[Waiting4Celeste]

Jacob was SUCH a great talker really early. I was just looking at his baby book and he said his first sentence at 15 months. ("I did it" - and it was plain as can be! His Pre-K teachers say that he is the clearest speaker they have in class.)

Celeste just turned 17 months and hardly says a THING!

We really try to work with her and she knows and uses signs for about 8-10 words.

BUT - she isn't saying ANYTHING! She whines when she wants something and we are realllllly trying to make her say something, but then she will just sign it instead.

Do you think that teaching her to sign is actually backfiring?

For those of you with kiddos around her age, what words are they saying?

When is it too early for Speech therapy? Should I be concerned already?

THANKS!

[LMR]

I wouldn't be worried. All children begin talking at different ages. I don't think that speech therapy is necessary at this point. You are doing the right thing by encouraging her to say the word and sign. It looks like our son is only 10 days younger than Celeste. He is only saying "Mama", "Dada", "No" and makes animal sounds when you say the animals' name. Just keep encouraging her to use her words. Pretty soon she will be talking your ear off.
Lisa

[wynnekj9967]

Our son is 6 days younger than your daughter. He says Cat, down, daddy, and duck. That is it. He does sign for milk, hungry, and more. I was worried about his progress also, but there are kids at his daycare that are older and don't talk anymore than he does, then there are kids that are younger that can talk your ear off. I think they all just progress at their own rates and have decided not to worry about it yet.

[Mary Mulcahy]

Danny was very similiar to Celeste and I had him evaluated and he started speech. He still gets it from the school sytem.

Early intervention is free (at least in Illinois) for the evaluation and most of the theraphy given is for speech.
To feel better, there is no harm in getting her evaluated.

Good luck.
PS, my niece is about the same age and is also getting speech for the same reasons.

[myguatbabes]

My little man is saying, "mama, dada, yes, Josh, Karrey(well, his version of it), sissy, eat (his fav word!!), no-no, quit" and a few others. But, he also has two sisters who are about a year older than him and he has to do something in his own defense. But, according to the pediatrician we use, they should only be saying about 5 words at 2 years old!!! Hope this helps!!

Blessings

[ej-momtobe]

She sounds a lot like Andres. He speaks only Pablo (our dog), mama and dada. He blabbers babytalk a lot. I think the language change must have something to do with it. And even though we are a bilingual house, the spanish accent and speach pattern are different than in Guat.

My doctor said not to worry, as long as he does babytalk and tries to imitate us.

[tybeemuffin]

I am very interested in reading the responses to this post! My DD is only a week younger. She talks all of the time (non-stop), but has very few words that are clear. Ocaisionally she will say a words once or twice and then never say it again. This hapens a lot. She said my dog Tybee's name clear as a bell a few times 3 months ago and hasn't even attempted it since.

Here is a list of what she says:

Momma
Dada (says it but I am single and there is no Daddy)
Dog (Sounds like Da)
Hola (She doesn't say hi)
Bye
No

She does do a bit of sign language too.

I asked my Ped at her 15 month appt. if I needed to start her in a early intervention program and he said wait until her 18 month appt. He also said that a lot of times it will happen almost overnight and the words will just start coming out picking up one to two a day. The only word DD has added in the last 2 months is Hola.

[saranbr]

When DD was 17 mos she said three words-- Mama, Dada and Kee (kitty). I didn't bother with sign cause I wanted her learning English ASAP. Anyway, she's 26 months now and probably says 40 words and occasionally gets two together. Also, she understands everything and has since prior to 17 mos. The EI folks who eval'd her for late walking wanted to have her in speech therapy at 23 months of age! I politely declined since I really don't think, unless there is a significant problem (CP, stroke, etc), that any barely two year old needs speech therapy. She'll come along when she's good and ready.

[ddhuab]

But I thought I would chime in anyway, as I am anxious about her talking...

She says "mommy, daddy, doggie, bye-bye, hi, piggy (playing with her toes)" on her own, and she repeats words sometimes, "baby, Bibi (for Bijou, our dog), Papa, tick-tock" and I am afraid she is trying to say "Dina" (my first name).

She signs about 18 signs, and babbles constantly.

