Good Morning Dr. Olsen, first of all thank you so much for doing this. It's so wonderful to have your knowledge available. We really appreciate all you are doing for the parents here!

Now on to my question:

My daughter, Kaitlyn, is 15 months old and is still not speaking english (or any other understandable languages! hehehe). She does communicate very well with signing and she does understand everything we say or ask of her. I'm just curious when a parent should start to worry about their child not talking. She constantly babbles and stuff but still has no specific words or sounds for anything. Not even Mama or Dada... is this something to be concerned about?

I have not been concerned about it as of yet, simply because she communicates so well with us and understands us. Since my daughter was born she has been VERY early with all of her motor skills so we just chalked it up to her being more of a motor baby than a talker. She is very smart though too so I know she has a good head on her shoulders.

Thank you in advance for any insight you may provide! Look forward to hearing (reading) what you have to say! :)

Hi,

I wouldn't worry, as long as you are convinced she hears well and has a wide receptive vocabulary, ie. she understands a lot more than she says.

I would expect a blossoming of speech in the next 6 months, as all the words she is processing and storing up come bursting forth in a flood of speech. Most kids by 15 months are saying 5 words, although the variability of normal is vast.

Good luck, Dr. Olson