https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 06 May 2026 00:25:25 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-1300402 Wed, 25 Dec 2013 09:23:12 +0000 delight 1300402@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: speech therapists typically look for children to be stringing two words together by 24m so sounds like LO is doing great! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-1300399 Wed, 25 Dec 2013 09:16:36 +0000 winniebee 1300399@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: I think he's doing great!!</p> <p>Around 15 months he had around 5 words and good receptive language. At 19 months he has about 40 words and great receptive language and is starting to string a few words together (I eat, hi mama, bye dada). I saw a huge change between 18 and 19 months! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-1300294 Wed, 25 Dec 2013 00:36:25 +0000 mrbee 1300294@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: How is T talking these days? Would love an update! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740906 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:43:58 +0000 Cchoi4 740906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son wasn't saying anything by 15 months, which our pediatrician recommended we look into. I had a speech therapy eval done and they found he was a bit "delayed." We went ahead with speech therapy (45 min for one day a week). Its just like taking him to play with toys for 45 min. </p> <p>After doing this for 5 months or so, our son is now speaking nonstop. </p> <p>Long story short, i'm not sure if it was the speech therapy that helped or whether it was just a matter of time...We went ahead with speech therapy bc insurance covered it after our $250 deductible.</p> <p>I wouldn't worry too much as your LO is still quite young. I'd start looking into it if he isn't saying anything at 15-18 months. My son didn't start saying much until he was about 18 months, and he just turned 2. Now i can't get him to stop talking! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740663 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:01:37 +0000 Raindrop 740663@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If your LO is behind than so is mine! ^_^</p> <p>LO is almost 14 months old and still doesn't really have a word under his belt but I really liked what mrbee linked to because LO was able to clap/wave/put his arms up/+tons of things by command at about 9 months old. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740652 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:55:16 +0000 Maysprout 740652@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Does he have his own words for things? Our pediatrician told us that any sound used regularly to indicate an object at that age could be counted, even if it wasn't a real word. LO used a lot of sound effects so the pediatrician started counting all the stuff she was saying using her own language and we were surprised at how big her 'vocab' was. She was on target without counting her sound effects so I'm not sure if the pediatrician was just saying that because I was worried or if that's actually true that any sound used regularly for an object counts at that age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740533 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:40:33 +0000 iheartleopardprint 740533@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son was a late talker, but as he understood everything I said I wasn't worried. Then one day he just started spouting all these words, and now he is where he should be. The biggest thing I learnt was to talk to babies properly, don't speak in baby talk and talk to them a lot.</p> <p>In my experience, with family and friend's kids it's not uncommon for boysto be late talkers. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740454 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:58:26 +0000 PointeShoesTutus 740454@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a speech therapist. Now without having met your child, I can't say anything definite, but based on what you have written, it does sound like he is right on track. Keep talking to him, talk about what he is doing, what you are doing, etc. </p> <p>Here is a brief overview of receptive/expressive language milestones. </p> <p><a href="http://specializedtherapyservices.org/communication-guide" rel="nofollow">http://specializedtherapyservices.org/communication-guide</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740364 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:04:36 +0000 BoogieBea 740364@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>He sounds fine to me. My son actually was speech delayed. We didn't start to actively seek intervention until he was close to 2. He started speaking consistently at around 2.5 while working with a speech therapist. My daughter was rather quiet at around age 1 as well. It gave me flashbacks to when my son was younger. Now, at 21 months, she is talking up a storm. Every child is different. It sounds like he is comprehending some of the things you're saying to him - that's a good sign. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740338 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:56:50 +0000 Honeybee 740338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: DD never said mama and dada intentionally until15 or 16 months! She was ahead verbally, but just didn't catch on to the whole mama/dada thing. It was the sweetest sound in the world, the first time she intentionally called me mama! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740334 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:50:45 +0000 winniebee 740334@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I feel a lot better, thank you!</p> <p>I think he knows who mama and dada are - when I say "dada's home!" he cranes his head and looks at the door. It will be really fun when he actually says the words and means them! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740317 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:43:06 +0000 Rubies 740317@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO's vocab didn't start developing until 18months and then suddenly it exploded. At 12 months, she didn't say anything! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740286 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:21:11 +0000 Mrs. Jacks 740286@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope, not behind :)</p> <p>As pediatricians we focus a lot (too much in my opinion) on milestones. We are tested in our boards one what is or isn't a milestone and whether children are behind or not. We spend a ton of time on development. Our purpose is to identify problems and refer, not to necessarily treat the problem, which may be why there is a perception that we don't know development.</p> <p>A good rule of thumb is babbling by 9 months, one word by 12 months, a two word sentence by age 2 and 50% of the speech intelligible by an outsider at age 2. </p> <p>I wouldn't refer unless a child is grossly outside those limits and my first referral is to audiology. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740274 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:17:14 +0000 BabyBoecksMom 740274@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: DD is 15 months and JUST started saying actual words. She just had a word explosion this week, but up until now, she just babbled. (Oh, and Mama and Dada STILL aren't part of her vocabulary) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-740259 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:08:01 +0000 sarac 740259@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>No, your child is absolutely normal. Many (a majority, I think) children won't have any recognizable words before 1. The average milestone is 1 word at 12 months, but as long as your child has three words by 18 months, you're all good. