So I know Joey is still quite young but at 15 and a half months he can really only say dada, and that is rare. When I try to get him to say words, he looks like he is really trying to form the words. He moves his lips and tongue but he just moans vowel sounds. Is this normal? I am getting frustrated with trying to figure out the whines. :hairpull: (and now my very well spoken two year old has decided to whine for what he wants since it works for his brother.)

Amy,

Joey sounds just like my daughter. She's only 13mo but also has no words yet and only makes vowel sounds. At her 12mo check-up, her ped said she needed to have 5 words by her 15mo check-up (in April) or we'd start talking "speech delay."

I do have to say she's making more "noise' than she was a month ago, and she definitely understands commands. For example, yesterday I was doing laundry and had a pile of bed linens on the floor waiting to be washed. She was wallowing in them and had tossed a pillowcase out of my reach. I asked her to get the pillowcase and bring it to me. She did.

Joey also seems to understand. If I say we are going bye-bye he heads to the door. And his favorite thing in the world is if he hears the word movie, he runs to the tv and waits for the Elmo video. His ped is waiting for 20 words by 20 months. We will need a word explosion at this point for that but if I remember right thats how it happens. *keeping my fingers crossed*

Andrew's 18 month check up was last week... Here is what his vocabulary consists of...

Mommy
Ches(our dog)
Hi
Cheese(as in smiling)
Cool
Ouch

He says Mommy the most, he points and makes noise for what he wants and follows commands very well. I had asked his ped about it because my oldest child was speaking sentences by two year old.

He told me that as long as they point to what they want, have some means of communication and follow directions, that he is not worried at this point. Because it shows that his brain is processing what we are telling him and sometimes the speech just comes later, especially in the second or there after child because they have siblings that communicate for them. Zachary however doesn't. So if he isn't speaking more by two years then we will re-evaluate at that time...


I think 15 months is still young to be talking....

I believe at 15 months, Andrew said Ma-ma, na-na,da-da, and Pa-pa, but since then no longer says any of the other three!

This speech thing is a mystery to me as well. My son who is now 6 and never had any problems at 2 was still not talking. My ped sent us to Easter Seals to have him evaluated. Well would'nt you know it about 2 months later he startes talking and hasn't stopped since!
Now Josie is 13 months and just hollers and screames, no words not even dada or anything. She was 2 1/2 months premature so I'm sure that has something to do with it. We go to Easter Seals in April for an eval. at her 12 month adjusted age.
Good luck with all and let us know.:icescrea:

Have you talked to your ped about this at all? It really depends on what sounds he is making as well. Often a sound will count as a word if it is consistantly used. For instance Iain would make the same sound (really I have not a clue how to begin to type the expression as it seems like it is in Klingon or something lol) for wanting to get into the kitchen. Over time we realized this was his "want into the kitchen so I can trash things" expression.

Have you looked on this forum at the stickies and the developmental milestones? He is young yet but I agree you often know there is a delay well before they tell you to start to worry. I KNEW a year ago but turned a bit of a blind eye to it as all we needed was for my youngest son to eat. We have gone through this twice now and are catching my youngest son early. Oddly, my middle son is off the charts gifted with speech.

It is true that sometimes one will revert back if they think it will buy them something as my extremely verbal middle son tried it for a time. We just told him to use his words and praised him for his abilities. He lapped it up. We also told him we needed him to help us find the words for his younger brother, but not to talk FOR him. For instance, he will tell us sometimes that Iain wants milk so we say thanks to Curran and then ask Iain directly. That way everyone is talking.

Let us know how it goes.