If your child seems to understand everything you say, and looks at you to communicate (even non-verbally), and you see evidence that the kid is engaging with the physical world, but JUST WON'T SPEAK, then I wouldn't worry too much at 18 mos. or even 24 mos.

DD would not speak, but she clearly understood what we were saying and wanted us to read books to her and read the names of items form DK Picture Books (a million times over). By the time she was 24 mos. she had 12 verbalizations if you include "uh-huh" and "unh-uh" for yes and no. In addition to that she had ma, dah, bus... things like that. But this girl would not speak. I called Early Intervention around 16 mos. They did an assessment and told me right away that DD was not autistic b/c of the way she interacted/looked at me to communicate and for comfort. Had hearing tested.

Speach therapist came for a couple mos. around age 20 mos. I told them to stop coming b/c it was a waste of time (nice therapist, just clearly a waste... she would put a block on another block and say "up!" over and over... DD would look at me like "duh! what is wrong with this lady??") It's not like the therapist was doing anything that we as parents weren't doing, and it was intellectually below DD's receptive ability, so I told them to stop coming. Well, at about 2 yrs. + 2 mos., this child just started talking and never looked back. By 2.5 yrs, she was 100% on par with her age group. By 3 yrs., we would have to tell her to "stop talking so much" at dinner.

I know other parents whose children were late talkers -- 100% perfectly normal, but they didn't really talk until after 2 yrs.

OP -- don't freak out if your child doesn't have 15 words by 15 mos., or 30 words at 18 mos., etc. The info. we now have from the internet and parenting books can drive you nuts if your child doesn't follow the standard. Sure, you should follow your instinct if the child seems "off" or not interacting with you or doesn't understand like you think s/he should. Definitely check it out. But, realize that MANY normal children are "late" talkers.

FWIW, my late talker has been at the top of her class for reading for the last 3 yrs. She scored in the 99%-ile for reading on the G/T test that the school gave in 2nd grade. Some kids are just more reticent/risk-averse than others. I think that can show up in their reluctance to verbalize. It's more a personality trait than a developmental delay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if it is useful to distinguish between speech delays and "special needs". If it's autism you are worries about, I don't think that researchers really know the correlation anyway. If you have a toddler with truly no receptive language you need to get that checked out in and of itself. But how old a toddler are we talking about? Huge difference between 11 months and 2 years. At 11 months I would not worry that much if he didn't appear to have receptive language. But getting closer to 18 months I would worry. Does he play any interactive games like peekaboo?

OP here. I'm just catching up, and thanks for all of the great input so far! He is almost 20 months. He likes to point and play peek-a-boo and give me toys to "share." He likes to hug and make funny noises and laugh. He does not, however, do anything you tell him to or appear to have even the most basic comprehension of words. He calls everything "dadada" or "gagagaga" or "isssssshhhh."

I think I would just do speech therapy and see how things unfold. Also goodle "Hanen method" - their book "It Takes Two to Talk" is great for language delays!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two years old is too late. We had DS evaluated at 15 months. At the very least, you should do it at 18 months.

I gently disagree. It's never too late. You make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time.

You are right, poor choice of words on my part.

When they "grow out of it," they're not delayed anymore. Sometimes they don't. Start with speech therapy, put in for a developmental pediatric visit by 3 if you're not seeing good progress. Sometimes learning disabilities will be more apparent in elementary school. Get a neuropsych eval at age 6 if you have concerns.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if it is useful to distinguish between speech delays and "special needs". If it's autism you are worries about, I don't think that researchers really know the correlation anyway. If you have a toddler with truly no receptive language you need to get that checked out in and of itself. But how old a toddler are we talking about? Huge difference between 11 months and 2 years. At 11 months I would not worry that much if he didn't appear to have receptive language. But getting closer to 18 months I would worry. Does he play any interactive games like peekaboo?

OP here. I'm just catching up, and thanks for all of the great input so far! He is almost 20 months. He likes to point and play peek-a-boo and give me toys to "share." He likes to hug and make funny noises and laugh. He does not, however, do anything you tell him to or appear to have even the most basic comprehension of words. He calls everything "dadada" or "gagagaga" or "isssssshhhh."

I would give Early Intervention a call. There is essentially no difference between the two circumstances at toddler age. Speech delays are a "special need."

I'm not sure if it is useful to distinguish between speech delays and "special needs". If it's autism you are worries about, I don't think that researchers really know the correlation anyway. If you have a toddler with truly no receptive language you need to get that checked out in and of itself. But how old a toddler are we talking about? Huge difference between 11 months and 2 years. At 11 months I would not worry that much if he didn't appear to have receptive language. But getting closer to 18 months I would worry. Does he play any interactive games like peekaboo?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two years old is too late. We had DS evaluated at 15 months. At the very least, you should do it at 18 months.

I gently disagree. It's never too late. You make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time.

If you realize at 2 or 4 or 7 or 14 that your child has a delay, or if you knew but weren't able to get help before then but now can, then no, it's never too late to start.

But, getting help earlier means your child will may finish needing therapy early, may need less help total, may have less frustration along the way, and is likely to have his/her academics and social relationships less effected.

I'm not the PP, but I'd agree that waiting for 9 months after you have concerns is not in the best interest of the child.

Anonymous wrote:Two years old is too late. We had DS evaluated at 15 months. At the very least, you should do it at 18 months.

I gently disagree. It's never too late. You make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time.

Two years old is too late. We had DS evaluated at 15 months. At the very least, you should do it at 18 months.

We were told by age two. We did some private before then and I thought it was useless until the child is ready to talk. We have both expressive and receptive delays.

Anonymous wrote:2/24 months was when we were told to worry. Try the baby babble videos and get an assessment and start therapy around two.

For a child with no receptive language, that's really late. Early intervention is key, and getting a

If my child had no words or word approximations (things they say where you know what they mean, even if they don't sound much like the word), and wasn't following any directions at 15 months I'd start reaching out, knowing that it could take a little while to get an eval, and that would probably mean starting therapy closer to 18 months.

This doesn't mean that it might not be a "delay", but therapy can be quite helpful in addressing delays as well.

2/24 months was when we were told to worry. Try the baby babble videos and get an assessment and start therapy around two.

At what point should I be worried that my toddler who doesn't speak or have receptive skills actually is special needs versus "delayed"? To be clear, by doesn't speak, I mean he makes noises, but doesn't articulate words or try to do so. He also doesn't do anything we ask. If you ask him to bring the ball, he will stare at you and then do what he wants. His hearing was checked and is fine.