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739781 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:39:05 +0000 MamaG 739781@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our ped said 3 words by 18 months when I was concerned. Our LO was doing quite a bit of sign language in the 12-15 month time period. She also demonstrated comprehension. We could ask her to get a bear or a bunny or a ball and most often she would get the correct object.</p> <p>At nearly 21 months old she still doesn't "understand" no. Sometimes "no" is responded to with laughter and sometimes with tears. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739272 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:22:23 +0000 mrsjazz 739272@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We talked about this with my pediatrician at LOs 1 year appt. last week. Like @mrbee: we talked about comprehension, my LO understands quite a bit so the pediatrician wasn't in the least bit worried. LO says mama &amp; dada but not to us, just when babbling, though if I ask her to find Mama's bellybutton she lifts up my shirt. LO has 3 words that we understand. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739258 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:18:36 +0000 littlek 739258@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>B doesn't have many words beyond dadadadad, doh, and mamama.. He babbles a lot, but I have no idea what he's actually saying.. But when I say come here, he comes to me and when I say no, he stops what he's doing.. I think T sounds like he is in the same place.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739256 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:18:21 +0000 yin 739256@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My LO didn't start to establish his vocabulary until 18 months, and boy did he have a word explosion. Usually doctors won't start to worry until the 15 month mark, and many kids make a lot of progress by 18 months. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739247 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:16:20 +0000 mrbee 739247@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>&lt;&lt; Our pediatrician said she wanted LO to have three words (could include mama, etc.) by 12 months, and I don't think he did. &gt;&gt;</p> <p>@Lozza: In my (very limited) experience, pediatricians aren't always that trained in evaluating developmental delays! They tend to focus more on things like the number of words the kids can express, and less on how much they're understanding and imitating. Could just be me though!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739245 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:15:55 +0000 looch 739245@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I also wanted to point out that our pediatrician gave us a good rule of thumb that they use in the office for determining if a child is on track for speech. I can not for the life of me remember what the rot is for age 1, I want to say 1/4.</p> <p>At age 2, the doctor should be able to understand about 1/2 of what the child says.<br /> By age 3, it should be 3/4 and by age 4 it should be fully understandable. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739233 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:14:31 +0000 winniebee 739233@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: very interesting. thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739231 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:14:05 +0000 mrbee 739231@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@winniebee: I wouldn't worry too much just yet! Just keep talking and interacting a lot and see how things go!</p> <p>In terms of having words, for now I'd focus less on what he can say and more on what he understands... expressive language tends to lag receptive language. Some good definitions here!</p> <p><a href="http://nspt4kids.com/parenting/expressive-vs-receptive-language/" rel="nofollow">http://nspt4kids.com/parenting/expressive-vs-receptive-language/</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739220 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:12:01 +0000 Lozza 739220@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Our pediatrician said she wanted LO to have three words (could include mama, etc.) by 12 months, and I don't think he did. He really didn't have three words till 13-14 months, but he's totally caught up and at his 2 year checkup last week our pediatrician was surprised by how verbal he was. So I wouldn't freak out about this at all at his age. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739214 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:11:44 +0000 winniebee 739214@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsCB: He hasn't had any ear problems that we know of. No ear infections yet. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739209 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:11:00 +0000 winniebee 739209@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks ladies!! It's nice to hear others' experiences. </p> <p>@mrbee: Not really. That's the part that makes me wonder. He doesn't seem to understand "no" (he just smiles at me!) or "come here" and definitely has no idea what I mean by put on your shoes. If I say "I'm gonna get you!" he crawls away fast though. When he doesn't want something, he does shake his head "no" and now pushes things away. When he wants somethign or more of something, he just whines. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739203 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:09:27 +0000 ShootingStar 739203@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Has he had any ear problems? Friends of mine have a daughter, who they thought was behind in speech because of not having much socialization at her home daycare. Turns out her ears were severely blocked and after having tubes put in her talking went up dramatically. I think they figured it out when she was about 2.5. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739197 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:09:13 +0000 CottonCandy 739197@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I really woundn't worry about this quite yet... My LO did not say many words at all at your son's age. Some kids take longer to talk. Plain and simple. I think 11 months is still kinda young anyway to be babbling much more than mama and dada anyway. I'm sure your son is fine :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739196 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:09:09 +0000 Mrs. Pen 739196@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think he's behind at all! My nephew didn't really start saying words until he was at least 15 months and even now at 19 months he says "wagua" for water, "uh-oh", "mama" and just a few other words. For a nearly two year old that might not be seen as normal but he hasn't been "behind" in anything else and both my sister and I see no issue whatsoever.</p> <p>T is babbling and I think that's important! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-my-son-verbally-behind#post-739193 Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:08:35 +0000 pelikila 739193@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son didn't have more than 3 words until around 15 months so I would say no, your son is just fine. I think the recommendation is 6 words (not including mama and dada) by 15 months but my son didn't have that but more than made up for it by 18 months. [I think I have those times right but I could be wrong.] </p>