When is it considered late for talking.....

DD is 17 months and still doesnt talk at all. Just all babble still.

She is receiving PT for her gross motor skills and, to make it easier, the PT says she could put down that I want an evaluation for speech when she is done with PT, which will be next month. I dont know if I should do that or just wait it out and if she doesnt talk by 20 months then call EI.

What do you guys think? What do you consider late with regard to talking?

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

I dont think 17 months is cause for too much concern. DD was talking then, not a lot, but some. My girlfriends cousin just had to take her 3 year old for an evaluation at a pre-school because she isnt talking a lot, and when she does it sounds a little slurred.

They said she needs work, and she should be talking more.

Give it time, Im sure pretty soon he'll be talking your ear off

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

Does she say any words??? Mama, dada, baba??? Does she comprehend your words... (Ex: If you say "DD get mama the phone.." Will she understand and go towards the phone)

From what I believe comprehension is a BIG part of speech.

If the PT says she can get you an eval for speech, it cant hurt....

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

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Honestly- if she is understanding everything then I might give it another month or so...

The "say" language explosion happens @ 18 months...

Rj had about 5-10 words @ 18 months, and I was concerned.

For him language explosion happened @ 22 months, when he began daycare. Out of nowhere- he had like 500+ words..

Now @ 32 months he is fully conversant-Probably 1000+ words...

He always understood EVERYTHING.

All children progress at their own time.

For piece of mind for you, it cant hurt to have her tested. You'll have 2 outcomes... 1- she'll get what she needs or 2. You'll get what you need, which is the piece of mind everything is ok.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

DS is also recieving PT.
He does say "mama, Dada, Nana" and he understands a lot.
Through EI we are going to have him evaluated next month for speech as well. He may not qualify, but, since he's getting the help already, we are going to keep going.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

I dont think any intervention is a bad thing...whats the worst they can say...your dd is on target. Only bc you are asking in relation to our children, mine says words so I would say you might want the eval. but thats not to say she may not say everything next month. Is she doing Mama? Gillys first word was mamma and baba. Now she says ball, cookie, more, banana and a few others. I work with a speech therapist here and she told me with Gilly not to give her what she wants without her asking for it. (Or at least keep it from her and try to have her say it). Like maybe have a banana in hand and if she wants it say Banana 3xs.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

i'm a speech therapist that did an internship in EI.
i think if shes already in EI for PT, it can't hurt to have a speech eval if you're concerned. she's like right on the borderline of the language "explosion", and if she understands everything, thats a good sign.
also, you can try creating more opportunities for her to use words. things like maybe give her an empty sippy cup when you know shes thirsty, and when she hands it back to you, model the word "milk" or "juice"... blow bubbles with her and then stop. when she gets all excited, model the word "more" for her and try to get her to say it ( or approximate it)- its like teaching her to ask for more. "more" is a great word to start with, because you can work it with a lot of things- swinging her on the swings and then stop, only give her a couple peices of food for snack, and model "more",etc....

ALSO getting her to immitate animal sounds is a great way to start to get more vocalization, too. same with other "sounds" like "beep beep", choo choo, wee...

label everything she points to, and everything you hand her, so she starts to learn the words for even more things. don't just hand her things without labeling it, and at least trying to get her to attempt to say it.

Message edited 6/25/2008 10:51:30 AM.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

My DS is 2 and still is not talking. Just babble. He can words but is not putting anything together. The doctor asked if he comprehends things and I told him that he does so he said that that was good that he understands. He didn't suggest an evaluation just yet.

Maybe i'll do it anyways...

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

If you have a concern, it doesn't hurt to get an evaluation. What one parent thinks is "normal" a therapist may not. It's free and a phone call away, so I would just schedule the eval.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

My nephew is 2 too. He is not talking that much so my sister had him evaluted. It seems that he had a lot of wax in his ear and has water behind his ear drum so he is only speaking at 18 month level. Next month he needs to have the water surgically removed but once all the wax was removed he is talking a lot more.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

DD is 20 months and doesn't talk. She says a few words but only some have meaning. I did get her evaulated and she qualified for speech. She's getting speech therapy now and we'll up it to 2x a week next week. I don't think it hurts to have her evaulated at all.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

Hannah is almost 19 months and still doesn't say much. She can say a ton of words and she will come out with a new word every few days, but not always use them. We get more babble and "eh eh eh" whiny stuff.

She actually developed her own sign language to communicate. I'm not sure if I'm helping or hurting by actually understanding it and reacting to it.

I'm going to give it another month or so. According to the EI site they only need to say 5 words at 18 months - Hannah definitely has that so I'm thinking she wouldn't qualify.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

DS didn't say any words at all till 18 months. And at 18 months it was just "mama" and "daddy" and I think "up". Started speech therapy 3x a week at that point. Plus doing work with him at home every single day. At first the progress was slow, but between 22 and 24 months he suddenly added countless words to his vocabulary and started putting 2 words together at that point. Just recently, at 27 months, I feel he's gone through another big burst of progress and is saying a lot more complete thoughts and sentences. Outside of his articulation issues (his speech is unclear, speech therapy will not be ending for a while!!!) I think he's nearly caught up!

I went to two diff private speech pathologists and spoke to someone from EI and all 3 stressed, COMPREHENSION is much more critical at this young age. Although lack of expressive language IS a problem, it is a significantly less serious problem than a deficit in receptive language (ability to comprehend language, and basically understand that language has a purpose)

Hope this helps!

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

Like others have said, comprehension is key!

I KNOW Johnny is a late talker. He is JUST starting to say a few things like "up" and "bubbles" and "milk" etc....but honestly the fact that he is now understanding so much more than months ago is a relief to us. I attribute so much of it to his speech therpay and OT as well as maturity.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

DS had 5-10 words from 12-23 months. At 24 months he had a mini explosion - maybe 20-30 words and at 2.5 I pushed for an eval and he had the vocabulary of a 4.5 year old! talk about explosion.

That being said - the evaluation was the best peace of mind for me...and since you are in EI already i would do it!


What I think helped us the most was the first baby word books. At first i would just ask him to point and was very happy that he would know where to point.

Re: When is it considered late for talking.....

DS is 2 and receiving speech with EI. He understands EVERYTHING, but just doesn't make the words. I had him evaluated at 20 months, he didn't qualify, and then again at 24 months, in which he did.

I would go ahead with a speech eval just to see. Better to start early if DC qualifies.