16 mo. old Son still doesn't say any words

My 16 month old son doesn't say any words yet. He babbles (more like sounding like a Martian), and makes the 'dadadadada' sound (but doesn't say DaDa directed at Daddy). That is it. He wasn't premature and there is no family history of any autism disorders.

Should I be concerned? My DD says kitty, daddy, ball, bup ('up').

I understand boys are typically behind a bit, but I can't help but to wonder.

 

It's perfectly normal to wonder. Some kids are late talkers and perhaps your son will be one of them. I always say, it can never hurt to mention it at your next visit to the pediatrician. At their 15 and 18 month visit, I brought a list of the words I heard the kids say to be sure that they were on track and to also remember when the pediatrician asked because my memory isn't the best.

 

My b/g twins are 15 months... and my son is the same way. The ONLY consanants he even says is bababababa, not directed at a bottle or ball, just in general. I worry constantly about him too, my daughter has a few words and many, many sounds compared to him. I asked the ped and he said it is totally normal, and to just follow up at 18 months. He said often there is an explosion of language, all at once, for late talkers. I sure hope so. I worry about it every day.

 

Talking to your ped is a good idea, but remember all peds have different standards. When my girls hit 18 months and still had only three words my ped said that was fine. I, on the other hand, did not feel that it was. So I called around until I was connected to the people at early intervention and I had them evaluated. I was right. The girls were severly speech delayed. They had no speech problems, and their hearing is fine, but they refused to talk. The girls are now 21 months old and have been doing speech therapy two hours a week for about two months and they are doing great. The speech therapist and I still believe that they would not be progressing as well as they are without the therapy though. If you have a nagging feeling in your gut that something just isn't quite right you can always find the early ntervention in your area and have them evaluated. It never hurts to do that. You may even find out that they are perfectly fine and relieve any stress and worry. Good Luck.

 

Boys are typically later talkers. Also if he was an early walker, good with motor skill, fine and gross, as in a little advanced, then that is why he isn't saying. Babies that are typically ahead in walking, and motor skill are latter walkers. The reason for this is that their brains can only concentrate and developing one skill at a time. Those that are early talkers and typically late walkers. My oldest was stringing 2 words together at 10 months. He was saying who's that, what's that, bye bye, simple stuff but used it in the right context. He only walked around 15 months. My twins are the same way. THey starting saying who's that, what's that around 10 months, and now at 13 months really have no interst in walking, but are saying more a few more words. He'll talk soon enough, and then you'll be wondering why you worried because he wont STOP talking!

 

My boys have had early intervention since they were infants and she said that they have three strikes against them, they were preemies, twins and boys. This is in regards to speech.... she said you can't even compare boys to girls. It sounds like you have two of the strikes. I wouldn't worry too much. My boys only mainly babble and they are 19 months.

 

The big things you would look for are signs that he understands speech and signs of social interaction. Does he understand if you say "where is the ball" or "give me the shoe"? Does he hand you books to read or a toy he wants to turn on? Does he reach and whine for things he wants? If so, he has the building blocks for speech and the words will likely come. If he doesn't attempt to communicate or gesture, then I would be more concerned and try to get him evaluated for speech therapy.

 

My kids didn't have any words at 18 months! And then about 2 weeks later, the day I got the evaluation forms for speech, they both said "shoe". In the last month they've picked up about 5-6 words and started signing "more". They are also copying more hand gestures like blowing kisses and peekaboo, and they follow directions pretty well. They're quite expressive, so while they're behind on words, I know that their communication is progressing. It's frustrating, but they'll get there . It still doesn't hurt to mention it to your ped and/or go through with an evaluation though as they might have some helpful suggestions to get their speech going. I know my guys get really frustrated when they can't tell me what they want, so I want to do speech therapy so they cut out the tantrums. It's also a good idea to get their hearing checked as that can sometimes be the cause of a delay.

 

i agree that i don't think you need to worry but it is worth a mention at the ped's.

my girls had no words & didn't babble much at 15 months but by their 18 month appointment they each had 3 - 5 words. our doc wanted to see 5 words solidly, but said that he wasn't worried as their receptive language was clearly very good & we would reevaluate at their 2 year appointment. at 2 years, they again just barely made the cut (i think they both said their first 2 word phrases within the week before their appointment - which was 3 weeks late). now at 2.5 they won't stop talking! :laughing: we have solid 2 - 3 phrases from both of them & their vocabulary is growing almost daily, it seems.

 

this happened with my son...my daughter had at least a dozen words at 18 mos and my son had "dada" and "cookie" - EVERYTHING was cookie for a while...we had an EI eval and by the time they started treatment (closer to 20 mos) he had a language explosion plus the speech therapy helped him get discharged from EI within 6 mos...

 

Definitely mention it to your ped as everyone else said, if anything they could at least put your mind at ease. My problem is actually my girl, she doesn't hardly even babble at 16 months whereas my ds says dada and momma. And don't even get me started on the physical development, I doubt my girl will even be walking by 18 months and I am hoping ds might be. I have very late kiddos, I just try to keep it in mind that they all do things when they are good and ready but getting things checked out can't hurt!

 

My DS was the same. He really didn't start really adding words until a few weeks before his second birthday. We had two evaluations with early intervention. During the first visit, she felt like he was borderline, but making a lot of progress recently. A month later, she said he didn't need speech therapy. He is 2.5 now, and talks in 3 word sentences and never stops talking. I guess he got a late start, but was fine once he got going.
I felt better after we had the evaluations. It gave us some good information and I'm glad we did it.

 

I know I'm in the minority here, but I would consider contacting your state's early intervention program to get an evaluation. A normal milestone is 3 words by 15 months, and your DS isn't that much over 15 months, but the fact that he does not have any other babbling sounds besides Dadada is also a concern as he should have a range of consonent-vowel sounds by now. You didn't mention if he understands what you say, but I would be less concerned if he seems to understand some langauge without you gesturing. No matter what, and EI evaluation will tell you whether or not you need to be concerned, and is probably better than sitting around worrying. Sorry - I know this isn't what you wanted to hear!

 

Mommylaura- I completely agree with you on getting him evaluated. It can't hurt.

I have an aunt that is a speech pathologist and when I told her that my girls had three words at 18 months she was amazed that my ped hadn't told me about early intervention, and that the ped said they were fine. Once we had them evaluated our speech therapist said that an "average" 18 month old child will have 10-20 words, and by 18 months should be starting to say two word phrases. My girls were no where near that. Even with therapy they are still behind, but picking up very quickly. The longer you wait the more delayed he may get. I know that is not what you want to hear, but it can't hurt to start making some calls. If he gets evaluated and everything checks out fine then you know you have nothing to worry about, but he may just need that little push that you can't give. My girls will say just about anything for the therapist, but very rarely say new things for me. Stubborn just like their parents

 

My two had no words - none - until 22 months. At 36 months, they were just starting to use 2-3 word phrases. Needless to say, I worried myself sick.
We had them evaluated at 36 months, but we were living in a country where no one even knew what speech therapist was.
But now, at age 7, they are doing just fine. They are bilingual, which probably accounted for some of the delay, and almost equally fluent in both languages. They needed some speech therapy in PK and K (in US schools), but they have since graduated.

Granted, many kids have large vocabs at 16 months. But many don't and go on to be just fine. An evaluation by EI can't hurt, but I definitely think it's too early to be worried. BTW, you didn't mention whether he knows any signs. Signs count as words at this young age.