatrician's recommendation.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

according to the HELP check list...

from 15 - 17.5 months they should have 10-15 words spontaneously

17.5 - 20 months 15-20 words

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Dh and I wer just talking about this....DD is 19 months today and says at least 1 new word a day at this point....I'd say she is up to about 25-30 words

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Words...too many to count at that point. He was combining words to form 3 to 6 word sentences at 18 months and was fully conversational by 19 or 20 months...

With that said...my Ped also said that he should only have 6 words by 18 months.

Message edited 10/13/2010 2:33:11 PM.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

When my older son was little the dr had said 5-10 words by 18 months. My older son was a late talker and 5 words at 18 mos and my dr said it was fine. His receptive language was fine/above average and he used all kinds of animal sounds, babbled and things like that. When I counted words - I only used real words unerstandable by all and words he used regularly to label something (not words he had said a couple times or any kind of mimic'ed words). I know the definition of words is a loose term. He didn't take off until a little after 2 with his word explosion. My youngest son - I lost count by 12-14 mos - he was a motor mouth very young.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

None. He babbles though, he receives EI for a developmental delay.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

At 18 months it was too many to even count anymore and he was also speaking in 2-3 word phrases, he was an early talker though.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Well over six. Our pediatrician would ask and I would tell her I honestly didn't know b/c I stopped counting.

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

Cailen was on the lower end with speech at 18 mts- but he pointed, gestured, etc - when I switched his daycare at 20 mts his language exploded. He was in a bad daycare situation at that age which affected his language

Re: How many words did your DC have at 18 months?

I just counted.

At 17 months he has about 23 words.. a lot of them don't sound like the real word and only my dh, my mom and dad and I can understand.

As far as words that everyone can understand...13.