Speech Questions

My girls are 18 months old and have been "talking" for a few months now. They both repeat everything I say and have about 20 words they say reliably. Almost all of their words, though, are just the first sound of the word. So, pretty is 'preee', night is 'nie', and lamp is 'laaaah'. I can usually understand what they're saying as can our nanny. My DH is hit or miss and anyone else is usually confused except for a few obvious words and animal sounds.

I'm not worried about their development, but do wonder when kids usually start saying the ends of words. When did it happen for you all?

Thanks!

 

I really don't remember. My boys have all been a little speech delayed, so they didn't/don't do it until 3 (hopefully for these little ones). The girls were average or early talkers, but I don't remember when they added the back. You could always just call a speech therapist and ask if you really want to know.

 

Don't know but I was wondering this as well. If I recall correctly my pedi said somewhere around 18 months is when they should BEGIN doing this. Mine only say the end of turtle (clear as a bel and I have no idea why), hot, bite and moon. Looking forward to hearing answers for this one.

 

Ours definitely only said the beginnings of words for a long time, but now they do say the ends of most words. Some they still only say the beginning sound, but they are starting to add the ending sounds and the second syllables more and more often. I'd guess this has happened more and more over the past month or two?

 

I don't have an answer for you but my boys are the exact same way. They call eachother's names but it just comes out JAAAAA. Which is pretty funny since they are Jack and James so they both call eachother JAAAAA :lol:

 

It sounds like you’re referring to final consonant deletion, which is a completely normal phonological process for kids this age to use. Phonological processes are a common and predictable part of speech development. They’re like little patterns of errors that all children make when developing speech, and parents recognize them as pronunciation errors. Some kids use certain processes for a very brief time and some kids use them for a much longer time. When children are first learning to speak, their phonological systems are still developing and going through natural changes. Over time, children stop using these processes and their speech begins to sound more and more like adult speech. Other phonological processes include things like…
Weak syllable deletion (example: tefone for telephone)
Reduplication (example: wawa for water)
Stopping (example: tun for sun)
There are many more! Final consonant deletion is used when the child leaves the final consonants off of the end of the word. One explanation for why kids use this process is that the final consonants in words aren’t as perceptually salient (we don’t hear them as loudly) as other consonants. Children usually stop using this process around age 3, and a lot of children will stop using it earlier than that. If a child was still leaving the final consonants off of sounds after age 3 then he or she might qualify for speech therapy. So for 18 month olds to be doing this is perfectly normal!

Carrie

 

My boys now are saying the ends of most words. Turner is especially good at saying the ends of his words, and has also developed his own language. We call it Turner Latin. At the end of every word, he adds -uh. So I'm mommy-uh, the cat is kitty-uh, you get the idea. My boys have also had trouble saying spoon (moon) and stick (dick) so I asked the speech path at work if there was anything to do. She said to make sure you enunciate clearly and repeat the words back to them so they can hear it correctly, instead of talking baby-talk to them. Such as when my boys would say ni-ni, I would say it's time to go night-night, instead of saying, it's time to go ni-ni. They will get it when they are ready! Which should be soon!

 

My DS, who is 26 months, does the same thing on nearly every word. He has many words, but it can be hard for people other than DH and I to understand him because he leaves off the end. Recently I have heard a few endings on words such as "run" and down." I too have read that this is normal and not to worry until the age of 3 or so. So I agree that at 18 months there is nothing to worry about. Just keep saying the words the right way and they will get it!

 

My twinsies are 26 months and for the most part they are putting the ending sounds on words now, but there are still some that they dont say or they do the repetition thing, like wawa for water, or the deletion, where it would sound like wa-er. My mother calls my daughter German girl, b/c sometimes she'll still ramble on w/out anyone knowing what shes talking about and my mother is part German and she thinks that what she sounds like. lol (sometimes she does this on purpose and she thinks its funny)
FWIW, they have more than 100 words, and they speak really well, but Im not really that great at reiterating the proper pronunciation of words. I do it sometimes, but sometimes I just think its cute the way they talk.