Almost two with NO WORDS!

[SummerLuvin]

I'm in a similar situation; 18 month old and no words, not mama or dada, ba-ba...nothing. Just grunts, screams, screeches and cries. We read books and I focus on first words books for the little ones, i try my hardest to get him to repeat what I say, but to no avail....he laughs at first then after a few times starts to cry because he just doesn't want to, or as another poster mentioned....can't make the connection??? I dunno.

I googled it last week, a few sites did mention that if a child is a late walker then they'll most likely be a late talker. As long as the other milestones are being met, like eating on his own, making eye contact, communication in other ways, like if we wants something out of reach, he points to it and grunts.... It can be frustrating though, I wish I could get just a yes or no answer sometimes, even a head shake or nod....but nothing....

[Inspired by Reggio]

Reggio - Mom is getting her hearing tested and is starting the process of enrolling her speech therapy. We have all those avenues covered. I was more looking for things I could do.

Awesome news!

For things you can try in the meantime ... depends on what the 'cause' of the delay is?

If it is low muscle tone in the mouth - does she drool a lot cause that is an indication of low muscle tone in mouth which means that 'would sounds' will be hard to develop with the mouth you want activities to strength that .... blowing bubbles, or getting out straws and playing games to blow feathers around help to increase mouth muscles and forming of certain 'sounds' with the tonuge?

If it is an issue with 'processing' where she is not able to quickly make the connection between hearing something and sending the 'speak' message back to the mouth games and activities that help the brain to gross mediums between left and right side of the brain .... clapping hands together with you and doing left hand to right hand and right hand to left hand with you, games where she crosses her hands or passes things from her left to right hand and so forth to get the 'brain' talking back and forth so to speak and work those muscles so to speak.

A speech therapist would be able to give you way more games and ideas - call your local OEYC and ask them for ideas for working with a child with speech delays they might even have 'ready to go kits' you can sign out with different games and activities to promote these skills development?

[Cocoon]

If they speak two different languages at home this could be the reason too. Bilingual kids normally take their time.

Cocoon

[mom-in-alberta]

IME just because she 'understands you' does not mean she can properly HEAR you ... children with hearing loss or impairment learn to read lips at a very young age but still cannot 'speak' because they cannot make the sounds WE hear in order, they can still listen to music cause they FEEL the beat and so forth.

This is just what I was going to say.... I am interested to know what the hearing tests come out with. My friend's daughter presented very similarly, in that it SEEMED like she could hear, but in actuality she heard sounds as though she was underwater. Everything was muffled, due to her enlarged adenoids and tonsils, etc. They didn't even really notice until she was about 3, and her 1 year old sister's vocabulary began to surpass her own. She also made sounds, but no clear words. It may be helpful to get her checked by an ear/nose/throat doc to make sure that there are no issues there?
Having said that; my own son was almost 3 before anyone (outside of immediate family) could understand what he was saying. Then, *poof* he started chattering away!! He also required an outpatient surgery to remove his adenoid, later on.