Normal, delay or other...and would you say anything?

[Sandbox Sally]

Some toddlers just take off one day. BFF's daughter was 3 before you could recognize discernable words from her, and almost four before she could string sentences together. She's 19 now and on the Dean's list at uni.

[Lou]

Definitely normal. My daughter was speakiing in full sentences by 18 months, but my son is just now starting to put 2 words together at 27 months and has recently had a language explosion as well! The 2 others in my care are both 25 months (and boys) and one is ahead of my son language wise, but not by far, and the other has a short list of about 10 single words that you can barely understand. The last one was tested and was still found to be in the normal range and expected to take off in a few months. I, too, encourage them to use their words instead of grunting and whining

[kidlove]

He could all the sudden begin real talk out of the blue one of these days and....no more worry. All kids seem to develop speech at dif paces. When I first started the daycare I remember thinking so many of the kids I came in contact with had "issues" with speech only because my kids talked clearly and near full sentences by the age of two. BUT alot of thinkgs come into factor for this.....genetics play a role, and learned behavior can (had a child with an autistic brother, severe autism and the non-autistic brother did pick up "learned behaviors" from the autistic bro.) they also only speak as much as needed. If they have super doating parents or older sibblings to do everything for them?, they don't have to talk as much. Some kids also spend too much time with a soother, binky, deet deet, pacy....what ever....they can't talk! Just give him a little and things may begin trickling out....encourage it also..can't have the toy until you say "please"....if you want the sippy say "water"....all that helps too.

[fruitloop]

Ok, if everyone says it's normal then I guess i go with that. although this isn't "normal" for what I'm use to, lol. Seriously...I'm use to having little mini conversations and kids telling me what they want or need fairly clearly by the age of 18 months. Maybe I'm just an anomaly or something. I just find it odd

[ilovetolive]

my first daughter didn't start talking until she was two. There was no problem, she was fine developmentally, just didn't feel a need to communicate verbally. Now, she talks so much I miss the early years!

[KingstonMom]

my son is 2.5 and still says many words incorrectly. dog = gog, milk =mil, do it= dootoo, thank-you=day-day, outside=side, TV=TT and the list goes on.
He went to speech therapy at age two and will be going again in 4-6 months. the wait is LOONNNGG!
i have other kids within days of his age and they can all speak pretty normally for a 2.5 yr old, but my son, only me and Dad can understand him.
I know he is slowly increasing his vocabulary and pronounciation and he will cathc up. Im not too worried about it.
On the flip side, unlike the others his age, he knows his whole alphabet, upper and lowercare, he can identify and count to 30, knows about 9 shapes and 10 colours, so I know he is a smart cookie, its just the speech he has issues with. I truly believe that a toddlers brain choose what to work on for a time and then once thats mastered, they focus onlearning a new skill.

[playfelt]

I have always been told the test of is there a problem is how much the child understands for their age. A child's receptive language is always ahead of their expressive language. If you ask the child questions or give them simple commands to follow if they don't seem to understand what you are asking then there are issues that need investigated.

[Momof4]

Usually boys are a little behind girls, but I have a 22 month old girl who is just now learning to say words although I know she has been understanding me for months. Do you think this boy understands what you are saying all the time?

I have a 23 month old boy who is off the charts with talking and language skills, but clueless in oh so many other ways it blows my mind. All children are different but by age 3-4 they should all be caught up and that's when to really get concerned I guess.

[kidlove]

has this child had ears checked and other things looked over? maybe it is possible of a little delay that will set him back from others "normal" talking. I have a little girl who is almost 3 years old and is still in a diaper, not much end in sight... and does not talk much at all, she is adopted (not sure on birth situation) but parents have been informed she will be expected to have a 6 month delay in all areas of learning. She too speaks very nasally if at all. everything sounds mumbled and "nosey" when she attempts to speak.

[daycarewhisperer]

Normal. I've had many kids who don't talk at this age. Honestly, it's a blessing. Soon enough they will be talking both of your ears off and you won't be able to hear them anyway. The range for talking is so huge. I've had a 15 month old who did full paragraphs all the way to a three year old who couldn't string two words together. I don't get too worried until they are around three and then have them evaluated. As long as the receptive language is good and they can follow one and two step directions, I don't get too worked up over the speech.