Toddler milestones
Discussion
Our wee guy is almost 18 months and not really trying to say any words yet - tries 'cat' every few days but nothing consistent, everything else is 'muh' and has pretty much been like that for three months or more. He's very expressive with it though, it's like living with a cross between R2D2 and Timmy from South Park. 
He is being brought up bilingual which can apparently delay the onset of speech but only really by a month or so on average, and he understands a lot of things in both languages. And he's definitely a mover, often they're one or the other from what I've read.
Not particularly concerned (yet) just wondered how far to the end of the normal range this was.
He is being brought up bilingual which can apparently delay the onset of speech but only really by a month or so on average, and he understands a lot of things in both languages. And he's definitely a mover, often they're one or the other from what I've read.
Not particularly concerned (yet) just wondered how far to the end of the normal range this was.
And once they start talking then you sometimes really wish they would stop 
It's funny with our two (5&7 so a bit older), almost like they plan it between them, on a long car journey one will be happily looking out the window being nice and quiet whilst the other asks you a billion pointless questions that they really *need* the answer to or that you've answered many time before but the conveniently forgotten the answer. Similar trip and it will be the other one doing all the questioning. No pattern to it but you'll never get both of them being quiet
It's funny with our two (5&7 so a bit older), almost like they plan it between them, on a long car journey one will be happily looking out the window being nice and quiet whilst the other asks you a billion pointless questions that they really *need* the answer to or that you've answered many time before but the conveniently forgotten the answer. Similar trip and it will be the other one doing all the questioning. No pattern to it but you'll never get both of them being quiet
My son was two last month. He is also being brought up bilingually. We live in Germany so he gets German most of the time but I only speak English with him. I think it is fair to say that it took a little longer for his speech to come but we can already see him using English with me and German with my wife. It probably only really started around 18 months but once it did the acceleration is amazing. My advice is to keep going and be patient, it will happen.
My boy is 2 and a half. His first words came when he was about 16 months. His first proper sentences came when he was about 2. As already said, once they start, they come out with new words every day and learn extremely fast. He can now sing whole nursery rhymes and put longer (and correct!) sentences together.
I can imagine speech being slightly delayed when there are 2 languages involved but by the time they're at school they'll be just like everyone else (except smarter because they can speak 2 languages).
I can imagine speech being slightly delayed when there are 2 languages involved but by the time they're at school they'll be just like everyone else (except smarter because they can speak 2 languages).
The milestones are based on a pretty wide bottomed bell curve, the normal distribution is massive.
Our eldest didn't say any words until he was around 18 months. Bizarrely his first word was "keys" said while my wife lent over him unbuckling his car seat whilst holding the car keys...
As for my youngest child, I have no recollection of when he started talking, or what he said. All I know is that 90% of what he says now is to remind me how spectacularly I'm failing as a parent
Don't worry, and don't compare. When my eldest was about 15 months we went to a house party and a little girl there who was the same age could hold a conversation with you. My little lad could laugh and shout noises
Our eldest didn't say any words until he was around 18 months. Bizarrely his first word was "keys" said while my wife lent over him unbuckling his car seat whilst holding the car keys...
As for my youngest child, I have no recollection of when he started talking, or what he said. All I know is that 90% of what he says now is to remind me how spectacularly I'm failing as a parent
Don't worry, and don't compare. When my eldest was about 15 months we went to a house party and a little girl there who was the same age could hold a conversation with you. My little lad could laugh and shout noises
Don’t worry milestones are very broad and attempt to cover all children including girls and there is a vast difference between the two. Our boy was the same as yours our girl on the other hand at a similar age was stringing together 3 words and ordering everyone about!
I think the indicator is 50 words by the time they are 2 and they develop quickly in 4 months!
I think the indicator is 50 words by the time they are 2 and they develop quickly in 4 months!
Two of my close friends have married someone with a mother tongue other than English (Mandarin and French), and a number of my other friends too, and I've also done a bit of reading on the subject. In short, you have nothing to worry about. A toddler's brain can take a while to figure out the bilingual thing, but then it'll start clicking and progress as normal. It's quite amazing really, and it's one hell of a skill to have in the future, both socially and in terms of employment, and I speak from personal experience of missed opportunities!
ScotHill said:
... he's definitely a mover, often they're one or the other from what I've read.
I think this is true.I have two boys, two and half years between them (in their 20's now). The eldest was walking at about 10 months and constantly on the move, but no speech for quite a long time. We even saw a speech therapist about a possible lisp when he did start talking, but that was put down to his teeth coming through thick and fast. My second son starting talking very early on, but was welded to my right hip for at least the first two years of his life and showing no inclination to walk much at all. By the time they got to nursery and primary school they were on target with speech and movement and are now both rugby-playing engineering project managers! They can argue for England btw.
Try not to worry about him - once he gets going, you'll never hear the end of it.
No need to worry. Our lad had difficulties for a long while and was four or five before he had developed to the 'normal' stage. He's 19 now and works in a role that requires day to day public communication which he handles with aplomb!
We did put him into a speech therapy course and one of the things they did was to show him these flash cards and he had to say what they were. One of them was a German police car and rather than say police car, he said "BMW 3 Series". At that point I knew all would be OK!
We did put him into a speech therapy course and one of the things they did was to show him these flash cards and he had to say what they were. One of them was a German police car and rather than say police car, he said "BMW 3 Series". At that point I knew all would be OK!
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff