delay? no speech at one year.

[Anonymous]

My daughter doesn't have any words. She turned 1 last week. She used to say some things and she seems not to do that anymore: I'd say I see a very slight regression, possible. She does verbalize and has advanced in her babbling. She doesn't point. Outside of the word development things seem normal: for instance, if I didn't know most children had words at age 1 I wouldn't worry; only when I really thought about it did it seem possible there was regression. She is interactive and social in general and seems to have hit other developmental milestones for this age.

I'm worried. I have an appointment with the doctor next week. In the meantime, what should I know?

[Anonymous]

I think you should know that there is a large range of language for children. There is no set time table and many children begin much later and still develop good language for conversation and learning. I don't think comparing kids to a textbook time table for talking is fair. If you're concerned, have her evaluated by early intervention for a speech eval. It certainly couldn't hurt any.

[Anonymous]

I think you should have her evaluated by a developmental pediatrician. Yeah, she is young and will probably be just fine on her own, but if she does have something going on getting in there early is really helpful. The regression would concern me, though you don't say how long it has been since she spoke a word so its hard to tell if its just one of those things where they stop using a skill because they are focusing on another. The not pointing is a sign we missed for our DC who has an ASD. Wish I had known. The fact that she is social and babbles is very good.

Probably fine but mothers tend to have instincts about these things and perhaps you should check it out.

[Anonymous]

Seems early to worry. Perhaps schedule an appointment for 2 months from now and see how she's doing. Relax. One is sort of average for having a first word, isn't it?

[Anonymous]

I think OP's concern is not that her DD hasn't started talking yet but that she did, and stopped. To me thats different.

[Anonymous]

My child had no words at 1 year. At 18 months he still had now words. At 20 months, he had a language explosion. I had him evaluated and he qualified for ST which I started immediately thereafter. I think this helped him tremendously. He is now an extremely articulate 5 yo.

If you would like your child evaluated, do so early. Speech therapists are in demand and it can take a while to get the ball rolling. Your child could be months older before actually seeing a ST.

[Anonymous]

At 15 months, my ped wanted my child at have three words. Those words had to be recognizable to me and the child. For example: ba was bottle and balloon. The child just had to be consistent.

[Anonymous]

A 1 year old who is not talking is not a concern, BUT a kid who knew a few words and then lost them: that is a serious concern. It is an abnormal pattern of progression of speech and it is a red flag for ASD. This is what happened with my child and he ended up being diagnosed with ASD. I was told again and again that the main concern wasn't that he did not have a lot of words, but that he lost words that he had known in the past. Not pointing is also a red flag. But really the main issue here is loss of speech. The sooner you start speech therapy, the better. I would start now if I were you.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, 2202. OP here. that's my concern.

She's definitely somehow indicating what she wants, but more with her eyes than anything else. she reaches toward people, for instance, when she wants to go from one person to another.

how is loss of speech defined?

[Anonymous]

where do you live? cant hurt to have an EI evaluation done. They come to your home and it's free!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, 2202. OP here. that's my concern.

She's definitely somehow indicating what she wants, but more with her eyes than anything else. she reaches toward people, for instance, when she wants to go from one person to another.

how is loss of speech defined?

What happened with my son is that he knew about 6 words that he had learned gradually (i.e. first, one word, then the following week, an additional word...etc, until he got to saying 6 words or so) and then all of the sudden, he went back to only saying 1 word (he no longer would say the 5 other words regardless of how hard I tried to get him to say the other 5 words he had said in the past- it was as though he had completely forgotten the other words). Essentially, he had started learning speech in a normal gradual way and all of the sudden, the progression stopped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A 1 year old who is not talking is not a concern, BUT a kid who knew a few words and then lost them: that is a serious concern. It is an abnormal pattern of progression of speech and it is a red flag for ASD. This is what happened with my child and he ended up being diagnosed with ASD. I was told again and again that the main concern wasn't that he did not have a lot of words, but that he lost words that he had known in the past. Not pointing is also a red flag. But really the main issue here is loss of speech. The sooner you start speech therapy, the better. I would start now if I were you.

+1

[Anonymous]

OP here. What does "pointing" mean? She definitely waves her arms in excitement, reaches with her whole hand for things, and lunges (including to people she wants to hold her) but she doesn't use her index finger per se. She gets really excited when she sees something she wants to eat for instance and will stop being excited (which is her waving hands and kicking feet in high chair) when we locate the item she wants.
In terms of word regression: the words she had were not at all consistent, but in that direction. Does that make sense? At one point it started off that she sounded like she was GOING to be saying "mamamama" and really mean it (because she said it near me) but it wasn't clear that she entirely got what it meant. She also had some versions of her brother's name but again it wasn't consistent. She still sometimes says "dah" for the dog.
Like I said, her babbling seems pretty advanced. She makes eye contact, clearly has attachment to certain people and fears of strangers, smiles, cuddles, imitates noises and expressions, has fun playing, responds to us (and voices). On the other hand she doesnt always follow our pointing, and I have thought shes a pretty even personality in the sense that she isnt super animated in her expressions like her older brother was.Shes also been pretty whiny lately and its unclear why although I suspect teething.
Anyway I am definitely visiting the doc and asking for an evaluation if for no other reason than my own anxiety. But given the wisdom here and the fact that sometimes parents who have "been there" have much better pointers on what to ask and look for.
Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. What does "pointing" mean? She definitely waves her arms in excitement, reaches with her whole hand for things, and lunges (including to people she wants to hold her) but she doesn't use her index finger per se. She gets really excited when she sees something she wants to eat for instance and will stop being excited (which is her waving hands and kicking feet in high chair) when we locate the item she wants.
In terms of word regression: the words she had were not at all consistent, but in that direction. Does that make sense? At one point it started off that she sounded like she was GOING to be saying "mamamama" and really mean it (because she said it near me) but it wasn't clear that she entirely got what it meant. She also had some versions of her brother's name but again it wasn't consistent. She still sometimes says "dah" for the dog.
Like I said, her babbling seems pretty advanced. She makes eye contact, clearly has attachment to certain people and fears of strangers, smiles, cuddles, imitates noises and expressions, has fun playing, responds to us (and voices). On the other hand she doesnt always follow our pointing, and I have thought shes a pretty even personality in the sense that she isnt super animated in her expressions like her older brother was.Shes also been pretty whiny lately and its unclear why although I suspect teething.
Anyway I am definitely visiting the doc and asking for an evaluation if for no other reason than my own anxiety. But given the wisdom here and the fact that sometimes parents who have "been there" have much better pointers on what to ask and look for.
Thanks

Pointing is using the index finger per se. Anything else is not pointing. Also, when you point, she should look at what you are pointing to, not your finger.

[Anonymous]

Thanks... I actually can't tell if it's in the direction or my finger she looks at. Id say 50/50.