I have a delightful almost 20-month-old who speaks very rarely. He says Mama, Dada, ball (on occasion), hi, bye, and uh-oh. We have had him evaluated (when he only said Mama and Dada), and she thinks that he latched on to signing early as an "easier" form of communication (for him) and now doesn't talk because he communicates so easily through sign (he has about 40 signs.)

His receptive language is stellar, good social skills, etc. He's always been a quieter kid, and while he babbles, he generally only does so when he's all worked up (excited), or when he thinks no one is watching (he'll read to himself in his chair and babble away, but if he sees me, he'll stop).

I truly think that speech makes him feel embarrassed. On occasion, if he's in a particularly good mood, I can get him to attempt words after me. But if I give him any kind of positive feedback, he stops.

So, in general, I'm not really worried about him in any kind of "global development" sense. I think he's fine. At the same time, I would love to be able to help him feel comfortable talking and enjoy learning language. I talk to him constantly (I'm a SAHM, and I actually asked the speech therapist if it was possible I talk too much to him...), we do lots of activities with other toddlers (music, soccer, play dates, library, etc), as well as with older kiddos and other adults, and I do all the regular language-learning things ("oh you want the car? The red car? Here's the car", etc.) So I'm kind of looking for any off-the-wall suggestions anyone might have to help me transition him to spoken language.