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We also have a late talker and I almost gave up on signs when suddenly he got it. We go to speech and the SLP encouraged us to "make" him sign. For example teaching him "more" we put our hands over his and taught him to do the sign. We played with toys and he got them one at a time. Ex he had to sign more each time he wanted another block or Lego. Being able to sign more, milk, eat, go, help etc does help bring his frustration level down a bit at times.

I thought my son was a little behind for a long time. He was a late pointer, slow to repeat. The first big break through was when he learned to sign "more." And now at almost 3 he is way ahead of his peers. So if you are on the late side of normal I wouldn't worry at all. If it's below normal, Speech Therapy can be really beneficial. But everything moves so fast and at such a different pace for each child that it's really hard to compare. Things really started taking off for us sometime around 20 months...

as you may remember, E was a much later talker than most, but still on the normal spectrum. it wasn't until after 2 that her language really started to happen. She still wasn't even talking much at 2, and our ped said it was normal. It really became noticeable over the summer (26 months-ish)

I am in the same boat (13.5months). We are working on signs and even just animal noises that are a bit easier to say (he gets so excited when we understand that he's saying Woof for dog).

One thing I've been meaning to do (and not to thread jack but maybe someone can jump in and answer) is looking for resources of just things I can do at home. I have read blogs that said once they had a speech therapist in to teach the parents how to "talk to the child" and interact things improved. But I would love to read what some of those tools are. I know some of the obvious like talking slow and clear, pointing and repeating. But I'm sure there are tricks.

My first kid was a super late talker. She didn't have any words by 16 months when she was evaluated for EI. Her receptive communication was great, but she wasn't interested in talking or mimicking at all. I would trust your gut. Talk to the pediatrician and see if an evaluation is available, even if it's just to assuage your concerns. There's such a wide range of normal though, so try not to fret too much. We had in-home speech therapy, and to be honest, I'm not convinced it made a huge difference. Who knows though! Regardless, when she was ready, she was ready! By two she had begun to talk up a storm, and at 2.5, she speaks as well as any big kid. She has great enunciation and speaks in full sentences.

Let me see if I can see the Rosetti scale our therapist used to evaluate. If so, I'll wall you a copy.

I was wondering (not really worried bc I know all kids are different) about DD but at our 18 mos apt the dr didn't even ask me how many words she had!! I would have said she had 6 maybe at that time (mom, dad, ball, meow, bye, hi) but she understood very well and would follow commands so that put my mind at ease. She is now 22 months and her vocabulary is HUGE!! She had the true word explosion around 20 months and hasn't slowed down! I wouldnt' worry if I were you, but if you are just ask your ped.

I thought DS was a little slow in his expressive language. According to our notes he had about 20 words by 18m. He was able to sign though, that was something we worked on for a long time, and they did at daycare with him. He's having a language explosion now at 22m and it's absolutely amazing to see.

I have friends whose daughter was a very late talker and it turned out she was having hearing issues and needed tubes in her ears.

DS1 was a later talker. He probably was like Fia. He slowly gained words and phrases over time. To me his explosion came around 2.5.

DS2 only has a couple of constant words - dada, yea, and oh no. But I feel like he is a bit more advanced than DS1 was but not by much. He definitely understands a lot of what we say. He gets his point across even if he isn't verbally saying it. He shakes his head no but never yes.

DS1 was a really late talker. He was always clearly behind his peers and would just barely meet the minimum expectations for his age. All the sudden around 2.5 he had a major language explosion. He went from barely putting 2 words together to full sentences. It was kind of crazy. His pediatrician said at one appointment we could get an EI evaluation and because of other medical issues at the time I put it off and she didn't think he needed it at his next appointment. I know several kids that have speech therapy. One I can really see a lot of improvement just since I met him a few months ago. Talk to your pediatrician and see what s/he suggests.

I've been wondering about this too. My 19 month old says a few words and signs please, all done, more, and we are working on help. He doesn't pick up signs easily so I haven't tried to add too many at once. However, he understands really well and will answer questions. We have tantrums all the time because we don't know what he wants. He doesn't seem interested in trying to say words either, he actually is more willing to try new signs than new words (unless they are sound effects...).

At 18 months, LO had one word (Dada), consistent sounds that counted as words, 5 or 6 signs, and lots of grunting. His receptive language was excellent, but it was frustrating for us all that he couldn't communicate. He was evaluated by EI and started speech therapy at 19 months, which he loved SO much. It also made a huge difference. Now at 28 months he speaks nonstop, and regularly uses multiple word sentences, stuff I wouldn't have believed a few months ago. We were actually sad when he "graduated" out of therapy! Our pediatrician would have been fine with us waiting until 2 to have him evaluated, and I think DH was nervous about it, but now he agrees that in our case, it was the best thing.

DS isn't a late talker but he is really selective about what/when he will use words. He, like your DD, gets really frustrated when he can't tell me what he wants. A tip I got from another mom was to say to him "I can't understand you, can you please show me what you want" and then he would point/go to what he wanted, or I would carry him around and he would reach. Now he will take my hand and lead me there. It helped in many situations. Though now he will go to the fridge and pull on the handle when he is hungry.

Our situation is a little different because our later talker was our second child (DD1 started talking at six months and there's been no quieting her since so that point of comparison made everything with DD2 seem amplified). K started saying "Dada" at about a year and then literally didn't absorb anything else for months. At her 18 month check she could say, "Dada" "Mama" "No" and "'Wan-it (want it)" and the nurse was concerned and said if she wasn't improving markedly by 2 to have her assessed.

About two or three weeks ago (she's 20 months now) she started talking clearly out of the blue like she'd been talking the whole time. "Mommy hold hand?" is a fave she likes busting out . Meanwhile she still can't say her own name and some other things I think she should be able to but she's getting better (i.e. Mama and Dada are now Mommy and Daddy, etc.). Sadly the communication tantrums are still real, especially when anything happens between her and DD1 that she doesn't have the vocab to explain- this usually devolves into her throwing herself on the ground kicking and screaming "EMMA!"

Honestly there really isn't much you can do other than try to figure out what she's saying and vocalize it for her as much as possible so she's absorbing the words she's going to need to describe it once her little brain is ready to start exploding! I hope tomorrow is an easier day!

@MoonMoon: We had the exact same situation.

Our son was in EI from 21 months (he had ONE word then) and just graduated out at 27 months. It made such a big difference for him. He was so frustrated being unable to communicate and it was hard on us, too. It was really hard to make the phone call to EI but once we did we were so glad we had. If you are concerned still at 18 months, I wouldn't hesitate to call.

@Mae: mine said "dada" "doggy" and "DIS!" from 12 to 18 months. She didn't head shake, or mimic, or make animal noises, or anything else they're supposed to do. Her receptive language was fine. We were watching her for intervention at 2 years, but then she started to talk more at around 18 months. She got so she was really communicating right at around 25 months.

The other thing to remember is that just because they are pointing at the swing and you're assuming that they want to swing and asking them about that - it doesn't mean that she doesn't understand you. We have swing miscommunications like every day because she wants me to push her juice on the swing or she wants to put rocks on the swing and push them, or she wants me to push her with big pushes or little pushes and it often takes a lot of screaming before I can figure out wtf she wants, lol.

I think T only had 5-8 words at 15 months but by 18 months had hundreds....by age 2 talking in sentences....and speaks more clearly than most 3 year olds I've been around. Some kids take off a little later ; )