18-month-old only has 5 words

[Anonymous]

My oldest didn’t say a word until 2 1/2. She skipped solo words and went straight to full sentences and was better after 2 weeks of speaking than kids who’d been speaking for a year. Pediatrician wasn’t concerned, kids learn at their own pace.

[Anonymous]

my little girl was like this. pediatrician said it was probably ok but to get her evaluated. She was speech delayed (expressive) but had great receptive language skills which is what it sounds like your little one has. Now 2 years 3 months and her expressive language is great. toddlers will talk when they want to. its not necessarily a sign of anything to be concerned about but you should def get it checked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my little girl was like this. pediatrician said it was probably ok but to get her evaluated. She was speech delayed (expressive) but had great receptive language skills which is what it sounds like your little one has. Now 2 years 3 months and her expressive language is great. toddlers will talk when they want to. its not necessarily a sign of anything to be concerned about but you should def get it checked out.

Not all of this is correct. Often even if they “catch up” it’s an early sign of a learning disability. And there are norms. If your kid isn’t meeting norms, an eval is appropriate.

[Anonymous]

Here’s a little reassurance. My cousin’s kid didn’t talk well until almost three years old. He saw a SLP and they were really worried about him. He’s in his late 20s now and perfectly fine (very smart).

Meanwhile, mine was extremely verbal (I want to say talking around 9 mos?) and meeting her milestones. She was diagnosed with autism as a teen. She is labeled 2E -verbally gifted (she scored in >99% in verbal IQ) but is autistic, which is what I assume you are worried about.

Just reach out to Child Find in your county and get the assessment. But do not worry about your child.

[Anonymous]

Get her evaluated, just for your peace of mind. Mine didn't talk at all at 18 month, had maybe one word, and was like that for almost another year. Was in speech therapy until 1st grade. But through evaluation we at least knew it was only expressive speech delay and nothing else.

[Anonymous]

GNot to early for a speech and language evaluation. 5 Words are expected at 18 months. There is no need for a pediatricians referral.

[Anonymous]

Sorry that was supposed to say 50 words are expected at 18 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my little girl was like this. pediatrician said it was probably ok but to get her evaluated. She was speech delayed (expressive) but had great receptive language skills which is what it sounds like your little one has. Now 2 years 3 months and her expressive language is great. toddlers will talk when they want to. its not necessarily a sign of anything to be concerned about but you should def get it checked out.

Not all of this is correct. Often even if they “catch up” it’s an early sign of a learning disability. And there are norms. If your kid isn’t meeting norms, an eval is appropriate.

Absolutely false. Having a speech delay is not an early sign of a learning disability. A child can have both, but often a speech delay is unrelated and young children just need a year of early intervention and they are caught up. All children are different. -Signed a pediatric SLP

[Anonymous]

I can't believe the answers here. This is totally normal. Cdc guideline says "tries to say 3 words in addition to Mama and dada". At 24 months, only 50% of kids can say 50 words. Every child speaks on their own timeline. There is really not much you can control, though people want to think they can. At some point, it will click for her. Parent of two boys who were both on the slow side of talking. Both were probably at around 5 words at 18 months, if that.

[Anonymous]

When we were in a similar situation we got an eval through the county, turned out my kid (who had gotten a lot of ear infections) had some sort of hearing problems due to retaining fluid. He got ear tubes (which our insurance covered) and some really affordable (sliding scale) speech therapy to catch up. The ST even came to our home for the sessions, which was awesome.

If you’re worried then there really isn’t anything to lose by just doing an assessment. What does your ped say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry that was supposed to say 50 words are expected at 18 months.

Citation that this is the normal expectation? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

my little grand boy (2) has more words than that. not a whole lot though. his bestie (girl) talks NONSTOP! every kid is different. if your dr is ok with her status then you should be, too.

my grand boy will talk when he wants to.

he understands a lot. and he "talks" a lot too, we just don't know the words he uses!

[Anonymous]

^ girl the same exact age

[Anonymous]

https://www.asha.org/public/developmental-milestones/communication-milestones-19-to-24-months/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe the answers here. This is totally normal. Cdc guideline says "tries to say 3 words in addition to Mama and dada". At 24 months, only 50% of kids can say 50 words. Every child speaks on their own timeline. There is really not much you can control, though people want to think they can. At some point, it will click for her. Parent of two boys who were both on the slow side of talking. Both were probably at around 5 words at 18 months, if that.

You may not know this, but the CDC revised and downgraded thier milestones last year because so many kids have been showing delays since the pandemic. It's not healthy to expect less of our children.