I always feel bad, because when my mom comes to visit she gets her to say LOTS of stuff... whereas when we are here alone, she learns more sign but no new words.

I don't think the sign really holds them back though... I think she would like to talk, just can't make her mouth say what she wants yet. She clearly UNDERSTANDS many, many words, so I am not too worried yet.

D.

[mybabykaili]

Cindy, our daughters share the same birthday! Children speak at different ages. She may wake up this morning talking up a storm. Has Celeste had ear infections by any chance? Kaili had one after the other. We put tubes in her ears 5 months after she was home and she hasnt stopped talking since.

[AngelsMama]

Toby turns 18 months today and his language acquisition has been gradually getting better. We din't bring im home until 14 months, so the language change had something to do with it, I think. When he's not picking up new wrds he picking up new signs. In fact he just had a huge burst around Easter. At first he could only say Dada, mama, kitty cat, and get. Now he says those plus... dog, done, stop, pat, blast off, kick it, JoJo, PapPap, GaGa, Ba-Bye. We are working on book, duck, and fish. He also signs more, eat, done, stop, drink, milk, sleep, please, baby, and ball. I love the signs cause they cut down on his frustrion. Every child advances at their own rate, I'm sure she'll be talking soon.

Tina

[momfrommn]

I thought I would share my experience.

My son is 19 months old and JUST started saying words. Our pediatrician had us bring him to be evaluated by a speech therapist at 18 months and she said there is nothing for us to worry about. She said kids talk at all different ages. She also said some kids tend to be more "physical" and put all their energy into learning physical things and then the speaking part lags. She said it generally all catches up. She did say it was good that our son seemed to comprehend things.

He babbled a lot but never said words. She offered some tips for us. She said sometimes parents tend to talk for their child so she told us to "up the ante" a bit. So if Charlie wants something and points, I ask him what he wants and wait until he tries to say something. Then I repeat the word correctly. IT seems to be helping a little bit.

I am sure your little one will be okay but I know how worrying it can be when other kids at the same age are talking like crazy!

[TerriBB]

Flora is 19 months and has about 10 words...though some of them sound the same!

Dog, Daddy, Bird, Duck, Mama, Meme (for herself), Andrew, Bottle (which means anything that holds a liquid), Socks (which is anything to do with her feet, socks, shoes...etc and it sounds a lot like Duck!)

She understands everything, so I'm not too worried.
Our son had fewer words at this age, but many ear infections. He now talks are arms off! (I counted 85 "hey Mommy's" by noon last Saturday!) I asked him to call me Fred for a few hours!

[Mommy2twins]

My kids just turned 18 months last week and barely say anything either. It might have been our imagination but we thought that they were learning words like mama, dada, duck, dog, cat when they were about a year old and then it just stopped and went to the whiny thing you are describing. Now they seem to say dada a lot but that is it. The doc said to give it three months and pointed us to this site to get some tips. If that doesn't work we will seek therapy. Talking with Toddlers | a resource for parents

Hope this helps
Shelly

[Yelena]

Juliana is almost 19 months old, so she's just a little older than your little girl.

Juliana can clearly (meaning that any English speaker would understand) say 8 words:
diaper
baby
ball
shoe (which she uses for shoes and for bare feet)
Missy (our cat's name)
ice (when she reaches into my iced tea!)
No
bye-bye (with accompanying wave )

The rest of her words are understandable probably only to us:
Barney (bah-ee)
Mommy (mah-ee)
Doggie (dah-ee)
Daddy -- sounds the same as doggie!
Fish (ishee)
Horse (hah-shee)
Bird (bee-ee)
Flower (it varies -- 2 syllables starting with "f"!)
Elephant (el-bah-day) this one's my favorite!
Banana (a na-na)
Hannah (my stepdaughter) is Naaah.
water (wa wa)
bottle (bah-uhl)
...and a few more I can't think of.

She can make animals sounds for cows, horses, cats, monkeys, and pigs.

And she can point to all kinds of things when asked, even if she can't say the word yet. It's clear to us that she can understand a LOT more than she can say. For what it's worth, we've never tried signing.

I bet Celeste is just fine -- I think it's too soon to worry about speech therapy. My little brother didn't start talking at all until he was about 2, and today he's a computer programmer and makes twice as much money as I do!